Angela Arnold, age 13, of Florence, S.C., for her question:
WHAT IS AN EYE BANK?
Our most important sense organs are our eyes. With our eyes we can gain knowledge, learn to appreciate the beauty of nature and carry on almost all of the day's activities. The eyes make our visual world almost limitless. We can see the distant stars and with the aid of a microscope, we can see red blood cells so small that it takes 6.0,000 to fill the head of a pin.
Our eyes are designed to give good service for a full lifetime. But care should be taken to keep them in good shape. Vision tests should be scheduled each year for children, and adults should check in with their eye doctors at least once every other year.
There are times when diseases cause scarring of the cornea of the eye which result in blindness. Skilled surgeons have been able to perform operations called corneal transplants and they often restore sight to blinded eyes. In the operation, the central part of the scarred cornea is replaced with clear corneal tissue. The cornea is the outer layer through which light enters the eye.
Doctors performing corneal transplant operations, depend on the eye bank, a nonprofit agency which arranges for the removal of eyes shortly after a donor's death and then distributes them to specially trained surgeons.
The world's first eye bank was formed in New York City in 1944. Today eye banks can be found in many countries and most major cities.
An eye remains suitable for surgery only for a few days after it has been taken from a donor's body. Many people state in their wills that after death they want their eyes to be donated for surgery.
Legal permission must be obtained from the donor's family for the removal of the eyes. A surgeon then must act within three hours after death. He will remove the eyes and pack them in a special container that keeps a temperature just above freezing. The container is rushed to the nearest eye bank where doctors carefully examine the eyes to determine if they are suitable for surgery. A qualified surgeon who has a patient waiting is notified that an eye is available. The surgeon quickly sends his patient to the hospital and the operation is performed almost immediately.
Untold numbers of blind people have been restored to the sighted thanks to the skill of the eye surgeon and the good work of the eye bank.
Scarring of the eye's cornea may result from either injury or from infection. Replacing the scarred cornea can be done only with a normal cornea from another person.
Other eye operations do not require donated replacements. For example, eye lenses which are normally transparent may become opaque and milky in older persons. This condition is called cataract, and it does not allow adequate light to reach the retina. An operation to remove the lens usually restores good vision, with no replacement part necessary.