FAQs

What is an Eye Bank?

An Eye Bank is a non-profit organisation often associated with a hospital or university. An Eye Bank obtains, medically evaluates and distributes corneas which have been donated by humanitarian minded citizens, for use in corneal transplantation, ocular surgery, and in some places for research and education.

Eye Banks are non-profit organisations. Donation is an opportunity to help save a life or restore someone's sight. Eye, organ and tissue donation are consistent with the beliefs and attitudes of major religions.

Who can be an Eye Donor?

Almost anyone. Cataracts, poor eyesight, wearing glasses or age do not prohibit you from becoming a donor. There are medical standards the donor must fall within for the cornea to be eligible to be transplanted. It is important to know that Cancer suffers can be an eye donor. More people are eligible to be eye donors than to donate any other body parts.

Why should Eyes be donated?

Donated human eyes and corneal tissue are necessary for the preservation and restoration of sight and are used for transplantation. Over 90 percent of approximately 1,000 corneal transplant operations performed each year around Australia successfully restore vision to persons suffering from corneal problems.

How prevalent is corneal transplantation?

Corneal transplants are the most frequently performed human transplant procedure. In 1998 in Australia, there were more corneal transplants than all organ transplants combined. In the last 10 years, more than 9,000 corneal transplants have been performed, restoring sight to men, women and children ranging in age from nine days to 103 years.

How soon after a donation must a cornea be transplanted?

A corneal transplant is usually performed within two to seven days after donation, depending upon the method of corneal preservation used.

Can the whole eye be transplanted?

No. Only the cornea can be transplanted. Sclera can be used for other ocular surgeries.

Will eye donation affect the appearance of the donor?

No. Great care is taken to preserve the appearance of the donor. No one will be able to see that anything has been done. Families may proceed with funeral arrangements, including a viewing if so desired.

Is there any delay in funeral arrangements?

No. Eye tissue procurement is performed within hours after death, so families may proceed as planned with funeral arrangements.

Should eye donation be included in a will?

No, because the eyes must be used long before a will can be probated. However, the time of making a will is a good time to discuss eye, organ and tissue donation with family members. The discussion with your next of kin and registering as an organ and tissue donor on the Australian Organ Donor Register are the most important factors in making sure your wishes are respected.

Are donated eyes used for research?

When eyes are donated, they must be very carefully evaluated, along with the medical history of the donor, to determine whether the corneas can be transplanted. If the corneas cannot be transplanted, the donor eyes can be used for eye research and make an important contribution to the advancement of eye care. This can only be done with consent from the Next of Kin.

Is there any cost to the donor family?

There is absolutely no cost to the donor family. It is illegal to buy or sell human eyes, organs and tissue. Any costs associated with eye procurement are absorbed by the eye bank placing the tissue. Nor is there any delay in funeral arrangements. Eye tissue procurement is performed within hours of death. Families may proceed with funeral arrangements without delay or interruption.

Is the gift anonymous?

The gift of sight is made anonymously. Specific information about the donor family is not available to the recipient and vice versa. The Eye Bank will convey any un-identifying correspondence between donor and recipient.

Who will receive the corneas?

Corneas are allocated and distributed locally except in urgent cases where the cornea may be transferred interstate by specific arrangement between the two eye banks, or an eye bank and a particular ophthalmologist.

Urgent cases: Actual or threatened corneal perforation

Routine cases: At the discretion of the ophthalmologist and local eye bank; where waiting lists exist, some priority is normally given to patients who have been waiting longest.

Why transplant it?

The cornea was one of the first organ/tissues to be successfully transplanted and this has occurred for over 100 years.

Corneal transplantation is very similar to organ transplantation in that corneas are composed of living cells that can be stored for only a short period of time. This differs from other tissues which can generally be stored for very long periods and which may often have few, if any, living cells.

Donation of corneas is a well accepted concept by the Australian & New Zealand public and more than 900 families a year agree to donation. The donor can be any age and can also help restore sight in recipients of any age, as the tissue does not normally need to be matched for age, blood or tissue type.

What is the cornea?

The cornea is the clear "window" covering the front of the eye which allows the light pass through to the retina which enables us to see. It is the main focusing element of the eye. To stay clear the cornea must be healthy. If the cornea is damaged it may become swollen or scarred. This may be due to injury, disease, infection or hereditary corneal failure. In these cases either the cornea's smoothness or clarity may be lost. The scars, swelling or irregular shape cause the cornea to scatter or distort light resulting in loss of vision. The first ever corneal transplant was performed in 1905.  

How great is the need for corneas?

Except for blood transfusion it is the oldest and most frequently performed transplant procedure. In Australia, approximately 1300 corneal transplants are required each year.

Why are corneas transplanted?

The two most common reasons for requiring a transplant are a clouding over the loss of transparency in the cornea in later life, as is the case with Bullous Keratopathy or to the loss of the smooth rounded shape of the cornea meaning that light cannot be regularly focused into the eye, as occurs in Keratoconus. Other problems which may require a transplant include herpes virus infection of the eye, accidental injury to the eye, corneal scarring due to other trauma, hereditary or congenital corneal clouding, or severe bacterial infection.

Keratoconus

This condition involves the central cornea thinning and bulging forward, and may also be associated with central corneal scarring. It is usually bilateral though frequently one eye is more affected than the other. Its onset is usually puberty, and is estimated to develop in 1 person per 20,000 people. While contact lenses can be used to maintain the regular shape of the cornea, in 5 to 10 percent of patients with keratoconus this will not give satisfactory results, and a corneal transplant is required. In Australia, it is the most common condition requiring a transplant, accounting for 31% of all transplants performed. It also has the highest success rate following transplantation, with 98.1% of transplanted corneas surviving the first year successfully, and 97.5% of grafts surviving past four years. Most recipients are between 20-45 years of age.

Bullous Keratopathy

Bullous Keratopathy is a generic term for corneal oedema with the epithelium raised in blisters. It involves a loss of clarity and clouding over of the cornea, due to the gradual impairment of the endothelial cells responsible for keeping the cornea clear and healthy. It can occur for many reasons including hereditary susceptibility, previous eye surgery, or just simply advancing years. In Australia, it is the second most common condition requiring a transplant, accounting for 25% of all transplants performed. The success rate of a transplant for this condition, as measured by transplanted corneas surviving one year post-operatively, is 90.6%