Surgeons in New York Perform World’s First Eye Transplant

Rebecca Ejifoma

Surgeons in New York, US, have performed the first-ever whole-eye transplant on a human, Aaron James.

The surgeons announced on Thursday, November 9 this year, describing the accomplishment as a breakthrough even though James has not regained sight in the eye.

James, a 46-year-old military veteran from Hot Springs Arkansas, survived a work-related high-voltage electrical accident that damaged the left side of his face, affecting his nose, his mouth and his left eye.

The surgical team at NYU Langone Health said in the six months since the surgery performed during a partial face transplant, the grafted eye is said to have shown significant signs of health, including well-functioning blood vessels and a promising-looking retina.

According to the team lead, Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the fact that they transplanted an eye is a huge step forward, something that for centuries has been thought about, but has never been performed.

He noted that until now, doctors have only been able to transplant the cornea, the clear front layer of the eye.
“Initially, doctors were just planning to include the eyeball as part of the face transplant for cosmetic reasons,” says Rodriguez.

The team leader continued “If some form of vision restoration occurred, it would be wonderful, but the goal was for us to perform the technical operation, and have the eyeball survive,” Rodriquez expressed.

He added that whatever happens going forward will be monitored, he said.

Currently, the transplanted eye, which took 21 hours, is not communicating with the brain through the optic nerve.

Transplantation of a viable eye globe opens many new possibilities, Rodriguez said, even if sight is not restored in this case.

He admitted that other research teams are developing ways to connect nerve networks in the brain to sightless eyes through the insertion of electrodes, for example, to allow vision.

In Rodriguez’s words, “If we can work with other scientists that are working on other methods of restoring vision or restoring images to the visual cortex, I think we’re one step closer.”

While noting that James might still regain sight in the transplanted eye, Rodriguez said “I don’t think anyone can claim that he will see. But by the same token, they can’t claim that he will not see.

“At this point, I think we’re pretty happy with the result that we were able to achieve with a very technically demanding operation”.

In his reaction to the Associated Press, James expressed: “It feels good. I still don’t have any movement in it yet. My eyelids, I can’t blink yet. But I’m getting a sensation now.”

For the patient, there is always a first person. “You got to start somewhere; there’s got to be a first-person somewhere. Maybe you’ll learn something from it that will help the next person.”