First whole eye transplant performed in New York
The first transplant of an entire human eye has been performed in New York. The surgery, performed six months ago during a partial face transplant, appears to have gone well according to the doctors who completed it. “The fact that we transplanted an eye is a huge step forward, it’s something that has been thought about for centuries but has never been done,” he said Eduardo Rodriguez, the doctor leading the team that conducted the operation, which lasted 21 hours. He was the recipient of the transplant Aaron Jamesan Arkansas veteran who survived a workplace accident.
The intervention
The operation for the partial face and entire eye transplant required the help of 140 surgeons. Transplanted eye shows “remarkable” signs of good health but Aaron James still can’t see. James hopes that in time his sight will return and that the innovative operation he has undergone will help transplant medicine.
The patient
“It’s my greatest hope. If I can see it will be fantastic. If the surgery will pave the way for a new path in the medical field I’m completely in favor of it,” James told CNN, to which his wife Meagan spoke about the tragedy of ‘accident. The woman had gone to pick up her daughter from school when she received a phone call from an unknown number: she answered and could only understand a few words, “Aaron”, “accident”, “serious”.
Meagan later received a second phone call from a doctor who told her about her husband’s accident and his condition. The woman had asked the doctor if she would recover and she was told: “the only thing I can promise you is that you will not die before you arrive”.
