Eye Donation- A Blissful Act

“You never know how you look through other people's eyes.”

-Ralph Waldo Emersom

Eyes are the jewel of human body. Whenever I think about myself, the most adorable thing I find is my eyes. My eyes blessed me with the ability to see and enjoy beauty of nature, science and human creation. Eyes help and protect us from upcoming danger, it helps us to know and understand the expressions & feelings of other person. Eyes are the first step of human communication. Eyes are the language of heart. The feelings which we cannot show, which we cannot express, sometimes they are easily expressed with eyes.

But what if I have no vision. This question always makes me uneasy. The feeling make me nervous that loosing my eye-sight deny me from enjoying colors of life. But then suddenly, next question comes in mind about those persons who are not lucky like me, who cannot enjoy this blessing of almighty.

There are uncountable persons in our country as well as all over world who are devoid of this beautiful feeling to see this world with their own eyes. These people are either blind from their birth or lost their eye-sight due to some accident or illness. They only know one color BLACK. No doubt these people live their life like a normal person and they enjoy the world with the eyes of other persons. But still there is a question “Is it possible for these persons to see the life on earth with their own eyes? Do they ever enjoy the beauty of nature? Do they ever able to see the faces of their loved ones once in their life time? Do they ever differentiate between black and other colors on this earth?? These and more questions raised in minds of persons who are incapable of seeing life by themselves. And answer of all these questions is YES. They can see the world with their own eyes, they can see the faces of their loved ones and they can differentiate between different colors of life. But the question is “What is the solution?”

The Solution is ‘Eye transplantation’. Medically it is termed as “Corneal Transplantation”. Corneal Transplantation is a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue. In simple terms, it is termed as Eye-transplantation. Cornea is the clear, transparent tissue covering the front of the eye and if it becomes cloudy from disease, injury, infection or malnutrition, vision is dramatically lost or reduced. The damaged whitish cornea should be replaced by a crystal like healthy ‘cornea’ which has been donated by a healthy person. Surgery can restore vision to those who have become blind due to cataract or those whose cornea has been affected. The surgical procedure is performed by ophthalmologists, medical doctors who specialize in eyes, and is often done on an outpatient basis. In spite of having professional surgeons, corneal transplantation cannot be carried out due to lack of donor corneas. Reason is lack of awareness among people for Eye-donation. This lack of awareness may be due to many reasons either personal or social interference. Lack of motivation among people for eye-donation is also one of the reasons. In India there are more than 80 lakhs deaths every year but sadly the corneal donations do not exceed a few thousand.

Eye-donation should be encouraged in a large scale, as one of the best means of social service. To enable another person obtain vision is one of the best forms of charity. Even after death the donor lives in the eyes of recipient. Eyes from a dead person can enable two blind people to acquire vision and make their self-independent and joyful. The gift of sight will dramatically improve the quality of life for a person who has otherwise lived a life of total darkness.

Many questions arise in mind of people before eye-donation. People are still not aware about the eye-donation facts. Queries arise in mind of people related to the age, eligibility, procedure and fees of eye-donation. Well, eye-donation is a free service in the public interest. The eye bank team will immediately reach the donor’s home to collect the eyes. No fees are charged from the family. Any person irrespective of age (2 to 70 years), sex, blood group or religion can be the eye-donor. People, who have poor vision, wear glasses or who have had corrective surgeries, hypertensive and diabetics can also donate. The eyes of a dead person can be used only if they are taken out within 6-8 hrs of death. Eye Donation association/Nearest Eye Bank personnel come to a place wherever the body of the deceased is kept. The body need not be shifted to Eye Donation association/Nearest Eye Bank. When a person who has given consent for the donation of one's eyes dies, the eye should be kept wet by sprinkling water on them. Otherwise pieces of cotton wool soaked in water should be placed on both the eyes so that the cornea does not become dry till the eye-surgeon arrives. Removal of eyes takes only twenty minutes while the cornea transplant surgery can be performed in half an hour. Although the entire eye is removed from the body, it is only the cornea that can be transplanted. After the removal of the eyes the eyelids will be stitched together and there will be no visible sign of the eyes having been removed. There is no disfigurement of the donor’s face.

Eye donation and restoration of sight through corneal transplant is a very exciting combination of selfless charity and the miracle of medical technology. People should be aware about the eye-donation. Various eye-donation awareness camps are arranged to create awareness and motivate persons to donate eyes after death. People should think that eyes won't be needed after death but what if they can be of use to someone else. There are some social myths about eye-donation that the person will born blind in next birth or the person will not be able to see God after death.But do all these myths make any sense. All religions endorse eye-donation. So one should voluntary donate his/her eyes for the benefit of someone who is still not introduced with the beauty of nature.