American surgeons announced in a press release on Thursday, November 9, that they had performed the first transplant of a complete eye on a patient. The operation took place last May and since then, although the man has not regained his sight, his new eye shows encouraging signs of good health.
New York University explained Thursday, November 9, how surgeons at its hospital successfully performed the first-ever entire eye transplant. The intervention took place in May 2023. A complex and high-risk intervention.
The patient’s choice
This first transplant of a whole eye took place on a patient named Aaron James. He is a veteran of the American armed forces, a 46-year-old father, who lives in Arkansas. In June 2021, while working on a high-voltage line, a cable touched his face, causing a discharge of 7,200 volts. He lost his left arm, his nose, his chin, part of his teeth and his left eye. To have survived such an accident is already a miracle in itself. He says that day he woke up, went to work and woke up six months later in the burn unit of the Dallas hospital, where he had been transported. There, his left eye was removed, the injury was too painful. Since the accident, he has only been able to eat liquid products.
New York University Hospital, which has a renowned transplant program, offered to try to replace his eye as well as his face. By warning him that the intervention was very risky. And the operation took place last May.
Qhen his eye was removed, a surgeon at New York University suggested cutting the optic nerve in a certain way to preserve as many nerve endings as possible for a possible transplant. A decisive factor in the success of the operation, which lasted 21 hours. Previously, doctors repeated the procedure 15 times while Aaron James waited for a donor.
A result which is only a first step
On the day of the operation, the donor’s eye and pieces of face first had to be extracted. The team of surgeons also prepared CD34, a donor stem cell from his spinal cord, to inject into Aaron James’ optic nerve. “Everything went exactly as we planned.”welcomed the chief surgeon. Six months later, the graft is still holding. LThe eye is in good health, the blood circulates well there, even if for the moment, this brown eye – his other eye is blue – cannot see. Perhaps this will come, doctors are waiting to know if communication is created between the eye and the brain.
“I feel good. I can’t blink yet but I have sensations”rejoices Aaron James, who has check-ups every month. “Whether I can see or not, too bad. Above all, I hope this procedure will help future patients”, he said. Why not ultimately help restore sight to the blind or cure cancer? The success of the transplant, presented as significant progress, can already encourage the financing of other similar procedures.
Now that he has received more face transplants, Aaron James can now eat solid food.