Eye cornea transplant donor required | Help a living soul
What is a cornea transplant?
A corneal transplant is a delicate, micro-surgical procedure that replaces a disc segment of an injured or diseased cornea with a similarly shaped piece of healthy donor cornea. The operation has an extremely high success rate.
Who can be a cornea donor?
Anyone can be a donor. Individuals often believe that they have to have good vision in order to donate; however, the truth is that corneas can be used even if a donor wears glasses. Persons under the age of 18 require parental permission. The exclusions are as follows: positive virology results for infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B or C and Septicemia.
When and how are the corneas removed?
Ideally, corneas need to be removed within 6 to 12 hours after death. The procedure is performed by trained Eye Bank Technicians and can be carried out at the mortuary, at the undertaker, at the hospital, or even at the home. Because the procurement is performed mere hours after death, there is no delay in funeral procedures.
How soon will the donated corneas be used for transplantation?
A corneal transplant is usually performed within 1 to 10 days after donation, depending on the completion of testing, the location of the receiving hospital and the preparation of the selected recipient.
What happens to the corneas if they are found to be unsuitable after procurement?
All donors and corneas are carefully evaluated. Less than 1% of corneas previously donated to the bank have been deemed unsuitable for transplant. In the unlikely event of this occurring, the Eye Bank has a policy regarding the medical discarding of tissue through an established hospital procedure.
Donor Database
The Organ Donor Foundation initiated, developed and maintains the database where members of the public can register as an organ donor.
Members of the public can register online on the website; or by filling out a form and forwarding it to ODF; or by downloading the ODF App onto their cellphone.
The database provides ODF with a tool to measure demographics and contains all the necessary contact and next of kin details of potential organ donors.