The world's first complete eye transplant was successfully performed

American surgeons have performed the world's first successful full eye transplant. Although it is still uncertain whether the recipient will be able to see through the donated eye or not. Aaron James, a 46-year-old lineman from Arkansas, had lost one of his eyes due to a high-voltage electrical shock in June 2021. He suffered severe injuries, including the loss of his left eye, left arm, nose, lips, front teeth, left cheek, and jaw.

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health were able to reconstruct a new face for him using a combination of an eye socket and eyelid transplant. The medical team announced on Friday that James has been showing signs of improvement since the transplant last month, and the donated eye appears to be significantly healthy.

James told the Associated Press, "I feel good. I still don't have any movement in my eye, and I can't blink yet. But I can feel them now." Corneal transplant is a common procedure nowadays for treating certain types of vision loss. However, a complete eye transplant, including the cornea, eyeball, its blood supply, and the optic nerve that connects it to the brain, has long been a major goal in medical science.

Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the head of plastic surgery at NYU Langone Health who led the transplant, said, "We're not claiming that we're restoring his vision, but there's no doubt that we're getting closer to it."

Some specialists were concerned that James' eye would quickly wrinkle like a raisin. However, last month, when Rodriguez opened James' left eyelid, he discovered that the honey-colored donated eye was as healthy and filled with fluid as James' blue eye. The doctors observed good blood flow, with no signs of organ rejection.

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