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Eye Donation Facts

EYE DONATION FACTS

  • Eyes should be retrieved as soon as possible after death, preferably within 12 hours

  • Transplantation generallyoccurs within 5 days, but can be up to 14 days

  • Sclera (white of the eye) can be used for ear drum repair and other surgeries

  • There is usually no disfigurment or delay in funeral arrangements

  • A thank you letter with the disposition of the donation is sent to the family

EYE DONATION IS STILL POSSIBLE FROM INDIVIDUALS WITH

  • Most types of cancer

  • History of cataract surgery

  • Visual impairments - Glasses

  • Blindness not affecting the cornea

  • Diabetic retinopathy (retinal disorders)

EYE DONATION PROCESS

A certified technician will recover the eyes by performing a simple surgical procedure called an enucleation. The enucleation may be performed in the hospital room, morgue or funeral home. A prosthesis is used to assure that the donor's natural appearance is maintained. Paperwork included, the eye donation process usually takes a couple of hours. Occasionally there might be some slight swelling or bruising in the eye area but great care is taken to minimize this occurrence and the funeral home is equipped to handle this situation. Eye donation should not hamper a traditional funeral service.

Corneas are transplanted separately; therefore, one eye donor could give sight to two individuals suffering from corneal blindness. In the event that the donation could not be used for transplantation either in the United States or internationally, there is the potential for use in education and vital research toward treatments and cures for diseases of the eye.

There is no cost to the family for eye donation, and our records are confidential.

Further Information

  1. The Health Care and Finance Administration (HCFA), under the Department of Health and Human Services, passed a federal regulation in 1998 requiring hospitals to notify organ banks each time a death occurs in the hospital. If hospitals do not comply with this regulation, they will lose a portion of their medicare funding.

  2. However, many potential donors do not die in a hospital.

  3. Signing an eye donor card or the back of a driver's license does not assure that the card-carrier's eyes will be donated upon death. A donor card is not a legal document.

  4. Legal next-of-kin of the potential donor must give consent before the eyes can/will be removed, even if a donor card was signed by the deceased. An exception to this requirement would be made if the deceased had an advanced directive with power of attorney.

  5. For these reasons, it is critical that potential eye donors communicate to their next-of-kin their desire to donate eyes. Individuals should also make their wishes known to a clergyman, doctor, or funeral director, or anyone else that they feel will both recall their desire at the time of their death and will remind the next-of-kin that this was their desire.

  6. Since there are other eye banks in these areas, eyes donated in St. Louis and Kansas City will not automatically be retrieved by the Heartland Lions Eye Banks. If they do want the HLEB to retrieve the eye tissue, families of donors in these two cities must specify their wish to donate eyes to the Heartland Lions Eye Banks.

  7. All eyes are valuable! Age, eye disease, and even blindness should not discourage any person from donating their eyes!

  8. In all cases, donated eye tissue that cannot be transplanted is used in research projects throughout the nation and the world, to find new and better treatments for blindness.
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