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Winter eyes

It’s that time of year when we start to feel dry, itchy,

Colour Blindness

Red-green and blue-yellow colour blindness is actually more accurately known as “colour vision deficiency” because you are not actually blind.

Can human eyes be transplanted?

No. But the cornea can.

Referring to reception of the tissue, eye tissue is used several different ways, most commonly for corneal transplantation. Patients who need a corneal transplant are those who have a disease, scar, or active infection involving the cornea. The cornea is the clear part of the eye much like a watch crystal.

Can artificial tissue be used instead of a donor cornea?

There are types of surgery called keratoprostheses, which use artificial corneas. These are very difficult to use and are still being investigated. Probably no more than 400 or 500 of these procedures are done each year worldwide. It’s used where it’s impossible to get the donor cornea to take. For example, some patients with severe scarring of the eye socket, where the lids don’t operate normally, might benefit from a keratoprosthesis. There are newer types of prostheses being developed to substitute for the cornea, but nothing is as useful as a human-donated cornea. Learn more about eye transplants.