Landmark whole-eye transplant ‘a success’ despite patient’s lack of vision
Surgeons say the radical operation marks a step forward.
US surgeons who performed the world’s first combined whole eye and partial face transplant have pronounced it a success a year on, despite the patient not regaining his vision.
The 46-year-old recipient, a linesman from Arkansas who had sustained a high-voltage electrical injury with “catastrophic” tissue loss, had his face rebuilt by a team at New York University Langone Health.
While Aaron James did not regain vision in his left eye, the doctors reported evidence of retinal responses to light and no signs of acute organ rejection.
The transplanted left eye showed healthy signs including direct blood flow to the retina, according to a paper in JAMA describing the surgery.
