Misconceptions
on what is involved in being an eye donor has led to a low rate of donorship
for corneal transplants in Asia, due to strong cultural beliefs that reject
removing an organ from the deceased.
“It is only the cornea that is removed [from a
deceased donor] and not the whole eye ball,” said Lee Hung Ming, an
ophthalmologist at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore during a media open day
last week.
The cornea is the clear front layer of the eye
that allows light to pass through the pupil and lens to focus onto the retina.
It is just 0.5 millimeters thick.
Corneas collected from deceased donors must be
taken within 8 to 12 hours after death and should be transplanted within days.
“The cornea can’t survive for more than 10
days,” said Lee, adding that patients with poor eye sight caused by damaged
corneas could gain clearer vision once the transplant surgery, which takes just
one hour, is finished.
The surgery does not require patients to
undergo days of hospitalization. Only outpatient post-surgery checkups
required.
Lee said that corneal transplants were
suitable for patients who suffered from damaged corneas due to injury or
disease.
When a cornea is damaged, it may become scarred
or swollen, causing distortion and scattering of light and resulting in glare
or blurry vision. Many times the poor vision cannot be corrected with
eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Lee, who is also the medical director for
Parkway Eye Center at the hospital, said the only way to regain vision for an
eye with a clouded cornea was a corneal transplant, if the rest of the eye
including the optic nerve and the retina were in good condition.
“Corneal transplants are highly successful,
with over 90 percent of the operations achieving restoration of sight. However,
as with any surgery, there are always some risks involved,” he said, adding
that corneal graft rejection came from the reaction of a patient’s immune
system to the donor tissue.
However, unlike other types of organ
transplants, the rate of rejection is lower with the cornea because it normally
does not contain any blood vessels.
Singapore doctors are able to link donors with
prospective recipients through lists maintained by the Singapore Eye Bank.
Indonesia has the Indonesian Eye Bank, founded by the late Ainun Habibie, wife
of former President B.J. Habibie. However the number of cornea donors in
Indonesia is still insufficient for local needs, compared to Singapore, which
has become a cornea exporter.
According to data from the Health Ministry,
three million Indonesians are blind, about half of whom suffer from cataracts.
Indonesia accounts for 52 percent of people with eyesight problems in the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to the World Health
Organization.
The ministry’s data also show that there are
210,000 new cataract cases in the country each year, of which only 80,000 are
surgically treated.
Ismira Lutfia
Jakarta Globe
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