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Surgeons in New York announce world's first eye transplant (www.reuters.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Espiritdescali to c/futurology

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[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I'm really curious how one would go about re-attaching an optic nerve. and how would vision vary between your original eye on one side with a new eye on the other. Its pretty neat, I have a lot of questions lol

[–] athos77@kbin.social 11 points 11 months ago

Initially, doctors were just planning to include the eyeball as part of the face transplant for cosmetic reasons, Rodriguez said during a Zoom interview. “If some form of vision restoration occurred, it would be wonderful, but... the goal was for us to perform the technical operation,” and have the eyeball survive, Rodriquez added.

Presently, the transplanted eye is not communicating with the brain through the optic nerve. To encourage healing of the connection between the donor and recipient optic nerves, surgeons harvested adult stem cells from the donor’s bone marrow and injected them into the optic nerve during the transplant, hoping they would replace damaged cells and protect the nerve. Transplantation of a viable eye globe opens many new possibilities, Rodriguez said, even if sight is not restored in this case.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You don't. The retina to the brain is a whole package. This is a cosmetic transplant. They don't expect him to regain any vision.

Edit: https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/did-surgeons-just-transplant-whole-eye

Studies have shown optic nerve regeneration is possible in some lower vertebrates, such as fish and frogs, but there’s no evidence it can work in mammals.

[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

seems fairly complex and risky for just a cosmetic procedure eh? are glass eyes that different? I'm struggeling to find a rationale for whole eye transplant with far less risky alternatives, especially if its purely cosmetic. But then again I'm not an optimetrist lol.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Since he was already having half his face transplanted, I think they did it just because why not. They wanted to prove they could re-vascularize the retina at least. He was aware of the risks and it likely already came from the same donor anyway so it's not like it created more of a rejection risk than whatever musculature they already transplanted. If the retina didn't get successfully revascularized or it was some sort of very localized rejection, they'd just enucleate the eye and put in a prosthetic.

[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

makes sense. well eye transplants are a thing now, thats fun.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Vision is very flexible. You can get used to your vision being mirrored, so the eyeball location probably isn't a major problem.

I don't think they connected the optic nerve very well. Looks like they just globbed stem cells around it hoping that would do the trick.

Presently, the transplanted eye is not communicating with the brain through the optic nerve.

To encourage healing of the connection between the donor and recipient optic nerves, surgeons harvested adult stem cells from the donor’s bone marrow and injected them into the optic nerve during the transplant, hoping they would replace damaged cells and protect the nerve.