Surgeons at NYU Langone Health have performed the world’s first transplant of an entire human eye. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman has the details.
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00:00Doctors have performed the first-ever transplant of an entire eye.
00:04The recipient was Aaron James of Arkansas.
00:07James lost the left side of his face in 2021,
00:09when it accidentally came in contact with a live wire during his work as a lineman.
00:13In May, surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed a partial face transplant,
00:18and they decided to include, for the first time ever, a donated eye.
00:21Stem cells were injected into the optic nerve in the hope of connecting it to James' brain.
00:26So far, James has not regained vision in the eye.
00:29But it's healthy otherwise, and surgical team leader Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez said the procedure was a breakthrough.
00:34The mere fact that we transplanted an eye is a huge step forward,
00:38something that within centuries has been thought about, but it's never been performed.
00:43And James said he's happy with the result as well.
00:45I said, you know, even if I can't see,
00:48which I didn't have an eye there to begin with, you know, after the accident,
00:53you know, maybe at least, you know, y'all can learn something to help the next person.
01:00I mean, that's how you gotta start it.