Are We Close to Transplanting Whole Human Eyes?

HOT TOPIC

Could Whole Eye Transplants Be a Reality? TBD …

The Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine recently received a $1 million donation from philanthropist Lois Pope to accelerate its research initiatives on whole eye transplants. Interestingly, the eye is just one of four organs, along with the ear, spine, and brain, that has yet to be successfully transplanted.

Ms. Pope’s passion for this project stems from her mother’s experience with macular degeneration, which is prevalent in ~20 million people in the United States. She states, “My mother suffered terribly for many years from macular degeneration. Of course, she is not alone. There are 20 million people here in the US with that disease. And when you combine that with the millions facing blindness and vision impairment from many other conditions, you can quickly understand how essential it is for this project to come to fruition.”

According to Bascom Palmer Director Eduardo Alfonso, MD, the project is a “moon shot” program, referring to the project that catalyzed the US moon landing. Dr. Alfonso said that the eye transplant project aims to provide blind patients with a seeing eye and anticipates that it will likely use a biologic eye modified to make it functional for vision. This “bionic eye” will likely include an electronic chip, with gene therapy to prevent allograft rejection, stem cell therapy to replace the degenerating eye tissue, and electronic connections to the brain itself.

My Two Cents

Talk about an ambitious goal! I can’t imagine this ever working well, unfortunately, but I really hope I’m wrong (I usually am). Connecting any sort of bionic eye to the optic nerve and hoping for regeneration and successful reconnection seem to be the biggest hurdles, in my opinion. Not only that, but the donor eye would also have to be successfully removed, and the amount of delicate microsurgery necessary for that and the reconnection seems nearly impossible. (Don’t forget about all those muscles that move our eyes around.) Fingers crossed Ms. Pope’s gifts bring this “moon shot” of an idea closer to reality!

OUTSIDE THE LANE

Collaborative (Veterinary) Eye Care

In late 2022, The ABQ BioPark in Albuquerque, New Mexico, undertook a significant effort to perform eye surgery on a 55-year-old, 7,600-lb elephant named Irene with extremely poor vision due to a subluxated lens.

Albuquerque BioPark

The park recently posted a video to highlight the planning that went into the process of an (evident) enucleation for Irene’s damaged eye and to provide an update on her status. It is fascinating to see how the park and its staff went about the planning and implementation of the procedure to accommodate the elephant’s age and size. The surgery offers unique insights into the challenges and rewards of veterinary ophthalmology, particularly when dealing with large exotic animals.

My Two Cents

This video highlights the importance of good teamwork and collaboration in health care, specifically in unique cases such as this. It shows nearly anything is possible with proper planning and the right team in place. Great job, ABQ BioPark!

CAN YOU RELATE

Those who know me know I love podcasts—especially eye care podcasts. Recently, I listened to one that’s relatively new (to me, at least) called The Depth Perception Podcast. The hosts, Nadia Afkhami, OD, MS; Jasdeep Singh Soni, OD; Douglas Akidi, OD, MHA; and Svetlana Nunez, are all either new(ish) optometry school grads or, in the case of Ms. Nunez, a third-year optometry student.

Although all the episodes I’ve listened to thus far have been entertaining and come strongly recommended, one recent episode was particularly thought-provoking and fascinating to this no-longer-young optometrist: episode 21, Emerge and See-NBEO Board Scores Discussion.

In this episode, we hear from the youngest generation of our profession and get their take on board scores, the gradual decline in board passing rates, and their experience with the process. It was fascinating to hear all this from those who are being forced to deal with it or have most recently conquered this new generation of board examinations.

If you simply read the various Facebook group posts about our profession and “today’s students,” you’d likely be of the belief that today’s students are simply not as intellectually strong as previous classes; however, these four amazing individuals make it very apparent that this is not the case. Not only that, but I can attest that the externs who constantly rotate through Williamson Eye Center are better educated and more prepared to handle anything in the eye care world than I ever was just 10 years ago.

Kudos to Ms. Nunez and to Drs. Akidi, Afkhami, and Soni on a well-balanced discussion on an incredibly difficult topic. I’m sure the NBEO officials were listening to it intently, making sure nothing out of line was said, and I can’t imagine they had a problem with anything.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Arlt triangle of keratic precipitates.

Paul Hammond, OD, FAAO, @kmkoptometrypro

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“School exams are memory tests; in the real world, no one is going to stop you from referring to a book to solve a problem.”

— Amit Kalantri, mentalist, mind reader, magician