Eye banking: an introduction

While prevention is the most desirable way to control corneal blindness, once a cornea has lost its transparency, a corneal transplant, or graft, is a patient’s best chance to regain vision in the affected eye(s). However, the biggest limiting factor is the worldwide shortage of donated corneas. In lowand middle-income countries, where the magnitude of corneal blindness is greatest, the availability of donated corneas is very low. This is due in large part to the lack of local eye banks. Efforts are under way to develop eye banks of optimal standards in many lowand middle-income countries, with countries like India and Philippines making notable progress. Myanmar, Ethiopia (see box right), and Kenya are examples where high quality eye banks have been established. However, this is still not enough to meet the need for corneas.