Eye donation – What does it involve?

Eyes surely are one of the best things to donate. Eye donation is done after the death of the donor and can help those who suffer from corneal blindness. Corneal blindness, is a situation wherein the cornea of the eye becomes clouded because of malnutrition, infection, injury or due to some disease. This leads to a situation wherein the vision is either reduced or totally lost.

Removing the damaged cornea and replacing it with a healthy one is the only way in which corneal blindness can be cured. As artificial corneas are yet to be developed, the only way in which cornea can be got is from fellow human beings. This is the reason why eye donation has a lot of demand and is regarded as one of the best ways to help the needy and serve the society.

Anyone irrespective of their age, sex or blood group can be a donor. There is no age limit for donating the eye. Also poor eye sight does not cause any hindrance in eye donation. Therefore even though you are suffering from long sightedness, short sightedness, or have got your eyes operated, people clinically determined to have diabetes as well as hypertension can easily give away his or her eyes. your can donate your cornea and gift eyesight to a blind person.

Once the eyes are pledged, the cornea is removed within 6-8 hours after the death of the donor. It takes only 15-20 minutes in total to remove the cornea.

In India, there are many myths around the eye donation process. These myths needs to be removed, so that many more people opt for eye donation.

One most common myth is that eye donation leaves a hole in the eye socket, thereby disfiguring the face of the donor. This is totally wrong, as the process involves removal of just the cornea of the eye. Therefore there is no scope for disfiguring of the face of the donor.

Also there are many who think that eye donation goes against their religious beliefs. But the truth is that this is one form of charity which is encouraged by all the religions. In fact there are many traditions and scriptures wherein eye and other organ donation is endorsed.

If you are interested in eye donation, then you have to fill a pledge form and send it to your nearest eye bank. You can also make online donation to help NGOs dedicated for the blind bear the expenses of eye surgery.

Source : articlesbase.com