Eye Bank
Eye banks retrieve and store eyes for cornea transplants and research. In 1944, the first eye bank was founded in New York City by two physicians, Dr. Townley Paton and Dr. John MacLean. Eye banks provide tissue for about 46,000 cornea transplants a year in the United States to treat conditions such as keratoconus and corneal scarring. The cornea is not the only part of the eye that can currently undergo transplantation, as the sclera can also be used to surgically repair recipient eyes. In contrast to other organs, there is an adequate supply of corneas for transplants in the United States, and excess tissue is exported internationally However, internationally, there is a shortage of corneal tissue.
Read more about Eye Bank: Recovery of Eye Tissue, Laboratory Processing, Shortage and Growth of Eye Banks, Regulations, List of Eye Banks in The United States
Famous quotes containing the words eye and/or bank:
“All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Ecclesiastes 1:8-9.
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)