Sunday, Sep 01, 2024 00:15 [IST]
Last Update: Saturday, Aug 31, 2024 18:43 [IST]
Eye
Donation – You can see even after your death!
S. Balakrishnan
A visit
to an eye hospital in Chennai led me to the canteen there as well; in fact, I
look forward to visiting the eye hospital more for the tasty and reasonably
cheap food at the canteen rather than the longish & thorough eye check-up.
What caught my attention at the canteen was the menu board in the style of an Eye
Chart that is used to test the visual acuity. The topmost letter was a big ‘T’ (for tea),
the next line was KAPI (coffee, as pronounced in Tamil), third line in a
gradually smaller font was dosa, then ginger tea, rose milk and so on; the last
line was ‘Udupi dosa’, in smallest font. I was happy I could read all the lines
(never mind the proximity), so I ordered ‘keerai vadai’ and kapi to celebrate
my ‘improved’ vision!
As I
was enjoying the vadai and kapi, my eyes captured some interesting and amazing
facts about eyes in general, as displayed there - Human eyes can focus on 50
different things in a second. The only human organ more complex than our eye is
the brain. Seeing takes up 50% of brains functionality. Our eye has amazing
healing power; it can filter out dust, dirt and heal scratches in less than 48
hours. 80% of our learning comes through seeing. Our eyes can distinguish
approximately 10 million colours. If the human eye was a camera it would have
576 pixels. The iris in our eye has 256 unique characteristics while the
fingerprint has only 40. Chameleons can move their eyes in two different
directions at once. While working on computer, follow the 20-20-20 rule; look
at some object 20 feet away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. A worm has no eyes
at all. At birth, babies can see only in black, white and some shades of grey. And
up to six weeks, babies can’t produce tears. Dogs can’t differentiate between
red and green colours. The owls can’t move their eyeballs; instead they turn
their head almost around. Scorpions have 12 eyes and the box jellyfish 24!
Dolphins can sleep with one eye open. The night vision of a tiger is six times
better than that of a human. The largest eye on the planet belongs to the giant
squid; its eye measure as much as 10 inches (25 cms) across, almost the size of
a football. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain! A dragon fly has 30,000
lenses in its eyes, making it to detect motion very easily; hence it is
difficult for predators to catch it.
Well, the
eye chart that is used to measure the vision acuity (with or without glasses)
is generally called ‘Snellen chart’. This should be viewed from a distance of
20 feet / 6 metres. If one has 20/20 vision,
it means one has normal visual acuity. The letters / numbers / symbols on the
eye chart in varying sizes are called Optotypes.
The most precious gift one can give –
even after death – is the pair of eyes. This gives the power of vision to two
people. Just ‘visualise’ how one would feel on getting sight! But the demand for eye transplantation far
exceeds the supply of donated eyes. This could be due to some myths and
unfounded beliefs which are busted hereunder – Anyone from the age of 1 (one),
irrespective of age, sex, blood group or religion can donate their eyes. Even
those having cataract or wearing spectacles can donate eyes. Similarly, persons
suffering from hypertension, diabetes can also donate eyes. People blind from
retinal or optic nerve disease can also donate their eyes. Eyes can be donated
by the next of kin even if the deceased had not formally pledged their eyes
during their lifetime.
Well, who cannot donate their
eyes? - Those that died of unknown causes; death due to infectious causes, viz., rabies,
syphilis, infectious hepatitis, septicaemia, and AIDS. Any frank ocular
infection, previous refractive surgery (Refractive surgery is to improve visual
quality and reduce the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses).
Following are the steps to be followed while donating eyes - After
pledging to donate your eyes, please inform your family about your wish to
donate eyes, so that your wish is fulfilled. Eyes should be donated within 6-8
hours of death. So inform the nearest eye bank IMMEDIATELY. Switch off the fans and keep the air conditioner or
cooler on. Raise the head with the help of a pillow by about 6 inches to
decrease bleeding during removal of the eyes. Close the eyes and place wet
cotton swab on them. If possible, give antibiotic eye drops periodically.
The Eye Bank team will rush over to where the body is
available after death. This is a free service in public interest. The whole
procedure takes just 15-20 minutes. There is no disfigurement of the face of
the donor. The
donated eyes are analyzed, processed at the eye bank and then cornea is
transplanted within 96 hours, if found fit. Unfortunately, not all donated
eyes are utilised due to poor quality, etc.
What is eye transplantation surgery? A Corneal transplant is
a surgery through which the opaque cornea is replaced with a clear cornea
obtained from a human donor eye. The cornea is the clear,
transparent layer in front of the "black portion" of the eye. It is
also the main focusing surface that converges light rays as they enter the eye
to focus on the retina. It is, therefore, the most important part of the
optical apparatus of the eye. Loss of transparency directly results in loss of
vision. Only
the cornea and sclera (The sclera is the white, protective coating of the
eye that extends from the cornea to the optic nerve.) can be transplanted.
However, the entire eyeball is removed (enucleated) to enable the
corneo-scleral disc to be fashioned surgically in a sterile environment. But
there is no disfigurement of the face of the donor.
We
felt satisfied of having fulfilled my father’s pledge to donate his eyes when
we were informed by the Eye Bank that both his eyes were found fit and
transplanted to two people. I wish my eyes too would be donated promptly. So I
was worried when the ophthalmologist (it is easier to spell and say ‘eye
doctor’) diagnosed glaucoma in my eyes. She assured me that glaucoma was not a
cause to reject my eyes. I was greatly relieved.
Kannappa Nayanar is perhaps the first human to donate
eyes and transplant it to Lord Shiva Himself! Kannappa Nayanar is one among the
63 Nayanmars (extremely devoted devotees of Lord Shiva in the Tamil Nadu of the
yore). So that the world should know of Kannappa Nayanar’s undoubted devotion
to Him, Lord Shiva enacted a drama when the devotee, without any hesitation,
donated both his eyes to stop the bleeding of the eyes of a Shivlinga. One can
read in detail by googling Kannappa Nayanar.
So he was hailed as ‘Kan’nappa Nayanar, as ‘kan’ in Tamil means ‘eye’.
Take sufficient care of your eyes so that they can
provide vision to two people even after your death. At the same time, don’t
worry too much about your eyes and suffer ‘Ommetaphobia’, the fear of eyes,
excess worry about eyes, etc. And
neither should you behave like the cat that closed its eyes and thought that
the whole world went dark! Of course, if we were to take an eye for an eye, the
whole world would become dark.
…
krishnanbala2004@yahoo.co.in / 9840917608 Whatsapp