On Nov. 9, the first full eye transplant in the world was performed. The transplantation consisted of replacing James’ full left eye and a portion of the donor’s face.  

The recipient of the transplant was Aaron James, a 46-year-old who worked in the military and was in a high-voltage accident that destroyed half of his face. The high-voltage accident caused James pain to the extent that the doctor had to put him in a medically induced coma and amputate his left arm and left eye. 

The doctors told him that he would get surgery on the left side of his face as it was destroyed in the accident. This incident captured the attention of the New York University Langone Health and they proposed an entire eye transplant instead. 

Though the eye transplant came with the same risks that other organ transplants posed, James accepted the proposal. Three months later, a donor who agreed to donate an eye for James was found.

The surgery was held on May 27 and finished on May 28 and after the surgery, James had to stay hospitalized for 17 days. During the surgery, over 140 surgeons attended to participate in the surgery. There were two groups that the surgeons were split into: one group removed James’ face parts that would be replaced with the donors, and the other group removed the donor’s eyeball to give to James.

To attach the eyeball to James’ face, surgeons injected adult stem cells into James’ optic nerve. This helped regenerate the optic nerve and help fuse the eye to the brain.

The surgery succeeded and the eye was successfully transplanted into Aaron James’ face. Unfortunately, James can still not see out of the transplanted eye, but doctors say that over time, the nerves connecting the eyes to the brain may recover enough to allow James to see again. 

Doctors continue to monitor James’ state as he recovers as the success of this operation is considered an accomplishment in both Ophthalmology and organ transplantation.