Surgeons 'amazed' by world's first whole-eye transplant success

Surgeons who performed the world’s first whole eye transplant on an army veteran said they have been “amazed” by his remarkable recovery.

Aaron James, 47, from Arkansas in the US, lost his left eye and most of his face after surviving a high-voltage incident with an electrical cable in 2021.

In May 2023, he underwent 21 hours of surgery involving more than 140 healthcare professionals to replace his face, which included getting a new eye.

Now more than a year later, his donor eye continues to maintain normal pressure and blood flow, despite surgeries on animals showing a different outcome where the eye often shrank significantly, the doctors said.

Eduardo D Rodriguez, chair of the Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Health in the US, said: “We are truly amazed by Aaron’s recovery, with no episodes of rejection.”

Tests also show that rods and cones, the light-sensitive nerve cells in the eye, survived the transplant.

Doctors say this raises hope that one day, whole-eye transplants could be performed to restore sight, despite Mr James still yet to regain his vision in his left eye.

Dr Daniel J Ceradini, director of research and associate professor in the Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery, said: “The whole thing has been a monumental achievement, considering how Aaron has done post operatively and how good he functions and looks.”

Mr James said he “felt honoured to be patient zero.

“This has been the most transformative year of my life,” he said.

Prof Ceradini said the team will continue to do more work to understand how to restore sight to the eye. He said one of the steps could involve helping the optic nerve – which send visual messages to the brain to help a person see – regrow.