Hope when blindness stares in the eye

For Kevin Mayaka, seeing the beautiful sunrise, his own face, the warm smiles of his loved ones and other beautiful sights could soon be unthinkable. Kevin has been having a serious eye problem since he was three. He says his numerous visits to various eye hospitals have been of little help.

“They kept on telling me that it was an allergy, which would soon dissipate, but that has never happened.” He says today he cannot read anything; not even the bold newspaper headlines. “My eyes are rotting away,” he sadly describes his situation, and adds that becoming completely blind is now a reality that is staring him in the eye.

From the beginning of this year, Kevin’s right eye has been failing and, in recent weeks, has gone partially blind. “If nothing is done on time, the worst will happen to both of my eyes,” says the 24-year-old. He says that due to some personal problems, he has not been able to seek proper diagnosis of his problem.

“From the way I see things, I am going to lose these eyes,” he says resignedly. Statistics indicate that every minute, someone goes blind. In Kenya, 230,000 people are blind from conditions or circumstances that can be avoided. But you could help Kevin, or thousands other who are like him. Have you ever thought of donating your eyes for the sake of those at risk of becoming blind?

That is now possible. You can pledge to donate cornea tissue (the transparent convex membrane which covers the pupil and iris), which could then be extracted when you die to help restore sight for someone suffering from corneal blindness (blindness of the cornea). Although an eye bank has been in Kenya for the last two years, not many people have come forward to pledge their eyes.

Hospitals abroad

Before the centre was built in 2007, Kenyan eye hospitals had been relying heavily on donations from hospitals abroad, which medical authorities say have been decreasing in the last few years, even as the number of those in need of corneal transplant grew. The rising demand for eye donations was the driving force behind the establishment of the Kanubhai Babla Eye bank, at the Lions Eye Hospital in Loresho, Nairobi.

The eye centre, named after the person who funded its construction, was the first, and is the only such facility in East and Central Africa, according to the hospital. Because of very few local donations, the facility still relies on tissue donations from hospitals abroad, according to Mr Gerald Murithi, the eye bank’s technician.

“For example, we received only 20 local donations last year,” he said when the Nation recently visited the centre. But importing the donated eye tissue from the United States, Asia, India and Sri Lanka — where the majority of donor hospitals are situated — is very expensive, costing US$1,300 (Sh97,500) per tissue, according to the hospital.

The hospital’s officials say they currently have 1,200 eye patients who suffer damaged cornea and require transplant, but there are no tissues to be used. They are now calling for awareness on the need for one to ‘leave behind’ one’s eye tissues for the sake of those who need them, and a change of attitude towards eye donations.

Mr Murithi, who oversees the day-to-day running of the centre, says Kenyans should learn from foreign countries, where donating one’s eyes is not a big issue. “In Sri Lanka, anybody who dies is presumed to have pledged his or her eyes. So the tissues are just extracted, unless somebody objects. That’s the law. I wish it could be so in Kenya,” he said.

The hospital preserves the donated eye parts under regulated temperatures, and the tissues undergo various quality and suitability tests before they are transplanted. The tests, Mr Murithi said, include cell count and blood sample tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and Syphilis. If a tissue fails any of the tests, it is discarded.

When the eye tissues are being extracted, the rest of the eye ball is left intact, since only the cornea and sclera are useful for eye transplant. People suffering from corneal blindness can have their eye sight restored by having their defective cornea replaced with the donated corneal tissues.

Corneal blindness

According to the Lions Eye Hospital, the common causes of corneal blindness are heredity, scarring of the cornea after trauma, infections, damage during eye surgery, ageing processes or corneal diseases. There is no substitute for corneal tissue, so transplants solely rely on donations. It is estimated that about 250,000 people are blind in Kenya and that 80 per cent of all cases of blindness are avoidable.