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We restore sight worldwide

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        • EBAA is the nationally-recognized accrediting and standards setting body for eye banks.

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        • Cornea Donation
        • Since 1961, EBAA member eye banks have provided tissue for more than 2 million sight restoring, life-changing corneal transplants.

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Cornea Donation

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An estimated 12 million people around the world suffer from corneal blindness that could be restored with a cornea transplant.

A cornea transplant is a procedure involving the replacement of a diseased or scarred cornea with a cornea recovered from a person who has passed away. Right now, there is no artificial cornea – only tissue from a deceased human donor can be used for transplantation.

The process of cornea donation starts with an individual’s generous decision to be an eye, organ, and tissue donor, or a family’s consent to give the gift of sight. EBAA eye banks facilitate the life-transforming process of cornea transplantation.

  • Cornea Donation

  • Register as a Donor
  • Regístrese para ser donante
  • The Donation Process
  • What is an eye bank?
  • FAQs
  • Common Corneal Diseases
  • Other Uses for Corneas

Over 2 million corneal transplants have been performed by EBAA member eye banks.

Recipients range from newborns to senior citizens and come from all walks of life. You can transform the life of someone suffering from corneal blindness; register as an eye, organ and tissue donor, and let someone see life through your eyes.

Register as a donor
Regístrese para ser donante
  • Giving another human being the opportunity to see the wonders of the world was something Tefa would have done without hesitation. Her happiness, peace, and serenity demonstrated that she appreciated every aspect, moment, person, and visual in her life.

    Read Estefanía’s Story
  • My family was not aware that he had registered to become a donor. It wasn’t a great surprise though because that’s the kind of person he was: loving, caring, respectful, gracious and giving.

    Read Jeremiah’s Story
  • Dr. Maisha Gray Diggs suffered from a progressive eye disease that caused her vision to be blurry and distorted, making daily tasks very difficult. She became legally blind at the age of 26, but her vision was restored thanks to a double-corneal transplant.

    Read Dr. Maisha Gray Diggs’ Story
  • “Vision was a gift from two people, and I needed to do something with it,” he said, explaining that the two organ donors who provided his corneas inspired him to start reclaiming his former active lifestyle.

    Read Dr. Minesh Patel’s Story
  • Thanks to a generous donor, Colton received a sight-restoring cornea transplant. Today, he isn’t scared to do any of the things he loves, like swimming and riding four-wheelers with his cousins or playing quarterback with his brothers during football.

    Read Colton’s Story
Read more stories

The Donation Process

The process of cornea donation starts with an individual’s decision to be an eye, tissue, and organ donor, or a family’s consent to donation, and then results in a cornea transplant for a patient suffering from corneal blindness.

learn more about the donation process

What is an eye bank?

Eye banks restore sight and change lives in their local communities and around the world by facilitating donation and providing ocular tissue for transplant, research and education.

Learn more about eye banks

An eye bank technician holds up a jar labeled "Cornea-Research"

Share your story

EBAA is collecting stories to help fill our Eye Donation Month campaign in November and beyond with from-the-field stories. Share what it means to be involved with or impacted by eye donation and restoring sight!

Share your story today

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