Minnesota Lions Eye Bank -

Donation Facts

All deaths that occur in a hospital are referred to a donation agency. Hospitals are legally required by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to notify eye and tissue banks and organ procurement organizations of every death that occurs in the hospital. The eye bank works in partnership with hospitals to facilitate donation.

Eye or cornea donation is a small surgical procedure that is usually performed at the hospital.

With eye donation, there is a slight chance of bruising or swelling around the eyes. Eye tissue removal technicians work very hard to prevent this, and funeral directors can perform reconstruction work when discoloration or swelling occurs.

Donors are treated with dignity and respect. To ensure recipient safety, a sample of the donor's blood is sent to a laboratory to test for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis. Food and Drug Administration regulations require donation agencies to obtain a medical and social history of the donor, so donor coordinator must ask questions similar to those asked before a blood donation.

The donation of eyes, tissues, or organs requires documentation demonstrating that the donor gave consent for donation before death or that the family of the donor gave consent for donation after death. A donor coordinator will work with families to ensure that donation meets all legal conditions.

Many factors determine whether or not a person meets donation criteria, but most people can be donors. Some things that DO NOT necessarily prevent one from being a donor are: prior surgeries, age, cataracts, laser eye surgery, some cancers, and poor vision. Feel free to contact the eye bank if you have questions about a specific condition and its impact on donation.

The Minnesota Lions Eye Bank practices both whole eye (the entire eye is removed) and in situ (only the cornea is removed) donation. While the cornea (the clear tissue in the front of the eye) is the only part of the eye regularly transplanted, the sclera (white of the eye) can also be used to repair the recipient's sclera or in glaucoma surgery.

A patient-based, impartial, and equitable distribution system is in place to make sure that sight-saving corneal tissue is fairly distributed to transplant candidates. Placing the tissue with surgeons in Minnesota is the top consideration, and more than 60 percent of the eye tissue donated to the Minnesota Lions Eye Bank is placed locally. If local needs are met, the eye bank places the tissue elsewhere in the United States or overseas. Emergency needs always get first priority.