NEW TECHNIQUE FOR CORNEAL TRANSPLANT

[Anchor Lead]

Korean doctors found a way to split one cornea and transplant them in two different patients. So far, a sore lack of cornea donors has caused people to wait for more than seven years for corneal transplants. But now, this new medical technique will help restore clear eyesight for more people.

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The cornea. A clear membrane that covers the iris of the eye which serves as the ocular window. This woman was nearly blind from cloudy corneas, but she can now see clearly after a corneal transplant.

[Soundbite] KIM CHUN-JA(CORNEAL TRANSPLANT PATIENT) : "I experienced a whole new world after the corneal transplant. I could see everything clearly."

But she didn't get the whole cornea, just a half. The other half went to a man in his sixties.

[Soundbite] SONG SEONG-KI(CORNEAL TRANSPLANT PATIENT) : "It's like looking through a clean glass window."

In conventional corneal transplants, the rule is one cornea per person. There are so few corneas available for transplants that patients have to wait an average of seven years for donated corneal tissues. But now Korean doctors have adopted a new transplantation method that splits one cornea to be used in two different patients. So far, this procedure accounts for a mere 2.7% of all corneal transplants carried out these days, but that's likely to change. Split cornea transplantation requires a high-precision technique of dividing a 0.5-millimeter-thin cornea into 0.01-millimeter-thin layers.

[Soundbite] PROF. HWANG HO-SIK(SEOUL ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL) : "With split corneal transplant there are very few rejection symptoms and complications, like glaucoma. Also, one can gain very good eyesight."

Roughly 2,100 people are registered for cornea transplants, but there are only about 200 donors per year. This transplantation method is expected to bring hope to those on the waiting list.