Surrey man first to receive artificial cornea
The NHS is rolling out artificial cornea transplants to cut waiting lists for the sight-saving surgery
Last updated 4th Jun 2024
A 91-year-old man from Surrey has made history by becoming the first patient in England to receive an artificial cornea.
Cecil Farley, from Chobham, faced a year-long wait for sight-saving surgery after a human cornea transplant failed, but his surgeon offered him the chance to skip the queue by using an artificial one.
Medics hope that one day the new artificial corneas could reduce the need for human cornea donations.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust consultant ophthalmologist Thomas Poole said the use of artificial corneas is a "great advancement for patient care".
The new product replaces the inner part of the cornea.
It has been likened to a contact lens and is surgically attached to the eye by a single stitch and put in place with a gas bubble.
Mr Farley, known to his friends as John, said the transplant surgery has enabled him to continue to see his 83-year-old wife Elizabeth.
He had no vision in his right eye, but his sight has slowly been improving since the procedure, which took place in February.
The 91-year-old had problems with his eye for around 15 years.
He said: "I can still see my wife after 63 years of marriage, we can just carry on as normal and live life as fully as we can.
"It makes your life fuller when your eyes work properly - you don't realise how debilitating it is until it happens to you."
"It has made a great difference to my sight. It was very blurred and I couldn't distinguish a face. Now I can see better with it, the brighter the light the better. It's coming along slowly - they said it could take up to a year."
Mr Poole and his colleague, Hanbin Lee, have successfully given four patients artificial corneas in the last two months and initial results have shown an improvement in vision.
He said: "It is a great advancement for patient care, and it's going to be a great opportunity for some patients who either can't wait too long or have other comorbidities in the eye.
"We now have a very long waiting list for a human cornea, which we've been using for many years very successfully. The problem is if you've got patients whose eyes are getting worse, you can't get a human cornea for over a year.
"There are risks with staying on a waiting list with an unwell eye; there are risks in not doing anything as well, such as picking up an infection.
"Looking forward to the future, I think this may end up replacing human corneas for certain types of corneal graft patients. In maybe 10 or 20 years' time - this may become the norm where we don't need a human cornea, and we can just take one out of the box."
Mr Poole added: "I've just booked three people for this. All three have had failed grafts in the past, all three are looking at a year-long waiting list. We can just get it off the shelf. I can do it in the next couple of months rather than waiting for a year.
"The three patients I've listed today are case in point - they are now not going to need a human cornea so it will take pressure off the waiting lists."
In 2022/23, the latest figures available, some 4,719 corneas were supplied to NHS Blood and Transplant Eye Banks and there were 3,529 transplants.
Only 200 have been implanted worldwide to date, including in Mr Farley.{