In eye donation, which part of the donor's eye is transplanted?

Concept

A transplant replaces damaged tissue with healthy donor tissue. The eye is not a single uniform structure: its cornea, lens, retina, and other parts perform different functions.

The cornea is the clear curved covering at the front of the eye; the lens lies behind the iris and focuses light, while the retina converts light into nerve signals.

Application

In routine eye donation, the medically usable graft is donor corneal tissue. It is placed in the recipient after diseased or damaged corneal tissue is removed; the donor's whole eyeball is not transplanted.

Contrast

• The lens focuses light inside the eye, but it is not the tissue meant by the standard eye-donation transplant.

• The whole eye contains several tissues and is not transplanted as one functioning organ.

• The standard procedure identifies one listed tissue, so the combination claim does not describe it.

• A listed tissue is used, so excluding every listed choice does not describe the procedure.

Cross-check

Corneal transplantation restores the transparent front optical surface when that tissue has become cloudy or damaged. Therefore, the transplanted part in eye donation is the cornea.