It was a moment Meagan James never expected to witness.
A surgical team at NYU Langone Health in New York had performed the world’s first successful whole-eye transplant in a living person: her husband, Aaron James.
After an accident at work led to the loss of his left eye and part of his face, Aaron was given a new window to his soul, as well as a partial face transplant.
On that day in late May, a team of more than 140 surgeons at NYU Langone Health completed Aaron’s transplantation procedure, which lasted about 21 hours. The surgery included transplanting the entire left eye and parts of the face from a single donor. It was a medical first.
Aaron’s eye is now showing “remarkable” signs of health, according to his medical team. Although he can’t see out of the eye, he remains hopeful that vision might come with time — and that his first-of-its-kind procedure may help advance transplant medicine.
“That’s really my biggest hope,” Aaron said. “If I can see out of it, that’s great. But if it’ll kick-start the next path in the medical field, then I’m all for it.”
