Sight has been incredibly restored thanks to a pig eye transplant

A 14-year-old Chinese boy has received part of a transplanted pig eye, which has incredibly restored his sight. The success of this operation could offer new hope for vision impaired people everywhere.

According to local reports, the boy lost his cornea during a Chinese New Year fireworks accident. Without a transparent coat to protect his iris and pupil, the eyes cannot function. Complete human eye transplants, however, are very rare. China has a particularly low rate of organ donors to support eye transplants.

Doctors in Guangzhou were left with no choice, except to transplant a pig cornea into the boy’s eye. After several weeks of recovery, the operation was deemed a success by doctors overnight! The boy is expected to achieve a full recovery, and regain complete use of his sight.

An ophthalmic professor from Zhongshan University also told Mashable that this operation could make cornea transplants much more common and achievable. This announcement has offered hope for vision impaired people everywhere. In Australia, over 350 000 people are blind or vision impaired. Surgical options are currently limited, but in hopefully in time that will change.

Are you amazed by this latest medical breakthrough? Is somebody you know vision impaired?