Eva Joyce- UK's Youngest Corneal Transplant Patient

Eva Joyce is the youngest Brit to have a corneal transplant at just two and a half weeks of age.Eva is 4-months old now. She has a rare congenital condition called Peter's anomaly, owing to which she was born blind. At just 17-days, the little girl had her right cloudy cornea removed and replaced with a healthy donor cornea in a 3-hour operation at Birmingham Children's Hospital. A transplant on her left eye was done when she was 4-weeks.

For 6-weeks after the operation Eva was given hourly eye-drops. Eva is still given anti-rejection drugs to reduce the risk of her body failing to accept the donor corneas.Eva has to keep a follow-up at the hospital every fortnight. She will be monitored till she is 16-years old.

Consultant ophthalmologist Manoj Parulekar said, "We look forward to seeing her grow up and do all the things her friends and big sister can do."

Eva's mother said, "We would like to highlight the importance of corneal donation and the huge difference that it can make to people's lives. We feel incredibly lucky that someone has made the decision to donate organs to help people like Eva in what must be extremely sad circumstances."

Source-Medindia