Eye Banking: Corneal Surgeons’ Present and Future Needs

Purpose: To determine unmet present and future corneal surgeons’ needs from their eye banks.

Methods: On-line six question survey.

Results: 61 corneal surgeons responded, 45 from the United States. The most frequent unmet present needs included pre-cut and pre-stripped DSAEK and DMEK tissue, pre-loaded tissue, serum tears, and antifungals in storage media. Lower tissue processing costs and more educational services were also noted. Future anticipated needs included greater demand for processed tissues and new emphasis on eye bank involvement in cellular processing of donor as well as recipient tissues.

Conclusions: There are both present and future anticipated needs that eye banks will need to meet as eye banking continues to evolve.