THE gift of sight is one of the greatest a person can give – but not enough people are doing so.

Donations are high on the agenda for health experts who are now appealing for more people to donate their eyes when they die.

There is currently a shortage of cornea donors and, as of September 29, NHS Blood and Transplant’s (NHS BT) eye banks in Bristol and Manchester are 21 per cent below the level required to meet demand.

As a result NHS BT has teamed up with hospitals in the South East and Greater Manchester to help address the national shortage.

This includes Royal Bolton Hospital and the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, as well as Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

Bolton Eye Unit is widely regarded as one of the leading NHS ophthalmic departments in England and one of the two main corneal transplant centres in Greater Manchester.

Consultant Jeff Kwartz has been clinical lead for ophthalmology in Bolton since 2006.

He said: “It is truly life-changing and transforming giving people their sight back.

“Essentially we need as many corneas as we can get. I know there’s a waiting list both in the country and regionally with a back log of people waiting.

“It affects not just the elderly but there are also quite a lot of young people with cornea conditions whose lives will be transformed by a transplant.

“People who are essentially with visual loss or pain can be restored back to normality with a cornea transplant.

“As long as the donor has had no infections – such as hepatitis or HIV – or operations which affect the cornea, anyone can donate, there is no age limit.

“You wouldn’t want a 93-year-old kidney or liver but that is not a problem for the cornea.”

Corneas are the clear tissue on the front of the eye that help the eye to focus light.

Almost anyone can donate their eyes for cornea transplants when they die, including some people with cancer.

The whole eye is donated but only the cornea is transplanted into the recipient.

The tissue can be removed up to 24 hours after the donor dies and, unlike with organ donation, they do not have to die in a hospital intensive care unit or A&E department to donate.

Donation can take place after death in hospital, in hospices or in funeral home.

In Bolton, the ophthalmology team carries out 20 to 30 operations a year to help restore eye site and the borough is one of the areas with higher numbers of potential donors.

The hospitals now has systems to routinely notify NHS BT of all potential donors who have died in the hospital, so that specialist nurses can discuss the possibility of their loved one donating their corneas and other tissue to help others.

Jeff adds: “I think some people feel squeamish about eyes, which they shouldn’t be, or fear they will be taken while the donor is still on a ventilator.

“However, you can take the cornea after death because it’s tissue and not an organ. “

Eyes donated in one area can be used for cornea transplants in other parts of the country.

Around 3000 people agree to donate their relative’s corneas each year.

In Bolton 41 families agreed to donate their relative’s eyes during 2016/2017, compared to 66 families in Salford and 37 families in the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh areas.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Organ Donor Register or registering to become a donor can visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.

People may lose their sight as the result of damage caused by eye disease or injury, or defects from birth.

These include disease or injury that has made the cornea cloudy or distorted, causing vision loss; scarring of the cornea after infections such as corneal ulcer; Keratoconus , a thinning of the cornea causing a cone-like bulge to develop, usually in young people; age or inherited conditions that may lead to cloudiness of the cornea; or scarring caused by cold sore virus herpes.

Paralympic Swimmer Stephanie Slater MBE had a cornea transplant in her right eye in October 2016.

Aged 11, she was diagnosed with degenerative eye condition Keratoconus.

The 26-year-old from Preston found herself misjudging finishes and bumping into walls, forcing her to count the number of strokes to make sure she knew when to turn.

The operation went smoothly and her eyesight is starting to gradually return now.

Knowing her donor was a woman in her 40s, she wrote a letter of thanks to the family.

She explains: “By the time of the transplant I didn’t really have any vision in my right eye, it was cloudy and really blurry.

“I am just forever thankful to that family. At that hard time in their lives they donated and it has made such a difference to me.”