THE RELEVANCE OF EYE BANKS AND PEOPLE AWARENESS IN THE CORNEAL TRANSPLANT PROCESS.

Corneal diseases are responsible for around four to five percent of the causes of reversible blindness in the world and affect more than eight million people, making corneal transplantation necessary, as this is the main treatment to restore vision in patients with opacities of the cornea. Medical knowledge regarding the different types of corneal transplantation has made this an extremely safe and effective procedure, having been widely performed today. To this end, eye banks play an essential role in providing high-quality tissues to corneal surgeons through the harvesting, processing, evaluation, classification, storage, and proper distribution of ocular tissues. Therefore, this study aims to present a narrative review of the different approaches to organizing eye banks and the cornea supply process recorded in the literature. The study consists of a narrative review in which 26 articles were selected through research in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, AND LILACS databases. There is, globally, an undeniable gap between the supply and demand for donor corneas. It is necessary to improve appropriate training techniques and methods for surgeons and technicians to routinely evaluate donor viability criteria, in addition to raising public awareness about corneal transplantation. Model eye bank systems should be mirrored and serve as a reference for centers with a deficit in offering donor corneas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]