Late Sandalwood actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s eyes give sight to four youths

Doctors at Bengaluru’s Narayana Nethralaya said they used the two segments in each cornea and transplanted them in four corneal blind patients
Puneeth Rajkumar's eyes have been donated to four people
Puneeth Rajkumar's eyes have been donated to four people

In what might be a first in Karnataka, late actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s eyes have provided eyesight to not just two, but four youths. Doctors at Bengaluru’s Narayana Nethralaya said they used the two segments in each cornea and transplanted them in four corneal blind patients.

Dr K Bhujang Shetty, chairman and managing director of Narayana Nethralaya, said while addressing media persons, “We are very fortunate and grateful for ‘Power Star’ Puneeth Rajkumar’s eye donation. What was unique is that we used each eye to treat two patients by separating the superior and deeper layers of the cornea.”

“The superior layer was transplanted to two patients, who had superficial corneal disease, and only the deeper layer was transplanted to patients with endothelial or deep corneal layer disease. Hence, we created four different transplants from two corneas to restore vision for four different patients. This had not been done in Karnataka so far, to the best of our knowledge,” Dr Shetty explained.

“Besides this, the limbal rim (white part of the eye near the circumference of the cornea), which was not used for the transplants, has been sent to our laboratory to generate ‘Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells’ for potential use in patients with Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency, chemical injuries, acid burns and other serious disorders, especially with Diwali around the corner,” he was quoted as saying.

Following the footsteps of his father Dr Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar’s family donated the actor’s eyes on October 29. After he passed away, Puneeth’s brother Raghavendra called up Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank, which is run by Narayana Nethralaya, to collect his eyes.

The 46-year-old actor passed away on October 29 after suffering from cardiac arrest while working out in the gym.

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