Eye to Eye

What was at first described as the transplant of an entire human eye was performed last week in Houston. Had the description been true, it would have been the world's first. But as the week wore on, it became clear that the transplant involved considerably less than an entire eye.

The recipient, John Madden, 54, owner of a photography studio, had been legally blind from the scarring of the corneas of both eyes. At Methodist Hospital, Dr. Conard D. Moore grafted ; cornea onto Madden's right eye, but after nine days, the graft failed because of severe bleeding. A hazel-eyed Houston man had died of a brain tumor, and Moore decided to make the transplant to the brown-eyed Madden.

Most of Madden's own right eye was left in place, with its muscles, blood vessels and the all-important optic nerve, intact. What was transplanted was the cornea, with the iris and lens--roughly, the front third of the eyeball. Since the donor eye had been refrigerated and deprived of its blood supply before transplantation, there was little or no chance that it would give Madden any useful vision.

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