Female Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Kia Washington, Paves the Way to Life-Changing Eye Transplants

Successful eyeball transplants have been labeled as “impossible” by the male-dominated field of ophthalmology since the inception of organ transplant surgeries in the mid-twentieth century. However, there is a female doctor who is tackling the major obstacles that have hindered the possibility of this procedure at her WET (Washington Eye Transplant) Lab at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Kia Washington has taken on a new challenge in the field of ophthalmic research, offering those suffering from traumatic eye injuries actual hope for restoration of their vision within the next decade.  

Plastic surgeon, physician, and scientist, Dr. Washington was first inspired to do this work during her two years of training at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Starzl, who had been dubbed “the father of transplant surgeries.”

With a prestigious mentor to guide her studies, Dr. Washington became motivated to pursue transplant-related studies on animal models. It was during this research that she achieved the very first functional face transplant on a rat model which included its whiskers and hemiface (one side of the face). 

This success further sparked her interest in transplants, which eventually led to the birth of whole-eye transplants in humans. From that point on, she has been researching tirelessly, seeking more opportunities as a female academic. 

“If you want to move your career, you have to move,” Dr. Washington says.

Human eyeball transplantation is no easy task, and there remain several obstacles until a vision restorative operation of this kind becomes a clinical reality. According to Dr. Washington, the two biggest obstacles are regenerating the optic nerve—ensuring adequate blood and oxygen flow to the donor's eye—and figuring out the ideal postoperative immunosuppression regimen.

While ensuring blood supply to the donor's eye is the first step in the process, and is an obstacle achieved in the past by the NIH (National Eye Institute) in the 1970s, the remaining steps have yet to be cleared. 

Her recent work on cadaveric eyes has led to the patenting of a nerve wrap that contains the immunosuppressant drug, Tacrolimus, which aids in its neurodegenerative and neuroprotective properties. This nerve wrap would be used to overcome the hurdle of optic nerve regeneration. 

Through her research, Dr. Washington has also found a potential solution for postoperative immunosuppression with a drug that could be administered topically instead of orally or subcutaneously. This would reduce side effects that would make eyeball transplants harmful to patients.  

With funding worth $ 6 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, Dr. Washington hopes to transition her preclinical studies on mice and rats into the operating room for patients suffering from injury-induced vision loss.

“Eyeball transplants are done with a face transplant even before optic nerve regeneration has been fully figured out,” she says.

The first whole eye transplants are not meant to restore vision but rather are used for cosmetic purposes as a substitute for wearing prosthetic eye shells. Aaron James, a U.S. military veteran from Arkansas was announced as the world’s first recipient of a full-eye-and-partial-face transplant in November 2023. 

While James’s transplant did not regain his eyesight, there has been an immediate improvement in his overall health including the donor eye’s blood flow, oxygen supply, and stable retinal structure. Dr. Washington sees this as a sign that transplants for vision restoration for patients “are at least a decade off.”

There was even recent news that the U.S. government is taking further action to invite vision researchers and donors to speed up the endeavor of vision-restoring human eyeball transplantation.

The government agency, ARPA-H (Advanced Research Project Agency for Health) plans to explore existing as well as innovative solutions to preserve donor eye health and restore recipient sight by regenerating the optic nerve-brain connections, mirroring Dr. Washington’s history-making work.

As everyone knows, great feats are not done by only one individual. A united effort can build a better tomorrow, one eye at a time.