My first corneal transplant, in 1993, involved literally waiting for someone appropriate to die, and going into a major operation with a few days' notice. By 1

My first corneal transplant, in 1993, involved literally waiting for someone appropriate to die, and going into a major operation with a few days' notice. By 1998, when I had my other cornea transplanted, NZ had a well-established cornea bank, a steady supply of donor corneas stored (short term) and ready for whoever needed one next, and so I was able to choose the time in advance. Any improvements to this process and these kinds of procedure will be very beneficial. Corneas are comparatively easy to transplant, as they have no blood supply (oxygenated through tears), so there are few rejection problems and no immunosuppression drugs needed long term. That means this kind of stem cell approach is probably mostly useful when there are supply issues, as the article implies, rather than for compatibility reasons.