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Testimonials - Cornea & External Disease
 Aaron Young was working on his family's farm in Ohio when anhydrous ammonia was accidentally sprayed in his face. The liquid fertilizer scarred his corneas terribly, and destroyed the stem cells of his ocular surface in both eyes. Aaron's sight was virtually gone.
Aaron underwent several eye surgeries, but no doctor believed that his sight could be restored. Two months into the process, however, Aaron's ophthalmologist referred him to Edward J. Holland, M.D., a cornea specialist at the Cincinnati Eye Institute. "Dr. Holland said, 'we've seen worse, and we've fixed worse. We're going to help you,'" Aaron remembers. "In one day, everything changed for me."
Dr. Holland began to oversee Aaron's care, and later performed an ocular surface stem cell transplant and two subsequent cornea transplants. Aaron's once-perfect vision was restored, just in time for him to see his baby born. "That was a profound experience," says Aaron, who is now in medical school. He adds, "My wife, Hillary, and I named our son Holland."
 Morgan Hughes was three months old when her mom realized that she wasn't behaving normally. "She didn't even notice me when I walked into the room, or acknowledge a toy in front of her," Melissa recalls. The Hughes family was referred to Adam H. Kaufman, M.D., at CEI. Dr. Kaufman diagnosed Morgan with congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy and a number of related eye problems, including bullous keratopathy (swelling of the cornea) and open-angle glaucoma.
As a result of these conditions, explained Dr. Kaufman, Morgan's corneas were very thick, and her only treatment option was a cornea transplant on both eyes. Dr. Kaufman performed one transplant in December 2002 and the other in February 2003. "When we took the patches off, we knew right away that she could see, because it showed on her face," Melissa says. "Everyone was ecstatic!"
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