The Eye

[donna]

I went to see it last night and as expected it was rubbish! There was a good bit where the blind woman goes to meet the donor's mother and the mother holds her face and says ' you have her eyes,dont you' I admit I laughed
Can only hope this film slinks quietly and quickly away . I think there is some good films coming out soon so it will get shoved out of the way shortly

[dweezil1968]

hilarious!
you have 'her eyes'
no,
correct answer, 'i have her transparent corneas'
can't wait for the DVD!!!

[donna]

the whole cinema was quiet and I was the only one laughing

[dweezil1968]

was it as bad as we think?

[donna]

yes

[rosemary johnson]

Glad I'd seen this thread - there was an interview with the star actress in Metro (freeby paper) the other day, which wouldn't have made much sense if I hadn't read this here.
To be slightly serious for a moment....
..... and quite apart from what we may think of this film......
....... there are people who have, quite seriously, hypothesised about transplant recipients mysteriously acquiring some of the traits of the donors.
ISTR we've had threads on this before now on this site.
Maybe someone who's better at finding these than me can post links to them.....?
I've never entirely believed these theories, but if anyone does come up with any scientific evidence, it would certainly be interesting to read it.
I think all the people with interests in this field would ahve a field day with me!!!!!
- though I'd prefer to think of it as, if there's anything positive about my grafted BIT, well, nothing like some fellow-feeling to make it feel at home!
Rosemary

[dweezil1968]

the whole point about a corneal graft is that it has no blood supply unlike a kidney or heart, and as it is just a piece of tissue, and not actually what makes you see, merely a conduit, I cannot see how you can have anything passed to you from the donor, in fact I would go so far as to say that the theory that with grafted corneas there is any sort of effect like is described in 'the eye' is not only stupid but dangerous, and could stop people having grafts when they are their only chance for better sight.
i just hope that anyone with KC who does see this ridiculous film and doesnt know much about KC or this forum isnt put off having a graft or any other procedure that could save/ restore their sight.
we are lucky that science is progressing so fast and that we have these opportunities for research, surgery and better vision in the future.

[Lynn White]

Well...

They do say in every wild tale there is a grain of truth...... and before you all throw your contact lens cases at me!!!!... no I haven't seen the film but from the descriptions there is something to the beginning part of her post graft experiences...

Back when grafts were first trialled, they grafted people blind from birth or early childhood. And I mean they were grafting totally opaque corneas. Thus these people had grown up with a totally tactile sense of the world. Once they could see, they could not make sense of WHAT they were seeing. For example, they could not "see" the top part of a double decker bus, or a house. To them, these objects only had substance where they could feel them and their brains could not conceptualise parts of the image that they had not felt.

Some graftees could not cope and became profoundly depressed. They could only find their way around by closing their eyes, because they could not process what they saw. Others hated the fact that the real world was not as wonderful as they had imagined it! Its fascinating stuff!

Nowadays, of course, people are grafted as early as necessary and you do not find many people in this extreme situation. BUT, if someone did have visual sensory deprivation for that long, they would take some time to re-orientate and get the brain in gear to interpret what they saw.

As to taking on donor characteristics, this has been discussed for a long time and it probably reflects the psychological unease of some from having tissue from someone else. It IS hard to think you are seeing/living and enjoying a full life because someone else died and everyone does tend to have a wobbly moment re this.

The film has taken all this and gone several steps further, or several miles further it seems! However, it is a fantasy film and people will look at it on that level. It may even actually help to break the ice re talking about grafts and encourage people to ask what it is like and give you opportunities to explain your own experiences. They may, God help us, even think its "cool"!

However, I did totally crack up at the description of "she has your eyes"!! Now I have GOT to see this thing, just to catch that punch line!

[Andrew MacLean]

I read some of that research.

I think that Richard Gregory offers the most readable (for the general or non-professional reader) account of these experiences:

http://www.richardgregory.org/papers/index.htm

Andrew