In 1981, the Institution identified the need for an intramural Eye Bank that would allow the management of donor tissue to rehabilitate patients with low vision due to corneal injuries.
To this end, the authorities of the foundation contacted the Mexican Red Cross who enthusiastically embraced the idea. This is how the Mexican Red Cross – Institute of Ophthalmology Eye Bank was founded in 1981, the Mexican Red Cross being the source of the tissue and the Institution providing maintenance and technique for the collection, preservation and distribution of corneas.
Since its foundation and to this day, the Mexican Red Cross – Institute of Ophthalmology Eye Bank has been operating continuously. Obtaining the corneal tissue has systematically been done with the consent of relatives of the deceased. The established process is that donations are of corneas, exclusively, and with the use of modern techniques only.
This mechanism has avoided any setbacks over the last 20 years. Today, the Mexican Red Cross – Institute of Ophthalmology Eye Bank is the eye bank model that many other institutions have tried to replicate and, despite the lack of tissue, it is the eye bank that receives the most tissue and has kept campaigns and cornea donation activities active in Mexico.
Despite these initiatives, the number of corneas obtained, compared with the needs for tissue, is still low and does not even meet the growing demand for tissue received by the Institution. Given this situation, since 1995, the Eye Bank is importing tissue from different states of the American union, in line with the new legislation.

a. You can donate whilst alive
b. You can donate after death
c. This is the donation process
d. Brain death
e. Time required for donation
f. Making a decision whilst alive does not represent any risk
g. Religions support donation