Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund, Inc. has helped people with eye diseases from glaucoma to diabetic eye disease to cataract extractions. We have contributed to hospitals and institutions such as B.U. Medical Center, Joslin Diabetes Center, New England Eye Center, Children's Hospital, Schepens Eye Institute, Howe Laboratory and many more.

In the last fifty years, Lions Clubs throughout the state have raised millions of dollars. Through the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund Inc., they have provided critical financial support for various eye research programs. At Boston University, the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Laboratory was created with the help of the Lions. 

What tangible results have these efforts produced? Well, for starters, thirty years ago, when someone died and donated their corneas, the corneal surgeon had to spring to action and have the recipient admitted and the surgery performed within twenty-four hours of the donor’s death.

Postoperatively, the patient would have to remain in the hospital for as long as two weeks.

Today, as a result of research the Lions help fund, we can store the donor cornea for up to five days. With this extended schedule, it is much easier to transport the cornea to where it is needed and surgery can be scheduled, ensuring that it is performed under optimal conditions. And perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that the patient can be sent home safely about an hour after surgery.

In the early 1970's, using funds provided by the Lions of Massachusetts, the first laser used to treat eye disease in New England was designed and constructed at the Lions Eye Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine. Today, we have lasers to successfully treat retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and certain forms of macular degeneration. We have lasers to treat glaucoma and membranous structures that sometimes appear after cataract surgery, and most recently research efforts have produced lasers that reshape the cornea and allow nearsighted individuals to see without glasses.

Research supported by the Lions has given us a number of new medications to treat glaucoma, and if these fail to control the problem, we can surgically implant a valve in the eye to lower intraocular pressure. We have new anti-inflammatory agents to control the devastating effects of inflammation on the eye. Instead of surrounding the head of hospitalized patients with sandbags to prevent them from moving after cataract surgery, we now routinely perform cataract extraction on an outpatient basis and safely insert a plastic lens inside the eye so that patient no longer require the "Coke^®  bottle" type of eyeglasses of thirty years ago. The hard work and generosity of the Lions helped make these and countless other medical advances possible.

Do you know that : . .

• More than 40 million people in the world are blind today.
• This very minute three people will begin to go blind.
• Before the end of today, 4,300 more people will be blind.
• 80% of the world's blind are needlessly blind