A NORTH-EAST woman has described how sight-saving surgery transformed her life.

Helping to mark today's centenary of the first cornea operation, Tracy Lawther revealed how her cornea transplant 17 years ago had proved a life-changing experience.

Her sight deteriorated rapidly in 1988 when an optic ulcer caused her to go blind in her left eye within three days.

At the time, Mrs Lawther, from Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, was a lab technician and her transplant not only restored her vision but also led her to a new career - as a corneal nurse.

For the past decade, she has worked as a nurse in opthalmology and recently took up a post as a corneal donation nurse at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Dr Eduard Zirm, chief of medicine of a hospital in Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, performed the world's first successful cornea transplant in 1905.

The method he used is still the basis for cornea transplants, which restores the sight of more than 2,200 people in the UK every year.

Over the past five years, 544 patients in the North-East have received the operation.

Mrs Lawther said: "When I lost my eyesight, it was a very confusing and emotional time. I was told I would never see again through my left eye unless I had a transplant and I knew that for me to be able to see again, someone would have to pass away."

Anyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register by telephoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400.