Introduction: A significant amount of visual disability and blindness is caused by corneal diseases. The cornea is the clear tissue covering the front of the eye. The vision is dramatically reduced or lost if the cornea becomes cloudy. This loss of vision is referred to as corneal blindness. Eye donation is an act of donating one’s eyes after his/her death. It is an act of charity, purely for the benefit of society and is totally voluntary. The aim of the study is to assess awareness regarding eye donation among medical students of Akash Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in department of Ophthalmology, Akash Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore. A total of 150 undergraduate MBBS 2nd year students were assesses for their awareness on eye donation. Results: In this study, 45% students did not know that eyes should be enucleated within 6 hours of death. Lack of awareness on eye donation was the major reason (47%) for not donating eyes. 70% students did not know the correct place and contact for eye donation. Majority of the students reported that Medical Personal as the major source of information (32%) on eye donation. 51% did not know that Cornea is the part which is to be used for eye donation. 71% students did not know that a near relative of the donor should give consent for eye donation. 77% students did not know that anybody can donate eyes. Conclusion: Medical students should be exposed to information about eye donation from 1st year itself as they are the future Doctors. They should be trained to counsel and motivate the relatives of patients for eye donation. There is a need of an intervention in the academic activities to increase awareness in medical students regarding eye-donation.

Keywords: Corneal Blindness; Eye Donation; Knowledge; Medical Students.