Corneal transplants are among the most common transplants done. Tissue from a donor is used to replace the covering over the front of the eye. New advances are making this surgery even easier, said Dr. Gerami D. Seitzman, director of Cornea, External Disease, and Uveitis at the Krieger Eye Institute, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore.
Here are five things you should know about corneal transplants:
1
The cornea is the clear covering on the front of the eye, like the crystal on the face of a watch. If the cornea becomes damaged from disease, infection, injury or inherited condition, it is no longer clear and vision is decreased. In many cases, a cornea transplant can be used to restore vision.
2
The cornea has three layers: outside, middle and inside (also called epithelium, stroma and endothelium). Traditionally, to perform a corneal transplant, all three layers are removed from the patient and replaced with three new layers from the cornea of a deceased corneal donor. This is called a full-thickness corneal transplant. The new cornea is stitched on with numerous tiny stitches that may be slowly removed over the next few years.
3
Some patients, in whom only the inside (endothelial) layer is damaged, may be a candidate for a new type of corneal transplant surgery called DSEK, or Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty. With this procedure, the patient can retain their own top and middle layers, and only the inside layer of the cornea is replaced.
4
People who develop corneal swelling after cataract surgery or who have the genetic cornea condition called Fuchs' dystrophy may be good candidates for the DSEK procedure.
5
Although rejection can occur with any type of transplantation surgery, because the cornea does not have a blood supply, in an otherwise healthy eye, the risk of corneal transplant rejection is much lower than the risk of other organ transplants.
