Cornea Transplant

Cornea Transplant Services

Dr Fahim Lala is dedicated to give sight to blind person due to corneal diseases. Remember that blindess is not only due to cataract there are millions who are blind due to corneal diseases. Only treatment for them is corneal transplant.

Corneal Blindness

Treating corneal blindness is possible through cornea transplant. In this treatment, a healthy cornea is transplanted in place of a diseased cornea in entirety through (penetrating keratoplasty) or in part (lamellar keratoplasty). Since artificial corneas are not available, corneas have to be harvested only through eye donation.

Know Your Cornea

The cornea is the eye's outermost layer. It is the clear, dome-shaped surface that covers the front of the eye. It is responsible for more than 2/3rd of the eye's focusing power. Unlike most tissues in the body, the cornea contains no blood vessels to nourish or protect it against infection. Instead, the cornea receives its nourishment from the tears and aqueous humor that fills the chamber behind it. To see well, all layers of the cornea must be free of any cloudy or opaque areas. When cornea becomes cloudy due to disease, injury, infection or malnutrition, vision is significantly lost or reduced.

Are You A Cornea Transplant Candidate?

Your doctor may suggest cornea transplant in the following circumstances:

• Scarring from infections such as eye herpes, fungal or bacterial Keratitis.
• Hereditary corneal diseases or dystrophies.
• Thinning of cornea or irregular shape due to Keratoconus
• Chemical burns on the cornea.
• Excessive swelling on the cornea.

Procedure for Cornea Transplant

• Get registered after consultation with your cornea surgeon.
• Wait for the donor cornea. The waiting period for a donor eye depends on the voluntary donation of the eye.

Sight after Transplant

The vision will improve for one year following the surgery. You will need glasses or contact lenses for vision correction. The curve of the transplanted cornea cannot match exactly the curve of your own cornea. Typically, a prescription for glasses is given once all the stitches are removed. Rigid gas permeable contact lenses provide the best vision correction for corneal transplant patients due to the irregularity of the cornea after the transplant.

Cornea Graft Rejection

Corneal transplants are performed routinely and are among the most successful tissue transplants. However, there are exceptions, and if the transplanted cornea is rejected by the body, the following symptoms may occur:

• Redness
• Pain
• Decreased vision
• Extreme sensitivity to light

Your body can reject the transplanted cornea as early as one month post-surgery or as late as five years after the transplant. The procedure can be repeated, but the chances of rejection increase with each attempt.