Keratoplasty - Cornea transplantation
Corneal transplant with its stitches still intact and fully visible! Cornea transplantation (Keratoplasty) is an operation to remove a damaged or diseased cornea and replace it with healthy donor tissue. The cornea is basically the dome-shaped clear surface of your eye which plays an important role in vision, or how well your eye can focus on objects close-up and far away. It helps to focus light rays on to the retina, and the picture is then transmitted to the occipital lobe in the brain. The cornea can be damaged through disease, infection, or injury, which results in scarring of the corneal tissue eventually interfering with vision by blocking or distorting light as it enters the eye. A cornea transplant is the most common procedure done is such cases. It restores vision to the person with the damaged cornea. Either penetrating (full thickness) cornea transplant or lamellar cornea transplant (selected layers are transplanted from donor) are done, depending on the case. The new cornea is held in place with stitches, which stay in for more than a year.