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The cornea, which is the front window of the eye, is transparent in the normal eye. Light enters this window and passes through the clear lens to focus on the retina which is at the back of the eye. If the shape or transparency of the cornea changes, and this may be due to injury or disease, the brain receives a distorted picture from the retina.
If the resulting reduction in vision cannot be improved by any other means, then a corneal graft may be the only effective treatment. This is an operation to replace the patient's cornea with a similar piece of cornea from a donor eye, which has been removed from a deceased person.
The donated corneas are supplied by Bristol UK Transplant Service and are of very high quality. The donors of all corneas will have been screened to exclude any transmissable diseases and the cornea is treated with antibiotic solution before being used.
The operation is carried out under general anaesthetic and takes about an hour. The most common type of graft is a full thickness graft (penetrating keratoplasty). The surgeon removes a central piece of the patient's diseased cornea and replaces it with clear cornea, securing this with non-dissolving, very fine stitches which are removed after one year.
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Page last updated on Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:36:23 Site designed and edited by Web Designer
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Highgate Ophthalmic Practice
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