Cornea Transplant

About Cornea Transplant

A cornea transplant, or keratoplasty, replaces damaged or diseased corneal tissue with healthy donor tissue to restore vision, relieve pain, or repair the eye's surface when the cornea has become too scarred, thinned, swollen, or irregularly shaped to function properly. Depending on which corneal layers are affected, surgeons may perform a full-thickness transplant, known as penetrating keratoplasty, replacing the entire cornea, or a partial-thickness procedure that replaces only the damaged front layers, known as DALK, or the innermost layer, known as DSEK or DMEK, which generally allows for a faster recovery and lower risk of certain complications. Common reasons for needing a transplant include advanced keratoconus, corneal scarring from infection or injury, corneal swelling from endothelial disease, or failure of a previous transplant. Donor corneal tissue is matched and screened before use, and the procedure is performed under local or general anesthesia depending on the case. Recovery varies considerably by technique, ranging from several weeks for partial-thickness procedures to closer to a year for full stabilization after a full-thickness transplant, with regular monitoring needed to watch for graft rejection. Eye hospitals in India maintain eye banks and donor tissue programs to support timely access to corneal transplantation.