The Corneal Anatomy
When the corneal changes beit through ectasia, degenerative conditions or trauma are too advanced to be corrected with contact lenses some form of surgical intervention is necessary. Roughly 10% of those diagnosed with keratoconus will go on to need a corneal transplant and thankfully in the past few years this area of expertise has been revolutionised with newer forms of surgery and more consistent results from the procedure.
The idea behind a corneal transplant is to use the tissue of a deceased person who had normal cornea shape onto the patient, having removed their deformed cornea. The newer procudures target the different layers of the cornea and replace only the layers necessary for improving the vision. There is more detail about the different types of procedure in this section, links below.
T help explain i have outlined here the different layers of the cornea.
1 Epithelium - The very front surface, these cells regenerate every 24 hours.
2 Bowman's Layer - The base layer for the epithelium.
3 Stroma - The bulk of the cornea consisting of the collagen fibrils which form the strength of the cornea.
4 Descement's Membrane - The demarkation layer between the stroma and the endothelium.
5 Endothelium - A single celled layer charged with the task of pumping water molecules out of the cornea maintaining it's thickness and clarity.
Depending on the severity of corneal disease and the level of scarring produced then a partial thickness graft can be perfomed reducing the recovery time and increasing the visual outcome.
The idea behind a corneal transplant is to use the tissue of a deceased person who had normal cornea shape onto the patient, having removed their deformed cornea. The newer procudures target the different layers of the cornea and replace only the layers necessary for improving the vision. There is more detail about the different types of procedure in this section, links below.
T help explain i have outlined here the different layers of the cornea.
1 Epithelium - The very front surface, these cells regenerate every 24 hours.
2 Bowman's Layer - The base layer for the epithelium.
3 Stroma - The bulk of the cornea consisting of the collagen fibrils which form the strength of the cornea.
4 Descement's Membrane - The demarkation layer between the stroma and the endothelium.
5 Endothelium - A single celled layer charged with the task of pumping water molecules out of the cornea maintaining it's thickness and clarity.
Depending on the severity of corneal disease and the level of scarring produced then a partial thickness graft can be perfomed reducing the recovery time and increasing the visual outcome.