What is a Cornea Transplant?

The cornea is the clear surface at the front of the eye and is the main focusing element of the eye. Vision is dramatically reduced if the cornea becomes cloudy from disease, injury, infection or congenital disease.

Corneal transplants are usually the choice of treatment when there is corneal swelling, cloudiness and scarring.

The whole eye can not be transplanted - only the cornea or surface tissue.

A corneal transplant is the surgical procedure which replaces a disc-shaped segment of a defective cornea with a similarly shaped piece of a healthy donor cornea. The new cornea is placed into the area where the damaged tissue was removed and then stitched into place.



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Revised: March 21, 1998