Gailey Eye Clinic

The eye’s cornea is the clear dome over the iris and it has several functions. One is to do most of the focusing (the lens does the rest). Another is to protect the eye and to that end it is a sturdy structure with five layers.

A third function is to allow light into the eye unimpeded. When a cornea becomes scarred from an injury, or perhaps from an infection or ulcer, or complications from a surgery, its transparency is impaired. Scarring blocks some of the incoming light and your vision is damaged. When the corneal transparency cannot be restored, you may be able to have a corneal transplant.

How the Cornea Transplant is Done
The corneal transplant is an outpatient procedure done with a local anesthetic and a sedative to help you feel calm. Any other eye problems will be resolved first (such as inflammation or infection). Your eye is measured to determine what size cornea you need.

In some cases, a full-thickness cornea is needed, and in others only a partial-thickness cornea transplant, where not all corneal layers are replaced.
• If you have a full-thickness transplant (penetrating keratoplasty), your eye surgeon removes a small disc of corneal tissue and uses the donated cornea (cut to the same size) to fill the opening. He uses a very fine thread to suture it in place.
• A partial-thickness transplant (lamellar transplant) may replace only the cornea’s innermost layer, using a tiny incision at the side of the eye. Alternatively, it may replace only the topmost layers.

Recovery From Your Corneal Transplant
After the procedure there will be some swelling and pain and you will have eyedrops and oral medications to deal with them. For a few days, you will be wearing a gauze patch to help the swelling go down and a metal eye shield to protect your eye.

Your vision will be restored to a greater or lesser extent, depending on what the reason was for having the corneal transplant, and on your health status. Full improvement may take several months to become evident, and you may also be able to have laser vision correction once you have fully recovered.

Your follow-up visits will be important for monitoring your recovery. You will need to protect your eye from injury throughout your life and come for a check-up once a year.

To learn more about corneal transplants, please contact our office for a personal consultation. We have nine locations around Peoria and Bloomington, Illinois, and we hope to meet with you soon.