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Diseases of cornea are found in 25% patients consulting the ophthalmologist. Cornea – it is a transparent coating of the eye 10-12 mm in diameter, which covers as a watch-glass the coloured part of the eye, called iris. Being the most powerful bending lens of the eye, cornea together with the lens enables light focusing inside the eye on retina. The image is transferred further by the optic nerve to the brain, where the visual image is formed.

 
Decreased transparency of cornea may be determined by: 

If the conservative therapy is not restoring corneal transparency, the injured cornea can be replaced by   healthy donor corneal tissue. Such surgical procedure is called transplantation of cornea or keratoplasty.

 
Оperation keratoplasty

Keratoplasty is the most successful kind of transplanting surgery. It is due to the fact, that in comparison with other organs such as kidney, heart or liver, cornea is a post-barrier organ, i.e., in normal conditions it is not influenced by the human immune system. Therefore the reaction of transplant rejection happens relatively rarely, if cornea is transplanted using modern technologies and is taken from the transplantation bank but not as a separate material.

Local or general anaesthesia can be used during the operation depending on the age, presence of concomitant diseases and surgery length.

The operation usually lasts from 30 minutes to 1 hour. For extirpation of the centrally changed cornea of the patient and to cut the same disc from the donor cornea a special circular knife, called trepan, is used.
 
If cataract combines with the corneal disease, the clouded lens can be extracted during the corneal transplantation operation. In the most part of cases an artificial lens (IOL) is implanted. The donor cornea (transplant) is fixed reliably by an interrupted suture, in addition the used thread is much thinner than a human hair. In the end of operation on the eye a sterile dressing is applied.

 

 Keratoplasty is performed in a hospital. Eye watering, fear of light, foreign substance feeling, redness of the eye is possible during the first days after the operation. This is the eyeball reaction to the operational injury.
 

Confinement to bed lasts for only 1-2 days. Treatment includes mandatory eye drops, in case of necessity also injections under the eye conjunctiva and intravenously. Hospitalisation lasts for only 7-10 days, however 2 months after the operation eye drops should be used according to a strict schedule recommended by the physician.
 

The time period from the operation until complete vision recovery lasts not less than 6-12 months. Corneal transplant adjusts very slowly. It is why corneal stitches should be extracted not earlier than 8-10 months after the operation. The extirpation of stitches is performed in outpatient hospital in a surgery room. This procedure is painless, it is performed after use of anaesthetic eye drops. Fear of light, eye watering, redness of the eye is possible after taking off the stitches for 1-2 days. Antibacterial eye drops are necessary for 7-10 days 4 times daily. The final stabilisation of vision takes place as a rule one month after stitches are taken off.
 As the form of transplant is changing during adjustment, the final vision correction is performed after stitch extirpation.