Cornea

The cornea is the clear front dome-shaped window of the eye. It provides about 2/3 of the eye's focusing power. Your cornea must be clear to have good vision, and its surface must be optically smooth. By virtue of its shape, the cornea helps your eye to focus. It also helps shield the rest of the eye from germs, dust, and other harmful pollutants.

Common Corneal Problems

Various factors can lead to cornea problems. Some of them are hereditary and run-in families, while other problems come along with other general health issues. Even our environment can cause corneal problems from dust, sun exposure, chemical fumes, and other irritants.

Corneal problems can affect your vision and can lead to poor vision. The key to treating these problems is to quickly get an accurate diagnosis and start effective treatment as soon as possible. Some of the common cornea problems include:

Problems with your tears or the way your eyelids blink to wash the surface of your cornea can leave its surface rough and irregular, which can make you not see through it clearly, or you can't focus.
Injuries can leave scars that you can't see through or which distort the shape of your cornea.
Infections can cause your cornea to ulcerate and eventually scar.
Your cornea gets cloudy when it's swollen and stretches out of shape when it's too thin.

Why Choose Dr. Akbar Eye Hospital for Cornea Services

Our special instruments can measure all aspects of your cornea to determine what is wrong and the best way to get better corneal health and thus better vision.
We fix corneal problems in different ways. You can wear a contact lens on the surface of your cornea to help better focus your eye.
We can use a laser to reshape your cornea to help your eye focus better. Most commonly, this is called LASIK.
We can use medications to heal problems on the surface and restore your vision.
We also have surgical specialists who have expertise in replacing your cornea with a cornea transplant.

The Conditions We Offer Treatment for

The specialists at Dr. Akbar Eye Hospital provide medical and surgical care for various corneal, external eye-related diseases, and anterior segment eye disorders. They are highly skilled in eliminating any infectious agent, preventing and minimizing structural damage to the cornea and the other ocular structures, and offering customized care plans to patients.

Corneal Infection

A corneal infection known as Trachoma occurs when the cornea is damaged by foreign objects, bacteria, or fungi. Trachoma can lead to painful inflammation and corneal scarring. This infection can also cause blindness in serious cases. The common conditions are:

Conjunctivitis (Red eye)
Conjunctivitis is a condition when the conjunctiva (transparent membrane) of your eyes gets infected or inflamed. The whites of your eye appear reddish due to small vessels in the conjunctiva getting inflamed. Conjunctivitis can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection and can be contagious.
Corneal Ulcers
An open sore that forms on the corona due to infection or small injuries to the eyes is called a corneal ulcer. It can also be caused by wearing a contact lens for a long period which causes infection.
Scleral ulcers
The white part of the eye, known as the sclera, gets inflamed, and hurts are known as scleral ulcers. It's also called scleritis.

Corneal Ectatic Disorders

Corneal ectatic disorders are a group of non-inflammatory and uncommon eye disorders characterized by the thinning of the paracentral, central, or peripheral cornea. These disorders are characterized by a progressive change in the shape of the cornea that results in a decrease in vision. Contact lenses are beneficial and prevent the need for surgery in most cases. However, a small portion of patients reaches the point where they need a cornea transplant. Some of the common diseases for corneal ectasia include:

Keratoconus
It's a progressive cornea disease that is non-inflammatory and bilateral. It causes the thinning and weakening of the paraxial stromal that causes corneal surface distortion.
Pellucid marginal degeneration
This is a bilateral, non-inflammatory disease. It describes the inferior cornea's peripheral band slowly thinning.
Terrien's marginal degeneration
The slow but progressive thinning of the peripheral corneal stroma is called Terrien's marginal degeneration, and it is painless, unilateral, and non-inflammatory.

Corneal Injury

Corneal injury is a wound to the cornea located at the front of the eye. Injuries may result from severe blunt trauma or any kind of penetrating injury.

The Aim of Cornea Transplant

The aim is to restore and maintain the integrity of your cornea and avoid further intraocular damage and prevent permanent corneal scarring and astigmatism.

Our Corneal Transplant Procedures

Corneal Transplantation - Keratoplasty
A surgical procedure that replaces a portion of your cornea with donor corneal tissue is called a cornea transplant (Keratoplasty).
Amniotic Membrane Transplantation
In various surgical subspecialties, amniotic membrane transplantation has been used as a graft or as a dressing. This surgery reconstructs the ocular surface after various procedures or after healing.
Pterygium surgeries
Pterygium surgery removes noncancerous conjunctival growths (pterygia) from the eye. Pterygium surgery is a minimally invasive procedure.
Limbal Stem Cell Transplantation
Limbal stem cell transplantation is a surgical procedure used to treat LSCD and restore the phenotype of the corneal epithelial cells.
Corneal Injuries Repair
The treatment procedure involves the removal of foreign material from the eye and healing it slowly by applying ointment prescribed by doctors or wearing eye patches or bandages.

Cornea Transplant Surgery

A cornea transplant involves replacing a diseased or scarred cornea with a new one. In corneal transplant surgery, our surgeons remove the central portion of the cloudy cornea and replace it with a clear cornea. The chances of success of this operation have risen dramatically because of technological advances.

Corneal transplantation has restored sight to many, who a generation ago would have been blinded permanently by corneal injury, infection, or inherited corneal diseases or degeneration. Recently modified forms of corneal transplant called Lamellar Keratoplasty are also performed at our hospital. This involves removing only the partial thickness of the cornea that is diseased, leaving the rest of the healthy cornea undisturbed.

Lamellar Keratoplasty is of two types: Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK) and Deep Lamellar Endothelial Keratoplasty (DLEK)

If you or a family member is experiencing any vision-related problems, then schedule an appointment with our team at Dr. Akbar Eye Hospital today. Based on your eye health, we can offer a suitable corneal treatment option to treat your condition.