If you have been suffering from recent vision loss as a result of injury, illness, or a particular eye condition, then the term corneal transplant may be circling around in your mind. With improved technology and knowledge about the science of the eye, doctors are performing near miracles, renewing vision for many who have known years of near blindness.
What is a Corneal Transplant? The cornea is a thin, transparent tissue that exists over the iris (colored portion of the eye). When this tissue is malformed, injured, or blurred in any way, light cannot enter the eye properly, which means that the brain does not receive the message correctly and vision is disrupted. Using donor tissue, a damaged cornea can be replaced by an Austin ophthalmologist, so a person who has not seen clearly for years, or even decades can have renewed vision.
In addition to improved clarity, a corneal transplant can reduce pain and fix the appearance of an injured or otherwise damages eye. This procedure is often referred to as keratoplasty and can be performed as an outpatient surgery. Though there is risk, as with any medical procedure, corneal transplant Austin has been highly successful in the vast majority of patients.
Potential Reasons for Corneal Transplant The most obvious reason for undergoing the corneal transplant procedure is to restore vision. Generally, patients and doctors will avoid surgery unless absolutely necessary. There are a number of conditions that could result in the need for this surgery. Included on the list are bulging corneas (also known as keratoconus), thinning of the cornea, scarring due to illness or injury, clouding, swelling, ulcers, and complications arising from previous eye surgeries.
What Will Happen During and After Transplant? If you are a suitable candidate for corneal transplant, your eye doctor will make the recommendation and should cover, in great detail, what you should expect before, during, and after the procedure. To get you started, here are a few things that you should know:
On the Day of The nerves often kick in as a person arrives on the day of surgery, regardless of the procedure being done. Knowing what to expect can cut down on the stress that you feel, and so will the sedative given. This medication is provided to corneal replacement patients in order to help them relax. Then a local anesthetic is applied to ensure that you will feel no pain during the procedure. As with many other eye surgeries including cataract surgery Austin, you will not be asleep during keratoplasty.
Once you are properly relaxed and comfortable, the surgeon will begin the procedure, which starts with a trephine (specialized instrument) incision through the entire thickness of the cornea in a very precise manner. The entire disc of tissue will be removed – about the size of a small button. A pre-cut donor corneal tissue is trimmed to fit your eye perfectly. A very fine thread is used to stitch the new tissue in place. These stitches will be left in place for some time, to ensure that the cornea has time to heal to the eye, but the doctor will remove them at a later visit.
In some instances, a full corneal transplant is not necessary. In these cases, the procedure will be slightly different. A partial corneal transplant can involve replacing just the inner layer of the tissue or the surface layers. In the first case, a very small incision is made at the side of the eye. Through this, the inner corneal tissue can be carefully removed and replaced with the donor tissue. When it is the outer tissue that must be replaced, a procedure very similar to the full corneal transplant is used, but the incisions are much shallower.
Broberg Eye Care
4207 James Casey Street
Austin, TX 78745-1193
(512) 447-6096










