Corneal transplant

A corneal transplant may be needed when the person's own cornea, the clear front covering of the eye, already badly damaged due to infection, injury, or diseases such as Fuchs' dystrophy, a disorder of the endothelial layer of the cornea. Because the donor cornea in limited supply, Eye MDS do everything possible to ensure that the transplant will be successful. Researchers with the Cornea Donor Study (CDS) recently found that certain factors associated with failure rates higher. Corneal transplant four times more likely to fail in patients who were treated for corneal edema (swelling) after cataract surgery compared with patients treated for Fuchs' dystrophy. (Most patients do not have a negative reaction to cataract surgery.) Failure level is also substantially higher in patients with glaucoma who have been treated with surgery, drugs, or both. These findings will help determine Eye MDS patients most likely be helped by corneal transplantation and may eventually allow researchers to improve the success rate of transplants.