What do you mean by Keratoplasty/ corneal grafting?
Keratoplasty/ corneal grafting, is actually an operation used for removing some part or all damaged cornea. It is a transplant which used for replacing damaged cornea with healthy- cornea tissues taken from eyes of the suitable donor. Cornea transplant is used for improving eye sight, relieving pain as well as treating severe damage or infection. Keratoconus is one of the common reasons of using cornea transplant as under this eye disorder condition cornea tend to change its shape from round to cone shape.
How the corneal grafting process is carried out?
There are many methods of performing cornea transplant. Selection of the mode of cornea transplant generally depends on which cornea part is damaged. Given below are different methods of Keratoplasty-
•DALK (deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty) - reshaping or replacing middle and outer cornea.
•PK (penetrating keratoplasty) - full thickness transplant
•EK (endothelial keratoplasty) – replacements of deeper parts of cornea.
Corneal transplant is usually carried out using local or general anesthesia. Almost half of corneal graft or transplants are carried out as a day surgery, whereas other half or corneal grafts require overnight hospital stay.