Cornea Services

The Cornea departments across the Asian Eye Hospital network offer cutting edge technologies at affordable cost to the patients. At Asian Eye Hospital, we work as a team to keep abreast of the latest in Ophthalmology and motivate each other to deliver high standards of patient care.

The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. The cornea, with the anterior chamber and lens, refracts light, with the cornea accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power. Various disorders affecting the cornea can lead to pain, irritation, reduced vision, and sometimes blindness.

The most common corneal disorders are the following:

• Corneal abrasion - a medical condition involving the loss of the surface epithelial layer of the eye's cornea as a result of trauma to the surface of the eye.
• Corneal dystrophy - a condition in which one or more parts of the cornea lose their normal clarity due to a build up of cloudy material.
• Corneal ulcer - an inflammatory or infective condition of the cornea involving disruption of its epithelial layer with involvement of the corneal stroma.
• Corneal neovascularization - excessive ingrowth of blood vessels from the limbal vascular plexus into the cornea, caused by deprivation of oxygen from the air.
• Fuchs' dystrophy - cloudy morning vision.
• Keratitis - inflammation of the cornea.
• Keratoconus - a degenerative disease, the cornea thins and changes shape to be more like a Chemical burns or Trauma or Injuries

Treatment options for all of them are now available. They include corneal transplant, lamellar corneal surgery and stem cell transplant and therapy, where the diseased cornea is removed and replaced with a natural cornea procured from a donor eye (eye donated after death). Artificial cornea is also available now, for cases where multiple corneal transplants have failed.

Other than corneal surgery for corneal diseases, we conduct refractive surgery for reduction of refractive error (glass number) and phakic intraocular lens implant surgery to correct myopia.

Asian Eye Hospital network provides avenues for development of newer treatment modalities in collaboration with the industry and develop innovative surgical technologies to bring best possible eye care to the patients. Research forms an integral part of the Corneal Services at Asian Eye Hospital. The hospital at Saidapet, Chennai is the nodal center for referrals for Corneal diseases like Keratoconus, Bullous Keratopathy, Corneal dystrophy and Infectious Keratitis.

The latest techniques in Corneal Transplantation like Lamellar Keratoplasty (Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty and Endothelial Keratoplasty) are performed with good quality tissues. In patients not suitable for these procedures penetrating keratoplasty can be done. Instruments available Keratometer, Corneal topographer, Specular microscope.