Optometry & Vision Science

Cornea

The cornea is the translucent part of the eye that covers the anterior portion of the eye. It covers the pupil, iris, and anterior chamber (fluid-filled inside of the eye). Its function is to refract, or bend, light. It is composed of proteins and cells. It does not contain blood vessels. Some of the blood vessels may cloud the cornea and prevent it from refracting light properly and adversely affect vision. The cornea inclines to repair itself quickly from minor abrasions but deeper abrasions may cause scars to form on the cornea that causes the cornea to lose its transparency, leading to visual impairment.

Cornea displaces depending on the disease that is causing vision problems. For example, Fuchs’ dystrophy only have a problem with the back layer of the cornea and require single cell layer from donor cornea in a procedure known as DMEK.  Others conditions such as Keratoconus, the disease only affects the front part of the cornea, only that diseased portion is replaced in a procedure known as DALK. These two advanced surgical procedures are more sophisticated and provide much faster recovery than a standard full thickness transplant called as Penetrating Keratoplasty (PK) where all layers of the cornea are removed and changed with donor tissue