A corneal transplant is the most common type of human transplant surgery and has the highest success rate, with around 185,000 corneal transplants being performed globally every year, and can be performed safely and effectively at Re:Vision.
For those who don’t know much about the cornea, unlike most tissue in the body, it contains no blood vessels to nourish or protect it against infection. Instead, the cornea receives its nourishment from tears and the aqueous humor (a fluid in the front part of the eye that lies behind the cornea).
It can handle small scratches or minor injuries, but more serious injuries, some allergies, a few inherited conditions and a raft of diseases with increasingly bizarre names may make surgical intervention (corneal transplantation) necessary.
In a corneal transplant procedure at Re:Vision, the surgeon replaces the damaged part of the cornea with healthy donor corneal tissue to help restore vision and, in some circumstances, to treat corneal scarring. The procedure can be performed under local or general anaesthetic, however there is no need for an overnight stay and you’ll be able to go home an hour or so after the procedure.
A particularly specialised precision instrument is used to remove the diseased part of your cornea, and the donor cornea is prepared to the exact size, is then carefully sutured in place with fine stitches, or sometimes no sutures are required. Following your procedure, an eye pad and protective shield will be placed over your eye. Once your anaesthetic has worn off you’ll be able to go home, and Re:Vision will arrange a follow up appointment the next day.
If you have any questions, the team at Re:Vision are there to make things clear. The corneal transplant procedure is provided by their specialist surgeons at their clinic in Auckland, so for more information on corneal transplants, phakic lens and cataract surgery please go to https://www.revision.nz/ .
