For patients with corneal blindness who live in the dark, every corneal transplantation is a "gift of life". So, what is corneal transplantation? Who are the suitable people? Is there any alternative product? I will answer these questions for you.
What is corneal transplantation?
Corneal transplantation is the only way to improve the vision of blind patients with keratopathy.
Corneal transplantation can cure some corneal diseases, improve vision or improve appearance by using transparent and healthy corneas donated to replace the turbid or diseased corneas of patients. A healthy cornea is sometimes the key to the fate of patients and even families.
Which eye diseases need corneal transplantation?
When corneal disease has seriously affected the patient's vision, and there is no obvious effect through routine treatment, or severe corneal infection is about to lead to eyeball loss, it is necessary to consider timely corneal transplantation.
① Viral keratitis: Corneal transplantation can be considered for patients with corneal opacity caused by recurrent viral keratitis who have not recurred within six months after complete cure. Corneal transplantation can not only remove the focus and improve vision, but also reduce the recurrence rate and alleviate the pain of patients.
② Fungal corneal ulcer: its incidence is mostly related to plant trauma, so it is more common in farmers. For patients with superficial infection, lamellar keratoplasty or deep lamellar keratoplasty can be used. For severe infection involving corneal endothelium, penetrating keratoplasty can only be used to control infection and preserve eyeballs.
③ Bacterial keratitis: more often caused by wearing contact lenses and removing corneal foreign bodies. Drug therapy for corneal ulcer caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and drug-resistant bacteria is limited, and corneal transplantation is often required.
④ For patients with congenital corneal degeneration and keratoconus, GRP can be worn in the prophase of keratoconus to improve vision, but it can not prevent the development of keratoconus. Early keratoconus can be prevented from developing by corneal collagen cross-linking. Delaying or avoiding the final corneal transplantation. Lamellar keratoplasty or penetrating keratoplasty can be selected according to the patient's condition in the middle and late stages.
What are the surgical methods of corneal transplantation?
Not every corneal transplantation needs a complete cornea, but only part of the cornea can be transplanted.
According to the different components of the replaced cornea, there are three main surgical methods: penetrating keratoplasty, which requires the replacement of the whole cornea; Lamellar or deep lamellar keratoplasty, replacing only the anterior part of the cornea; Corneal endothelium transplantation, only the posterior part of the cornea is replaced.
The doctor will choose the appropriate surgical method according to the patient's corneal lesions.
Is the success rate of corneal transplantation high?
Cornea is a layer of transparent tissue without blood vessels, so it is not easy to be recognized by the human immune system and is in the position of "immune amnesty". Because of this, corneal transplantation is one of the most successful transplantation of homologous organs and tissues at present, and it has become one of the most important eye surgery.
However, the success rate of corneal transplantation is closely related to the type of keratopathy, ocular surface condition, patients' general condition and surgical methods, and there will be differences.
For example, severe keratoconjunctival scar vascularization, eyelid atresia, severe autoimmune diseases (such as Stevens Johnson syndrome and cicatricial pemphigoid) caused by chemical injury, thermal burn, explosive injury, and corneal blindness caused by dry eyes at the end of the period make corneal transplantation difficult.
For these people, implantation of artificial cornea is their only choice.
Does the transplanted cornea have a service life?
Normally, if lamellar keratoplasty is performed, the transplanted cornea can be used for life without rejection.
If penetrating keratoplasty is performed without rejection, primary disease or recurrence, it can be used for more than 10 years.
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Corneal disease is a major eye disease with a high rate of blindness. Many patients who could have seen light again through corneal transplantation can only spend time in the dark or even become blind because of insufficient corneal donors. According to statistics, the China Eye Bank Association was established in 1985. By 2006, it had received less than 100 corneas from volunteers, often in a state of "no rice for cooking". Therefore, Mihm artificial cornea came into being.
Mih artificial cornea is composed of lens column and stent, both of which are artificial materials. Donor cornea is not required during the implantation process. It is not only suitable for patients with binocular corneal blindness who are difficult to succeed in corneal transplantation, but also relieves the shortage of corneal donors in China.
Mihm artificial cornea adopts a split design and staged implantation. The stent is implanted into the damaged corneal layer of the patient, and the lens column is screwed into the stent and fixed in the patient's eye, reducing the risk of injury to the affected eye caused by the implantation operation, and improving the presence rate of the product. It can be said that Mihm keratoprosthesis provides a new way for the clinical treatment of patients with contraindications of traditional corneal transplantation.
If you or your relatives or friends in front of the screen become blind because you can't wait for the donor cornea for a long time, or corneal transplantation fails for many times, you can call the Bright Hotline of Mihm Medical: 400-111-8801 for consultation~