Corneal Transplant

Corneal transplants are one of medicine’s most successful transplant operations. In the past 35 years, more than 250,000 corneal transplants have been performed in the United States. At Bascom Palmer, more than 250 procedures are performed annually. The procedure involves removing the cornea from the donor eye with a special instrument resembling a small cookie cutter. The same method is used to remove the damaged cornea from the patient’s eye. The surgeon then stitches the new cornea into place.

For many individuals, a corneal transplant may be the only hope for restored vision and may be necessary when the cornea is cloudy or damaged due to disease, injury, accident, or hereditary conditions. In these situations, the cornea must be removed and replaced with healthy donor tissue. The procedure is successful in 90 percent of cases, restoring sight and, in some cases, even providing sight for the first time.

When a donor eye is not available, Bascom Palmer experts may decide that keratoprosthesis, or an artificial cornea transplant, will more effective. Keratoprosthesis may be used in patients with extremely poor vision who have not had success with donor corneas.

Members of Bascom Palmer’s corneal transplant team teach patients the acronym RSVP to alert them to potential problems. 

This RSVP alert is:

R: increased Redness
S: increased Sensitivity to light
V: decreased Vision
P: increased Pain

Today, regrafts are one of the most common reasons for corneal transplants. Regrafts occur when a patient needs a second corneal transplant because the first one was unsuccessful.