Corneal Transplant Procedures

Corneal Transplants to Treat a Range of Conditions

Your cornea is located in the front of your eye and should appear clear to allow light to be focused towards the back part of the eye. When the cornea becomes unhealthy due to swelling or scarring, it may become cloudy. Keratoplasty or corneal transplantation is recommended when the cornea becomes too cloudy to offer clear vision.

If you suffer from an unhealthy cornea that is affecting your vision in your day-to-day life, talk to our doctors at Eye Specialists of Rockford to learn more about the corneal transplant procedure. Call (815) 399-2190. We work with most insurance companies. View our new patient form here.

Faster Recovery for Corneal Transplant Procedure

Local or general anesthesia may be used for the procedure which requires a cornea transplant from a donor or eye bank clinic to replace the cloudy cornea with a healthy one through an incision. A small disc of tissue is removed and replaced with healthy tissue. 

These discs can be as thin (lamellar keratoplasty) or as deep as the entire cornea (penetrating keratoplasty). The procedure lasts around 60 - 90 minutes and due to recent advanced methods (DSEK), can have a faster recovery time for certain patients.

Along with performing many cataract surgeries, Dr. Malik has performed corneal transplants on many individuals.