Corneal External Disease
Highly skilled in diagnosing and treating cornea problems
Most cornea conditions are treatable, especially when detected early. Aurora BayCare offers cornea transplants and cornea surgery in partnership with BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists.
The cornea is the clear, outermost layer of the eye that refracts light and allows us to see. In order for you to see well, this tissue must remain transparent and free of blood vessels or cloudy areas.
BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists is highly skilled in diagnosing and treating cornea problems, including infection, inflammation, tumors and more.
Our partners at BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists commonly treat corneal conditions such as:
- Keratoconus – a progressive thinning of the cornea
- Fuchs dystrophy – a progressive cornea disorder marked by a cloudy, swollen cornea, blisters, and reduced vision
- Pterygium – a visible pinkish growth on the cornea
- Dry eye syndrome – a condition in which the eye doesn’t produce enough tears to keep the surface lubricated and comfortable
- Blepharitis – an eyelid inflammation
Cornea Surgery and Cornea Transplants
Most cornea conditions can be treated with conservative methods like eye drops, glasses, ointment, and other treatments. But sometimes surgery is necessary to preserve your eye health. When that happens, you can count on BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists to use the latest technology and surgical methods available to increase your comfort and improve your results.
About 40,000 cornea transplants are performed in the U.S. In a cornea transplant surgery, the surgeon removes part of your damaged cornea and replaces it with clear donor cornea tissue.
A cornea transplant can treat a number of conditions such as:
- Advanced keratoconus
- Complications from a previous eye surgery
- Corneal swelling
- Corneal ulcers
- Damage from an eye injury, burn, or infection
- Fuchs dystrophy
A partial cornea replacement is a partial transplant of only the back portion of the cornea. This procedure is also known as a DSEK (Descemet's Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty.) The DSEK procedure may be an option for patients with Fuchs dystrophy or corneal edema.