Replace cornea

Corneal replacement means removing the damaged cornea and replacing it with an artificial one. Medical technology is very advanced now and the success rate of corneal replacement is very high. Therefore, you can rest assured in normal times. However, you need to pay attention during corneal replacement and understand the process and principles so that you can replace it safely.

Research History/Artificial Cornea

Since French ophthalmologist Pellier de Quengsy first proposed implanting a piece of glass into a cloudy cornea to restore vision in 1789 and Weber first implanted a piece of crystal glass into a patient's cornea in 1871, creating the history of artificial cornea implantation, the research and development of artificial corneas has gone through more than 200 years, going through four periods of exploration, stagnation, recovery and development. There have been new developments in material design, production technology, surgical techniques and postoperative treatment.

An artificial cornea is a product similar to the human cornea made of medical polymer materials. The artificial cornea generally consists of two parts: an optical column and a peripheral bracket. The optical column is made of transparent material with excellent optical properties and stable physical and chemical properties. It is used to replace the cloudy cornea that blocks the optical pathway of the eye after a disease. The peripheral bracket is equivalent to a bridge connecting the optical column and the surrounding tissue, so it is required to have good tissue compatibility. Common materials for optical columns include polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate (PHEMA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), silicone gel, glass, etc.; common materials for peripheral brackets include ceramics, fluorocarbon polymers, hydroxyapatite, biomaterials, polytetrafluoroethylene, etc.

Common diseases/artificial cornea

1. In the past, if there was a problem with the cornea, one could only wait for others to donate corneas for transplantation. However, due to the extremely low corneal donation rate, the number of people in China who can actually undergo corneal transplantation surgery accounts for only one thousandth of the patients who are blind due to corneal diseases. In the future, more patients who have become blind due to corneal diseases will be able to regain their sight through transplantation of artificially "planted" corneas.

2. Among various eye diseases, corneal disease is the most common. Corneal disease can cause the transparent cornea to appear grayish-white and turbid, blocking light from entering the eye and causing blurred vision, decreased vision, or even blindness. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, there are currently about 60 million corneal blind people in the world, and China accounts for about 5 million of them.

3. Since the mature cornea can no longer undergo cell division, the most effective means of treating corneal diseases is currently corneal transplantation.

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