Corneal diseases

General information

Cornea – is a transparent ocular tissue 10- 12 mm in diameter, avascular, highly sensitive, optically homogenous membrane with a smooth mirror surface. Apart from protective and supporting functions it is the main refractive lens of the ocular optic system.

Corneal diseases make 25 % among patients who come to visit an ophthalmologist. Cornea may lose its transparency, which leads to blindness for different reasons: ocular burns and injuries, keratitis and fossettes, primary and secondary corneal dystrophies, keratoconus and keratoglobus these corneal damages and diseases need surgical treatment.

Diagnostics of corneal diseases

Apart from traditional methods of examination in diagnostics of corneal diseases (like visual acuity, autorefractometry) when choosing a treatment strategy very important role is played by endothelial microscopy, pachymetry and keratotopography. The most modern equipment is used for diagnostics of corneal diseases at refractive surgery department of St. Petersburg Branch.

Treatment

Improvement of microsurgical machinery and instruments, new perfect equipment, new approaches to pre- and post-operative therapy widened the range of surgical interferences on cornea and provided a large percentage of high results and successful outcomes.

There are the following main directions in surgical treatment of corneal diseases: keratoplasty (transplantation of cornea) when damaged cornea is replaced with a healthy tissue from a donor, cross-linking of corneal collagen, implantation of corneal segments, laser refractive surgeries. IRTC “Eye microsurgery” has the most rich experience in keratoplasty: for 30 years it has performed more than 16500 of donor cornea transplantations. St. Petersburg Branch has performed 1400 operations of that type.

In our clinic different types of keratoplasty are performed with the help of femto laser that provides maximum compatibility of shape, size, and quality of tissue surfaces that should be transplanted and the prepared recipient’s bed.

• Keratoconus
• Collagen-crosslinking
• Keratoplasty (corneal transplantation)
• Intralamellar keratoplasty with corneal segments implantation