What Is the Cornea, and What Are the Common Cornea Problems?

The cornea of our eyes has a key role in our vision. As the light reaches your eye, it gets refracted by the cornea's curving edge. This helps decide how effectively your eye can focus on items near and very far away. At times you may suffer from various cornea problems. In this condition, make sure to visit your nearest eye hospital.

What Is Cornea?

The iris and pupil of the eye are protected by the cornea, which is a thin, transparent membrane. The cornea is responsible for focusing light that enters the eye, which is how we can see.

Function of Cornea

The cornea's primary function is to bend or refract light. The cornea, like a window, directs and focuses the light that enters the eye. Usually, the cornea accounts for between 65 and 75 percent of the eye's overall focusing power.

What Are the Common Cornea Problems?

• Some of the common cornea problems observed in human beings are,
• Scarred cornea caused by injury or infection.
• Sores from an eye infection are also known as corneal ulcers
• A medical condition known as Keratoconus causes cornea bulging
• If the cornea thins, gets clouded, or swells
• Inherited eye conditions, like Fuchs' dystrophy
• Problems that follows a previous eye operation

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of corneal illness vary to some degree on the kind of corneal disease and the particular etiology. Associated symptoms and indications might include

• Eye pain
• Headache
• Blurred vision
• Excessive tears
• Eye redness
• Extreme sensitivity to light.

Causes

The causes of corneal illness vary considerably. Most commonly, they are related to genetic (inherited) factors, infection, trauma, autoimmune disorders, nutritional deficiencies, allergies, secondary causes (other eye illnesses that also impact the cornea), growths, and tumors, among others.

Risk factors for these diseases could be avoided by reducing exposure to stress and illness. In many patients, quick treatment of a corneal illness in its early stages will lessen the severity of the condition and its implications.

Treatment

Treatment is customized to the unique condition and the individual patient. Treatments could include drugs, laser therapy, or surgery, depending on the issue. Search for an emergency eye hospital or contact an eye specialist who can provide you with excellent treatment options.

Cornea infections are treated using medicated eye drops (antibiotics, antivirals, and antiparasitics) and, in certain situations, oral medicine. Herpetic stromal keratitis is a persistent swelling after a herpes eye infection and is addressed with anti-inflammatory steroid eye drops.

An abrasion could need temporary patching or a bandage contact lens, depending on the source and degree of the lesion.

Keratoconus, where the cornea may take on a distorted cone form, is commonly controlled with specific contact lenses. Newer therapies, including corneal crosslinking (riboflavin and ultraviolet-A) and corneal implants, are alternatives. Advanced keratoconus disorders are treated with corneal transplant surgery known as keratoplasty.

Cornea Transplant Surgery

A corneal transplant may restore or greatly enhance eyesight if you have a damaged or diseased cornea. Your nearest eye hospital is the best place to do such a surgery.

In the cornea transplant surgery, you'll typically stay awake throughout the process, although you may get a sedative to help you rest. Your surgeon will inject a local anesthetic around the eye to reduce discomfort and inhibit your eye muscles from moving.

The surgery includes utilizing a microscope. Your surgeon will remove a tiny, circular portion of your cornea using a cutting device called a trephine.

Your surgeon will install your replacement cornea, cut it to fit, and then stitch it in using an ultra-fine thread that stays in place until your eye fully recovers. Your doctor will remove this thread afterward.

The treatment takes around one to two hours, and you’ll spend an extra one or two hours in the recovery room.

You'll be allowed to go home the same day after your procedure. You may feel some discomfort and will need an eye patch over the operated eye for up to four days. Make sure to restrain from rubbing your eyes. Your doctor will give eye drops and maybe oral drugs to aid healing and avoid rejection or infection.

Do you need a cornea replacement surgery and worry about cornea treatment costs? If you live in Kolkata and look for the "best eye care hospital near me” for the treatment, let us tell you that Netralayam is an excellent option. The experienced professionals at Netralayam can help you. All you have to do is contact us via our website or call us directly.