Are you experiencing severe eye pain or loss of vision in your eye? You could have damaged your cornea, the transparent part of the eye that lets light in. A corneal transplant is a safe and effective way to restore vision to your eye when the cornea has been severely injured or infected. It is a surgical procedure that involves replacing the damaged cornea with a donor cornea.

Assoc Prof ​Jodhbir Singh Mehta, Senior Consultant​ from Corneal &​ External Eye Disease Service Singapore​ at Singapore National Eye Centre, gives detailed answers to your questions.

Question by catherinetiah

Dear Prof Jodhbir Mehta,

Can I ask what are the dietary and lifestyle conditions that can cause a need for corneal transplant

Also, can existing eye conditions (like dry eyes) lead to corneal transplant also- in the extreme case?

Is the transplant safe for life- or would there be other complications also?

Thanks for your advise.

Catherine

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

Generally there are no dietary or lifestyle conditions that can cause need for corneal transplant unless one of course partakes in extreme sports where you can sustain an injury from trauma. Dry eyes can lead to corneal transplant only if very severe and if the dry eyes is caused by limbal stem cell deficiency. As with all transplants there is a risk of rejection even in the long term but these rates have been reduced with the new forms of transplant procedures.

Question by rsim

Hi Prof,

Can the receiver accept any cornea donated, is there a need for cornea matching?

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

Good question. Unlike kidney we don’t need to do matching for the majority of transplants performed, however unfortunately not every cornea donated can be used since they have to undergo strict tests to assess the cell viability or healthiness of the donated tissue and the donors themselves will have to undergo microbiology testing to ensure that there is no risk of transmission of infection from the donor to recipient.

Question by pocoyosky

Hi Prof Mehta,

What are the risks involved in cornea transplant?

How can we prevent damage to cornea?

Does vision loss comes with old age?

Is cornea transplant always 100% successful?

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

The main risk with corneal transplant is graft rejection but of course as with any surgical procedure there is always risk of infection especially in the early postoperative phase as well as raised pressure in the eye in the long term. Apart from preventing injury during sports e.g the use of goggles during badminton and squash there is no other conclusive evidence by dietary methods. Flax seed oil has been shown to help the tear film and taking antioxidants can also keep your eyes generally healthy.

Question by esim

Hi Prof Jodhbir,

Can I be a cornea donor to my elderly parent?

Is cornea generally the same or everyone has unique cornea?

If I am a cornea donor, does this mean I will have vision left with only one eye? And how safe is corneal transplant?

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

That is a kind thought, but donor tissues are taken from people who have passed away. For standard corneal transplants we do not take donor tissue from a living person since the living person will then be left blind in that eye. The cornea will have the same structure for everyone but the shape of the cornea hence the power will differ amongst people. No as mentioned being a donor means you will only donate your cornea once you have passed away. We audit our results every year and publish them in journals from time to time, the one year success for standard corneal grafts in our centre is 90%, for newer transplant procedures it ranges from 95-98%.

Question by pigity

Dear Professor Jodhbir Mehta,

I've been having blurred vision for the past few months, probably due to the over-wearing of my contact lenses, which should have been expired months back.

I have already consulted my eye-wear consultant and according to them, i need not see a specialist yet for my condition is not that serious.

As per their instructions, i had used saline to wash my eyes everyday, but it seems that it didn't help much.

I'd like to know if there are any other ways that i could do to my eyes, like using another kind of solution for the eye-washing, rather than seeing a specialist? (Due to monetary issues).

Thanks a million. :)

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

You have to be very careful with contact lenses wear. Over use is a common problem and it can be exacerbated by the climate we live in in Singapore. If things are not better I would try to see specialist help especially if you intend on wearing lenses again since some of the medication required is only available from specialists.

Question by mosmos

Hi Prof,

Normally after a corneal transplant, will the patient regain back partially or 100% eyesight vision? Thanks.

Answered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Jodhbir Mehta Senior Consultant Corneal & External Eye Disease Service Singapore National Eye Centre

The vision regained after a transplant will depend on many factors. The duration of the pathology in the cornea, the presence of other diseases in the eye e.g glaucoma or retinal damage. Generally speaking if a patient doesn’t have glaucoma or retinal disease then there’s a good chance they can regain near full vision. Published data from our centre has shown that newer selective tissue transplantation procedures give better vision results than older corneal transplant procedures.

Ref: T12