What is Corneal Transplantation?

Corneal transplantation or keratoplasty is also known as corneal grafting. It is an operation designed to correct blindness resulting from corneal disease. It involves removal of the damaged or diseased cornea which is replaced by donated healthy corneal tissue (the graft) either in its entirety (penetrating keratoplasty) or in part (lamellar keratoplasty). The graft is taken from a recently deceased individual with no known diseases or other factors that may affect the viability of the donated corneal tissue or the health of the recipient.

Only the corneal tissue (and not the whole eye) donated by one person is transplanted into the diseased eye of another person who has been blinded by a corneal scar or disease.