What are the options for corneal transplantation?
There are basically 3 options now for replacing the endothelial layer for patients that are suffering from a swollen cornea: (1) a full thickness conreal transplant or PK, (2) Deep Lamellar Endothelial Keratoplasty or DLEK and (3) Descemet’s Stripping Endotheliel Keratoplasty or DSEK – Full thickness Corneal Transplant Surgery of PK: Over the past 100 years, the only method of replacing the endothelium was with a full thickness corneal transplant. This method is called a penetrating keratoplasty or PK. In this method, the patients central cornea overlying the pupil area is cut out with a cookie cutter instrument called a trephine. This full thickness circular button of tissue contains the diseased endothelial layer, but also the swollen but healthy stromal layer and the healthy surface epithelial layer. This leaves an 8 millimeter diameter hole in the central cornea which must be plugged by the donor tissue. The surgeon then cuts a similar size 8 or 8.25 mm diameter button of donor cor
