The cornea is the clear window at the front of the eye. Infections, injuries, scars, keratoconus and inherited conditions can cloud or distort it, causing blur, glare, pain and sensitivity to light that make reading, screens and sunlight uncomfortable.

The cornea specialist in Mumbai at Apex evaluates patients with a slit-lamp examination, corneal mapping and thickness measurement. Many conditions are treated with medicated drops or with procedures that strengthen or smooth the cornea. When only certain layers are diseased, transplantation of just those layers is preferred, using donor tissue from an eye bank.

Risks of corneal surgery include graft rejection, infection, raised eye pressure, astigmatism and the need for long-term eye drops. Recovery after a transplant takes months.

Apex provides corneal treatment and transplantation for patients assessed as suitable:

• Penetrating Keratoplasty (PK): Apex performs full-thickness corneal transplantation for deep scars and advanced corneal disease.
• Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK): Apex performs transplantation of the front and middle layers while keeping the patient's own inner layer.
• Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK): Apex replaces the diseased inner layer of the cornea with a thin disc of donor tissue.
• Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK): Apex replaces only the thinnest inner membrane of the cornea with donor tissue.
• Corneal Cross-Linking (CXL): Apex strengthens a weakened cornea to stop keratoconus from progressing.
• Phototherapeutic Keratectomy (PTK): Apex performs laser removal of surface scars and irregularities on the cornea.