There are little or no restrictions after surgery which is done on an outpatient basis. A corneal transplant is the replacement of a scarred or diseased cornea with clear corneal tissue from a donor. There is no need to match the donor and recipient by eye color, age, sex, or blood type. The Eye Bank Association of America has a national database that helps provide donor corneas to those surgeons and patients who need them. Most corneal transplants are performed under local anesthesia as an outpatient procedure.
Surgeons perform the operation while looking through an operating microscope.
A round, central portion of the cornea is removed with a special circular blade. A rim of your own cornea is left in place to which the new cornea is attached. Sutures used to stitch the new cornea in place are about one-third the diameter of a human hair. It may take six months to one year after surgery for vision to stabilize. Near or farsightedness, for example, does not affect the cornea.