In our country, there are hundreds of patients waiting for corneal transplants. These patients are waiting in line; because there are not sufficient cornea banks. The most important problem in corneal transplants is lack of enough donations
Many patients are waiting in line for corneal transplant in Turkey. Opt. Dr. Levent Akçay from Dünyagöz Hospital in Altunizade says that; there are cornea banks in our country, but number of cornea received does not satisfy to demand of patients. Op. Dr. Levent Akçay stressed that this problem should be resolved as soon as possible and he said that; Turkey needs new cornea banks.
WHO CAN DONATE?
Opt. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; required cornea for corneal transplant is provided from cadavers and he tells the criteria for people who want to donate cornea as follows: “We are trying to obtain suitable corneas from foreign cornea banks for our patients in Turkey. The main international criteria for donating cornea are not to suffer from infectious diseases such as hepatitis, AIDS etc. Also, it is not taken corneas of people who deceased because of cancer; such as leukemia, lymphoma etc. The other patient groups – whose corneas are not taken – are the patients whose eye surface are extremely dried and damaged and the donors who remained under intensive care for a long time.”
WHICH ARE THE CRITERIA FOR A SUCCESSFUL CORNEAL TRANSPLANT?
Op. Dr. Levent Akçay listed the following criteria that a donor should have for a successful cornea transplant:
– To have healthy eyelids,
– To have enough number of stem cell structures which can cover the cornea surface and can produce healthy epithelial cells,
– To have normal tear functions
– Not to have blood vessels in the cornea tissue.
Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay explain that; the patients who meet these criteria have high rate of success possibility on corneal transplants and the patients start to see normally within months after transplantation.
CORNEAL TRANSPLANT DOES NOT CHANGE THE EYE COLOR
Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says; “some people misbelieve about corneal transplant that; donor and recipient should have compatible eye color. This is not true.” Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay explains that; iris determines to eye color. As cornea is changed during the transplantation and iris is not changed; the eye color would not change.
IS IT NEEDED TISSUE COMPATIBILITY FOR CORNEAL TRANSPLANT?
Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; it is not required tissue compatibility between the donor and the recipient in cornea transplant. Opr.Dr. Levent Akçay pointed out that; the success rate of corneal transplantation is higher than other tissue-organ transplants.
WHEN CORNEAL TRANSPLANT IS DONE?
Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; timing is extremely important for corneal transplantation. He underlined that; the time period between the death of cornea donor and the cornea removal should not be very long. Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; ideal timing is removal of cornea within the first 6 hours after death but if the cold chain has been observed, the cornea can be taken up to 16-18 hours. Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay expresses that cornea is stored in a particular way. Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay stated that the transplantation should take place within 7 days. Op. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; the deadline can sometimes be 14 days depending on the storage method. Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; corneal transplant is a difficult operation and it should be done by expert transplant doctors.
CORNEAL TRANSPLANT IS AN IMPORTANT SURGERY
Stating that corneal transplant is a very serious and major operation, Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that; legally, it is not possible to do corneal transplant to both eyes in the same time and he explains that; the second cornea should be transplanted at least one year later from the transplant of the first cornea. He also says that this period can be even 2-3 years but sometimes this period can be shorten in emergency cases. Op. Dr. Levent Akçay expresses that; it is important to minimize early and late period risks.
WHOM CORNEAL TRANSPLANT IS DONE?
Opr. Dr. Levent Akçay says that corneal transplant is mostly used in the treatment of kerataconus eye disease. He also points out that; corneal transplant is done in case of corneal dystrophies – accumulation of impurities in the cornea – and in case of any disease that cornea whitens.