Chemical injuries of the eye may produce extensive damage to the ocular surface epithelium, cornea, and anterior segment, resulting in permanent unilateral or bilateral visual impairment. Pathophysiological events which may influence the final visual prognosis and which are amenable to therapeutic modulation include 1) ocular surface injury, repair, and differentiation, 2) corneal stromal matri...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to review the history and evolution of the National Eye Bank (NEB) and analyze the impact over the years and report the outcome of the invested resources. METHODS Review of archival material, records, project reports, policy and procedures' manuals, and publications was done. Descriptive and analytical processing of data obtained was undertaken. Parameters...

PURPOSE Corneal tissue shortage has become a major concern worldwide, which has motivated the search for alternative solutions to eye bank human eyes for corneal transplantation. Minimally invasive lamellar transplantation and tissue engineering may offer new opportunities for the rehabilitation of diseased corneas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biocompatibility and functionality of...

Background & Aims: Amniotic membrane persists for a long time after ocular transplantation (as corneal substitute) and can affect light transmission (transparency). The aim of this study was to evaluate the transparency of amniotic membrane after freeze-drying (lyophilization) and to compare the results with transparency of rabbit cornea. Methods: Transparency of rabbits’ corneas and fresh and ...

BACKGROUND Ocular trauma or disease may lead to severe corneal opacification and, consequently, severe loss of vision as a result of complete loss of corneal epithelial stem cells. Transplantation of autologous corneal stem-cell sources is an alternative to allograft transplantation and does not require immunosuppression, but it is not possible in many cases in which bilateral disease produces ...

One among the corneal diseases causing significant visual impairment and blindness is corneal dystrophies, which is a heterogeneous subset of hereditary corneal disorders that are generally bilateral, non-inflammatory and often result in corneal opacities, requiring corneal transplantation [1]. To add to this group and also which is closely related to dystrophy are the degenerative conditions o...

PURPOSE To clarify the usefulness of multilayer amniotic membrane transplantation in an unusual case of calcareous corneal degeneration in a patient with graft-versus-host disease. METHODS A 20-year-old Caucasian woman had bilateral calcareous corneal degeneration of one year of evolution, secondary to graft-versus-host disease. Treatment for both eyes with topical steroids and antibiotic oin...

Corneal integrity is essential for visual function. Transplantation remains the most common treatment option for advanced corneal diseases. A global donor material shortage requires a search for alternative treatments. Different stem cell populations have been induced to express corneal cell characteristics in vitro and in animal models. Yet before their application to humans, scientific and et...

PURPOSE Severe ocular surface diseases and injuries cause loss of the corneal limbal epithelium, leading to re-epithelialization by bulbar conjunctival cells, resulting in vascularization of the cornea, conjunctival scarring, and loss of visual acuity. In this study, the optimal culture condition for induction of differentiation of epithelial progenitor cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells was ...