Descemet’s Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty

Descemet’s Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSEK) is a minimally invasive corneal transplant technique where healthy donor tissue replaces the unhealthy, diseased portion of a patient’s cornea. This technique allows surgeons to remove a much smaller portion of a patient’s cornea than the conventional corneal transplant surgery, known as penetrating keratoplasty (PKP).

Standard corneal transplants remove the full thickness of a patient’s cornea and replace it with full thickness donor tissue. DSEK removes only the diseased layer of the cells and replaces it with a similar amount of donor tissue. The donor tissue is folded and then inserted into the anterior chamber of the eye. The transplanted tissue is unfolded and positioned to cover the area where the diseased cells were removed. The anterior chamber is then temporarily filled with air to hold the transplanted tissue in place. The new tissue will heal without sutures.

Visual recovery for PKP patients can take between 12-24 months. DSEK patients can regain useful vision as early as four weeks and driving vision within three to six months after the procedure.