Cornea Transplant Cost In India

1. The total cornea transplant cost in India starts from USD 2400.
2. The success rate of cornea transplant in India is more than 75 percent.
3. Spectra Eye, Centre For Sight, and Apollo Spectra are the best hospitals for cornea transplants in India. The best doctors for the same include Dr. Suraj Munjal, Dr.Chirag Mittal, and Dr. Arvinder Gupta, etc.
4. The patient may be required to stay for a period of three to five days in India until the procedure is complete.

About Cornea Transplant

The cornea is a transparent dome-like layer on the eyeball that helps the eye to adjust the focusing power of the eye and see objects. A cornea transplant, also known as keratoplasty, is a surgery that replaces the complete cornea or the damaged parts of the cornea with donated corneal tissues. A cornea transplant improves the appearance quality of the damaged or diseased cornea, improves vision, and reduces pain in the eye if any. The most common symptoms of cornea damage are pain, swelling, or distorted vision.

Types of Cornea Transplant

In addition to the full thickness cornea transplant known as penetrating keratoplasty, there are two other types of cornea transplants:

Endothelial keratoplasty (EK): Doctors replace the innermost layer of the cornea, also called the endothelium.

Anterior lamellar keratoplasty (ALK): Doctors transplant only the outer and middle layers of the cornea.

Before the procedure

The doctors will generally conduct a thorough eye examination before the surgery. They will also keep an account of all the other medications that the patient is taking and perform an overall basic health check-up. They will also measure the size of cornea required so that they can accordingly look for the donor cornea size.

One of the most critical processes before the cornea transplant surgery is to look for donors. Cornea comes from deceased donors who sign up for eye-donation before they die. The number of people who sign up for eye donation is increasing continuously. This is the main reason why cornea is much more readily available for transplant as compared to a kidney or lungs.

Procedure

1. The doctors may perform the surgery under the effects of general or local anesthesia.
2. During penetrating keratoplasty, the surgeon cuts through the depth of the damaged cornea using a trephine (cutting instrument).
3. After removing small disk sized tissues, the surgeon replaces them with the new cornea obtained by the donor.
4. After placing the new cornea tissues on the eye, doctors stitch the tissue to ensure it does not move or dislocate.
5. The doctors may remove the stitches on the next visit after some time.

Recovery after the procedure

1. The doctors may prescribe several medications and eye drops after the surgery to reduce pain and chances of infection
2. For the eye to completely heal, the doctors may also suggest wearing an eye patch for a while after the corneal transplant surgery
3. In addition to making regular and frequent visits to the doctor, the patient should take extra precautions to avoid any injury to the eye and maintain hygiene for the eye.

Factors affecting the cost of treatment in different states in India

Corneal Transplant Cost In Delhi: With the number of international patients increasing in Delhi, the private sector majorly drives the cost of corneal transplant in Delhi.

Corneal Transplant Cost In Chennai: Many experienced doctors are working in the field of corneal transplant in Chennai, who also dominate the cost of the surgery.

Corneal Transplant Cost In Bangalore: Some of the best surgeons and hospitals in Bangalore are the primary drivers of surgery cost in the city.

Corneal Transplant Cost In Mumbai: Mumbai is one of the prime locations with many eye surgery clinics located in the city with personalized packages for international patients and highly recommended by people.

Risks associated with the surgery

In addition to the primary risks associated with any surgery like infection, the primary risk of cornea transplant is corneal rejection, where the patient’s body does not accept the deceased donor’s corneal tissues.