Ophthalmic surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center have vast experience in diagnosing and treating medical and surgical problems that involve the cornea (the layer of clear tissue that covers the eye) and the outer part of the eye. The Cornea and External Diseases Program at UT Southwestern provides a range of treatments that includes drug therapy, corneal surgery, refractive surgery and cornea transplant surgery, using the latest medical technologies.

Cornea transplants are the most successful of all transplants with a national success rate greater then 85 percent.

Ophthalmic surgeons have access to recent breakthroughs from UT Southwestern researchers. For example, UT Southwestern has the only ophthalmic microbiology laboratory in North Texas, dedicated to diagnosing infectious diseases of the eye. Patients in UT Southwestern’s clinical trials program receive therapies years before they become available to the public. Patients should ask their doctor if they are candidates for some of these groundbreaking therapies:

• Anterior segment reconstruction
• Confocal microscopy: used to focus through the entire range of a human cornea – especially for positive diagnosis of Acanthamoeba Keratitis
• Corneal keratoprosthesis
• Corneal topography: an important tool that allows physicians to see refractive problems in the cornea; used to screen refractive surgery candidates, fit contacts, diagnose and adjust in post-surgical corneal transplants
• DSAEK/DSEK/DLEK (Descemet’s stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty)
• Intacs for keratoconus
• Lamellar keratoplasty
• Ocular surface reconstruction and amniotic membrane transplantation
• Penetrating keratoplasty
• Pentacam anterior segment
• Visante OCT