In a new development specific for corneal disorders, the success of a new type of artificial cornea tested. To validate this, a team of researchers and doctors at CorNeat – an Israeli ophthalmic medical device company carried out implanting the artificial cornea that directly integrates into the eye wall. Following implantation of the device on a 78-year-old male patient, members of the team announced the success of the device on their web page.
In the human eye, the cornea is the clear front part, and it covers and protects the pupil and iris. Damage to the cornea due to disease or injury that is beyond repair results in blindness. Meanwhile, current treatment to repair the cornea involves transplantation of a healthy cornea from a donor. Unfortunately, the availability of donors are fewer than the number of people needing new corneas, thus, medical researchers are striving to create artificial corneas.
New Man-made cornea to fully integrate in the eye within weeks, say researchers
In fact, till date, efforts made to create artificial corneas generally involve the need for human tissue to support the connection between man-made device and human eye parts.
To address this, in the new effort, researchers have developed a new kind of cornea. Notably, this new device does not use require use of any tissue, but, it has a skirt composed of a material that allows infiltration by collagen and fibroplasts. As per the research team behind this development, the cornea skirt can be fully integrated, and can be achieved within few weeks of surgery.
For appearance, the artificial cornea is very much like a flying saucer seen in science fiction movies. The clear middle section of the artificial cornea serves as the cornea, which is surrounded by the white skirt.
