Recent Advances in Endothelial Keratoplasty

Corneal diseases are one of the leading causes of significant vision impairment worldwide. Keratoplasty is one of the majorly performed procedures in such cases. However, the need for donor cornea exceeds the supply in many countries. It has been reported that almost 53% of the world’s population lacks access to corneal transplantation, due to which there is only one cornea available for every 70 needed [1]. This necessitates the need for useful alternative corneal substitutes which can replicate the structure and function of cornea and reduce the dependency on human tissue. This is especially important in case of endothelial keratoplasty as the donor tissue pool of corneas with good quality endothelium is only a fraction of the total corneas harvested through eye donation.