KeraKlear keratoprosthesis an option for treating corneal blindness

Corneal opacity and scarring secondary to a wide spectrum of infectious and inflammatory corneal diseases are a major cause of global blindness. Worldwide, about 45 million people are blind, and corneal blindness is the second leading cause, with about 4.9 million people having bilateral corneal blindness.Corneal blindness with a healthy posterior segment is often surgically reversible, and keratoprosthesis may be one of the avenues to achieve this goal, especially in cases of high-risk graft failure. With advances in keratoprosthetic devices, there is a move toward using these devices as a primary transplantation procedure in select patients. However, currently popular commercially available keratoprosthetic devices require a donor cornea, and demand exceeds supply, thus limiting the outreach of corneal transplantation to those who need the procedure.