Corneal opacity causes clouded vision due to disease or injury. Timely treatment is important for successful outcomes. Causes include injury, disease, vitamin A deficiency, or poorly fitting contact lenses. Treatment options include addressing the cause, eye drops, or surgery, including corneal transplant as a last resort.
Corneal opacity is a vision problem in which the cornea, the clear lens that covers the eye, does not allow all the light through due to disease or injury. When people experience this condition, their vision becomes dulled or clouded, and total vision loss can eventually be experienced. It is important to get treatment for the problem and not wait for vision problems to be identified. Timely treatment increases the chances of a successful outcome.
A number of things can lead to clouding of the cornea, including eye injury, disease processes such as ocular herpes, measles or conjunctivitis, a vitamin A deficiency, or chronic irritation from poorly fitting contact lenses. It can sometimes have a gradual onset, with damage occurring over a long period of time, so that patients don’t necessarily recognize what is happening until it has progressed far enough. People with this condition may begin to notice clouding or blurring of vision, or damage to the cornea can be identified during a routine eye exam.
If corneal opacity is identified, the first step in treatment is determining what caused the damage to the cornea. If the cause is an underlying disease process or an unaddressed issue such as contact lenses being worn for too long, the doctor and patient can work together to resolve the cause and hopefully stop the vision damage. The cornea may be able to recover and heal once the cause has been addressed and the eye has a chance to begin healing without the risk of recurrence.
In cases where the cause appears to be a past event, such as an injury to the cornea that has caused scarring, eye drops may be prescribed to relieve irritation and promote healing. Sometimes, this is enough to resolve the opacity, but in other cases, surgery may be recommended if basic treatment measures don’t work. Surgery for a complete corneal replacement can be performed even in the most severe cases.
A corneal transplant to address corneal opacity is generally regarded as a treatment of last resort after other methods have failed. In a corneal transplant, the patient receives a donor cornea from a cadaver and typically experiences the return of clear vision. For patients who have dealt with corneal scarring as an ongoing problem for an extended period of time, receiving a transplant can feel like getting a whole new eye as the scarred and clouded cornea is replaced.
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