What is Cornea?

Cornea is the transparent outermost layer of the human eye. Technically speaking, the cornea is not a single layer; its made of five delicate membranes that are arranged one below the other. Cornea plays a major role in focusing persons vision. Cornea is transparent and curvy in shape which helps in refracting light from any object to create its image on retina thereby enabling us to see the object clear and sharp.

As per World Health Organization corneal blindness is the fourth leading cause of blindness in India.

The corneal surface and its structure are very delicate. Any injury or infection of the cornea can lead to damage leading to loss of corneal transparency and thereby disrupting the normal vision which might also lead to blindness.

Common problems that affect the cornea are corneal ulcers, keratitis (inflammation of the cornea) and keratoconus (thinning of the cornea) apart from the allergies, infections like herpes and the corneal abrasions caused by external injuries.

The most common corneal disorders are the following:

• Corneal abrasion- a medical condition involving the loss of the surface epithelial layer of the eye's cornea as a result of trauma to the surface of the eye.
• Corneal dystrophy- a condition in which one or more parts of the cornea lose their normal clarity due to a buildup of cloudy material.
• Corneal ulcer- an inflammatory or infective condition of the cornea involving disruption of its epithelial layer with involvement of the corneal stroma.
• Corneal neovascularization - excessive in growth of blood vessels from the limbal vascular plexus into the cornea, caused by deprivation of oxygen from the air.
• Fuchs' dystrophy - cloudy morning vision.
• Keratitis - inflammation of the cornea.
• Keratoconus- a degenerative disease, the cornea thins and changes shape to be more like a Chemical burns or Trauma or Injuries.