Treatment for Corneal Conditions

The cornea of your eye plays an important part in your sight. Damage or disease can inhibit its ability to perform its function, leading to loss of vision or blindness. Your total vision care team at Sylvan Eye in Modesto, CA, can help you recognize problems with your cornea and give you quality treatment for them.

What Is the Function of the Cornea?

The cornea is a clear tissue overlaying the pupil and iris of your eye. As light enters your eye, it works with the eye's lens to focus light onto the retina. The retina is located on the back inner wall of the eye. When light isn't being focused directly onto your retina, you cannot have clear vision without some mechanical help.

The cornea also serves as a protective shield for the eye. It provides a barrier from dust, germs, and other harmful objects from entering the eye. It also serves as a filter for UV radiation.

Treatment for a Scratched Cornea

Your cornea can become scratched. This can happen if an object strikes your eye. If you work in a dusty environment or around power tools with flying debris, this debris can enter your eye and scratch your cornea. People with dry eye are more susceptible to getting a scratched cornea.

Your eye doctor may prescribe eye drops for you to keep your eye moist during the healing process. Antibiotics may also be prescribed to keep down infection. More severe abrasions may require other types of treatments and can cause permanent vision issues. As a rule, if you are a contact lens wearer, you should not wear your contacts until your eye doctor says it is okay.

Treatment for a Misshapen Cornea

A misshapen cornea is often the reason for nearsightedness. It can be offset by wearing corrective lenses. Corrective lenses help to focus the incoming light properly onto the retina.

Surgeries, like LASIK, are also available to reshape the cornea. If your cornea protrudes upward too much, such surgeries are used to flatten it out. The results of these surgeries are often that no further need of corrective lenses is necessary. Your ophthalmologist can suggest which surgery would be best for your situation.

Another technology used in treating a misshaped cornea is orthokeratology. It uses lenses similar to contact lenses to reshape your cornea. You wear them as you sleep and take them out while you are awake. They gently reshape the contour of your cornea to cause it to bend light onto your retina. It may take up to a couple of months for your vision to be clear. Discuss this option with your optometrist for more information.

Treatment for Corneal Diseases

Corneal diseases can cause your cornea to become thin, cloudy, scarred, swollen, and eventually lead to blindness. Your optometrist and ophthalmologist will treat the condition you are experiencing and the severity stage it is in.

The early stages of some diseases can be treated with eye drops, contact lenses, and medications to keep fluids from building up in the cornea. Later stages may require surgery and cornea implants or transplants.