Evaluation of Quality of Vision after Deep Anteror Lamellar Keratoplasty

Penetrating Keratoplasty (PKP) has been the treatment of choice for corneal diseases for the past 100 years. However during the last decade, because of advancement in surgical techniques, Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK), in which a maximal depth of corneal stroma is removed has gained popularity as an alternative to PK for the treatment of corneal diseases that do not affect the corneal endothelium and descemet membrane such as keratoconus, corneal stromal dystrophies and corneal stromal opacities. The main advantage of DALK is that it allows preservation of patient’s own endothelium, reducing the risk of immunological reactions, endothelial graft rejection and graft failure.

Multiple factors can limit post-DALK visual performance, including lower and higher order aberrations and light scatter caused by the surgical interface.However the relative contributions of these factors in visual performance after DALK are poorly understood.

The purpose of this study will be to evaluate the quality of vision after DALK in Indian eyes.These postoperative factors include those obtained by AS-OCT and corneal tomography, and anterior/posterior corneal HOAs.