The cornea is literally the window of your eye. Light travels through the cornea to other parts of your eye to send a clear visual image to your brain. If the cornea becomes damaged, it has a direct impact on your vision.

There are a wide range of corneal and external eye diseases. While some conditions, such as nearsightedness and astigmatism, can be corrected with eyeglasses or contacts, other diseases are more severe and require a surgical procedure, such as a corneal transplant.

Ophthalmologists in the Sutter Health network offer compassionate, expert care, along with the latest diagnostic imaging and surgical technology to treat various conditions of the cornea and outer layers of the eye, such as Fuchs corneal dystrophy (a gradual degeneration of the cornea) and keratoconus (an irregularity of the cornea).

Doctors who are fellowship-trained and board-certified perform a wide range of corneal procedures such as:

• Penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) — a full corneal transplant.
• Partial transplants — for example, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK), ultra-thin Descemet’s stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) and Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).
• Type 1 Boston keratoprosthesis — replacing the cornea with an artificial cornea.
• Corneal collagen crosslinking — using UV light to strengthen the chemical bonds in the cornea.

We also provide evaluations for other corneal-related surgeries, including:

• Ocular surface reconstruction
• Pterygium excision
• Pupilloplasty
• Intraocular lens exchange

For less serious corneal and external eye issues, we offer consultations to correct those conditions through the use of glasses or contact lenses, or through simple surgical procedures using lasers, implants or refractive lens exchanges.