Corneal transplantation has been performed with increasing success for more than 100 years. In the last 20 years, standards, outcomes and developments in the field of corneal transplantation and eye banking have been discussed at the annual meetings of the European Eye Bank Association (EEBA) to share and promote good practice and guarantee a high level of safety for the recipients. The EEBA standards for donor selection and eye banking provide professional advice and guidance to eye banks and corneal surgeons.This book highlights the history and development of eye banking and all significant steps including the donation, processing and distribution of corneas for transplantation. Additional contributions on the sclera, amnion and retinal pigment epithelium provide further insights into ocular surgery and the future potential for transplantation. This book contributes the essentials in eye banking activities for ophthalmologists and eye bankers as well as for regulatory and legislative authorities.

Until a few years ago, eye banks were only considered as centres for collecting and processing units of human donor eyes. However, eye banks in recent years have changed the process of current corneal transplantation. Although the very first corneal transplantation was conceptualised in the late 18th century, it has taken a century to develop methods and understand the role of human corneas in general. This book gives an insight of worldwide associations and their standard regulations in terms of corneal donations, processes and transplantations. The associations mainly include: Eye Bank Association of America, European Eye Bank Association and Eye Bank Association of Australia and New Zealand. This book also refers to some of the early stages of eye banking and current methods of preservation, including cold and organ culture storage. The current eye banking scenario is changing dramatically in terms of tissue processing. Once, tissues were only collected, stored and shipped for transplantation to the surgeons. Now eye banks have advanced in developing techniques in collaboration with surgeons to introduce more reliable methods of transplantation. This includes standardisation of methods such as DSAEK, UT-DSAEK, pre-loaded grafts and DMEK. Furthermore, this compilation describes different techniques of lamellar keratoplasty, such as anterior and posterior lamellar keratoplasties. Retrieving, storing, processing and transplantation of such lenticules are also discussed in this book. Posterior lamellar graft preparation for selective surgeries like DSAEK and Ultra-Thin DSAEK has been included with relevant clinical approaches. DMEK, which is currently taking corneal transplantation to a different level, has been reported with various graft preparation techniques. The role of eye banks in general for such preparation method is also examined. Additionally, the importance of microbiology in day to day care in the field of corneal transplantation and eye banks exists as a topic within these pages. Eye banks are playing a major role and changing the face of corneal transplantation in terms of new research; whether it be graft preparation for surgeries, preservation, surgical tools, ready-to-use tissues or studying cornea in details using available research tissues, these methods are advancing the field. Eye banks play a major role in tissue selection and correct processing methods. Surgeons are provided with a validated tissue so it makes easier for them to follow the transplantation. Therefore, this book highlights the new concepts in the eye banking field with regards to the standards, regulations, retrieval, preservation and transplantation methods. All of these continue to help aid in the research and development of surgical processes and devices.

This unique reference book serves as a great tool to obtain a good foundation of comprehending eye bank principles. The Science of Comprehensive Eye Banking is a useful guide for eye bankers and corneal surgeons. The book covers chapters such as Eye Banking 101 for the novices to Environmental Monitoring for the more advanced eye bankers. The Science of Comprehensive Eye Banking has full color images to help provide more details to eye bank processes, ocular anatomy, and evaluation techniques.

The field of cornea has seen tremendous advances over the last 40 years—this uniquely comprehensive book will discuss the history of these advances, current best practices in important diseases of the cornea and ocular surface, and examine future directions in diagnosis and management. Written by leading experts, many of whom trained under Claes Henrik Dohlman, MD, PhD, whose influence and many invaluable contributions have defined and shaped the field of cornea, each chapter will reflect the state of the art in the various aspects of cornea. Foundations of Corneal Disease: Past, Present, and Future contains six different sections, opening with an introduction which delves into the evolution of subspecialty training in cornea, and provides a historical perspective of our understanding of ocular surface disease. Section Two addresses perspectives on important corneal and external diseases including infectious keratitis, dry eye, and herpes simplex. Section Three and Section Four address surgery and surgical alternatives, and frontiers in corneal research. Section Six closes this book with a discussion of special topics: imaging the cornea, corneal blindness, eye banking, and clinical trials in dry eye, and explores future directions in this fast-paced field. Foundations of Corneal Disease: Past, Present, and Future contains is an ideal guide for corneal specialists, ophthalmology residents and fellows planning to enter cornea, corneal scientists, and to those in ophthalmology and visual science interested in a comprehensive resource on cornea and the history of this field.