AIM To examine the efficacy, safety, and long term outcomes of amniotic membrane transplantation for corneal surface reconstruction in cases of partial limbal stem cell deficiency. METHODS 17 eyes of 15 patients with partial limbal stem cell deficiency underwent superficial keratectomy of the conjunctivalised corneal surface followed by amniotic membrane transplantation. Cases were followed u...

AIM To describe a surgical technique for autologous limbal stem cell transplantation and the outcome of a series of patients with unilateral stem cell deficiency. METHODS A report of six consecutive patients who underwent autologous limbal stem cell transplantation is presented. The primary diagnosis included alkali burn (n=3), conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (n=1), recurrent pte...

Limbal allograft transplantation was performed consecutively in 16 eyes with thermal or chemical burns (n = 5), Terrien's degeneration (n = 2), congenital sclerocornea (n = 1), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (n = 1), and chronic keratoconjunctivitis (n = 7), by transplanting randomly selected cadaver limbocorneal grafts to the recipient eye that had received superficial lamellar keratectomy to remove...

PURPOSE To report the outcomes of allograft limbal stem cell transplantation for recurrent gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy (GDLD). METHODS In this non-comparative interventional case series, 4 eyes of 3 consecutive patients with recurrent GDLD underwent allograft limbal stem cell transplantation. Two eyes underwent concomitant penetrating keratoplasty while the other two underwent simu...

Accumulating evidence supports the dogma that the corneal epithelium is regenerated by stem cells located exclusively in the limbal niche, at the corneal periphery. Accordingly, limbal stem cells (LSCs) give rise to progenitors that proliferate and migrate centripetally to repopulate the corneal epithelium, which has a short turnover. Moreover, LSC loss leads to corneal opacity and blindness, w...

Corneal epithelium is traditionally thought to be a self-sufficient, self-renewing tissue implying that its stem cells are located in its basal cell layer. Recent studies indicate however that corneal epithelial stem cells reside in the basal layer of peripheral cornea in the limbal zone, and that corneal and conjunctival epithelia represent distinct cell lineages. These ideas are supported by ...

Background  To report normal variations of the limbal structures using in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy. Methods: This was a retrospective study of fourteen eyes from 11 healthy individuals. Confocal imaging of cornea and limbus was performed using Heidelberg Retina Tomograph III Rostock Corneal Module. Results: The typical structure of the palisades of Vogt (POV) was detected ...

PURPOSE To report corneal stem cell allografts in a patient with a persistent epithelial defect as well as corneal melting and perforation due to severe ultraviolet light burn and thermokeratoplasty treatment for keratoconus. METHODS A 21-year-old female patient with corneal melting, perforation and a persistent epithelial defect in her left eye secondary to iatrogenic treatment for keratocon...

purpose: to describe a novel surgical technique for in vivo limbal stem cell cultivation for reconstruction of corneal epithelium in total limbal stem cell deficiency (lscd). methods: patients suffering from chronic total unilateral lscd due to a chemical injury were sequentially included. one small limbal block (2x1 mm) harvested from contralateral healthy eye sutured over the amniotic membran...