The outermost layer of the cornea, called the epithelium, is attached or anchored to an underlying basement membrane, called Bowman’s Membrane, in order to remain healthy. For many patients, there may be the option of a partial thickness corneal transplant procedure, called DSEK (Decemet’s Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty) that we perform, to transplant endothelial cells, which may help certain Fuchs Dystrophy patients overcome their discomfort and vision problem. However, when these measures fail to provide comfort and clear vision, it may be necessary to have a corneal transplant.

As the Fuchs Dystrophy disease worsens, the vision does not clear we will attempt to help reduce the corneal swelling each day with eye drops and ointments. In Fuchs Dystrophy, the endothelium removes fluid from the cornea less efficiently. This phenomenon occurs because the cornea normally takes on water and swells during sleep. A healthy endothelial pump is necessary in order to restore the cornea to a normal thickness. In its later phases, Fuchs Dystrophy is often associated with considerable pain as the epithelium “blisters” by forming “bullae”, which begin to burst.Įarly in the course of Fuchs Dystrophy patients will wake up with blurry vision that gets progressively clearer as the day passes. This results in corneal swelling and distorting vision. While the reason is poorly understood, in Fuchs Dystrophy, endothelial cells die, causing the remaining endothelium to shoulder the burden of pumping water, with reduced efficiency. The endothelial cells are responsible for pumping water out of the cornea and helping to maintain corneal transparency.

The innermost layer of cells in the cornea, called the endothelium, is a single layer of non-regenerating cells.

While it is possible to observe Fuchs Dystrophy in people in their 30’s and 40’s, it usually does not compromise vision until people are in their 50’s or 60’s. Fuchs Dystrophy is a slowly progressive disease of the cornea that can develop in both eyes and is slightly more common in women than men.

Map dot fingerprint dystrophy