The Cornea Service is a referral center for patients with corneal and external diseases of the eye. Within this service a wide range of common and rare corneal and external diseases are treated.

Corneal and eye disorders commonly treated include dry eyes, Blepharitis, Recurrent Erosion, Corneal Ulceration, Herpes Simplex Keratopathy, Pseudophakic Corneal Decompensation, Keratoconus, Corneal Dystrophies, Pterygia, external tumors and eye infections in relation to eye injuries, contact lenses, allergoies etc. Additional rare and unusual problems such as traumatic injury to the cornea, ocular surface diseases, and severe chemical burn are given the appropriate specialized treatments that include transplantation of amniotic membrane if needed. This membrane is supplied by our Eye Bank.  

More than 200 corneal surgeries are performed at Sheba Medical Center annually. The common surgery is corneal transplantation that is one of medicine's most successful transplant operations. Among other corneal operations performed in our service are relaxing incision to treat refractive errors, limbal stem cell and amniotic membrane transplantation to treat ocular surface diseases.

Among other services offered by this section are the following:

• Specular endothelial cell counts (in vivo evaluation of Corneal Endothelium)
• Corneal topography studies
• Pachometry (measures the corneal thickness)

In the near future we are going to offer a Contact Lens Service to fit specialty lenses, including keratoconus lenses as well as cosmetic contact lenses. 

Eye Bank
An Eye Bank is part of the Cornea Service and is active in obtaining cornea donations for transplantation and in increasing public and medical staff awareness. The number of corneas that are transplanted with the help of the Eye Bank is around 130 corneas per year. The harvested corneas are used mainly in the Goldschleger Eye Institute, but also are distributed to other hospitals in Israel. The Eye Bank operates according to the standards of the Eye Bank Association of America, thus maintaining the highest quality of tissue for transplantation. In addition to corneas we also prepare amniotic membrane that is taken from human placenta and is used for transplantation in cases with surface diseases of the eye.