Deep anterior lamellar limbo-keratoplasty for bilateral limbal stem cell deficiency with corneal scarring in chemical injury sequelae: Two case reports

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: This report describes a new technique of deep anterior lamellar limbo-keratoplasty for the management of bilateral limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) with corneal scarring. PRESENTATION OF CASES: A 45-year-old male presented with chronic sequelae of ocular chemical injury and had bilateral total LSCD with corneal scarring. The visual acuity (VA) in the right eye was counting fingers. A large diameter deep anterior lamellar limbo-keratoplasty (DAL-LK) was carried out and the donor cornea and limbus were sourced from a single tissue. The VA at the last visit, 2.5 years after the surgery was 20/80. A similar presentation was seen in a 31-year-old male with a VA of 20/320 in the right eye. He underwent a DAL-LK and 3 years after the procedure, the VA was 20/60. Both grafts remained clear with no episodes of rejection until the last follow up visit. DISCUSSION: Limbal stem cell transplantation with keratoplasty or a keratoprosthesis is required to manage bilateral LSCD with stromal scarring. The former necessitates multiple interventions while the latter is associated with several globe threatening complications. DAL-LK was devised to overcome these disadvantages and offers a simple, single staged technique of simultaneously transplanting the corneal stroma with the limbal stem cells. As the host endothelium is preserved, there is no risk of rejection episodes. CONCLUSION: DAL-LK can successfully restore stability of the ocular surface and visually rehabilitate cases with bilateral LSCD and stromal scarring. The procedure has stable long-term outcomes with a good safety profile.