Descemet's Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty

Descemet's stripping (automated) endothelial keratoplasty, abbreviated DSEK or DSAEK, is a form of corneal transplantation in which a surgeon removes a person's diseased Descemet's membrane and replaces it with a healthy donor posterior corneal transplant, rather than replacing the full thickness of the cornea. It is used to treat failure of the cornea's inner endothelial layer, including conditions such as Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. Because it replaces only the back layers of the cornea, DSAEK leaves the eye stronger and less prone to injury than a full-thickness corneal transplant, and vision typically recovers within one to six months rather than the one to two years a full-thickness transplant can take. A related, newer technique, Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty, transplants only the isolated Descemet's membrane without the thin layer of stroma that DSAEK includes, and carries a lower rejection rate of about one percent along with faster visual recovery.