The cornea is the transparent membrane of the eye that covers the iris and the pupil .
Being a very delicate area with limited self-repairing possibilities, an injury could also have serious consequences and make the so-called corneal transplant necessary.
Cornea transplantation is the surgical procedure by which total or partial replacement of the original cornea is performed, severely damaged, with a similar healthy element, coming from a recently deceased donor or of synthetic origin.
One of the main causes leading to the implementation of corneal transplantation is a morbid condition, called keratoconus, capable of causing a serious loss of sight even at a young age .
The first successful corneal transplant was performed in 1905, in the present Czech Republic, by a doctor named Eduard Zirm .
A few years after Zirm's intervention, exactly in 1912, a Russian surgeon, a certain Vladimir Filatov, began his activity.
Filatov experimented with various operational approaches and, in 1931, finally achieved the first truly brilliant result.
After 5 years of Filatov's operation, then in 1936, a Spanish ophthalmologist named Ramon Castroviejo carried out the first keratoconus operation in history.
Castroviejo is considered, along with Zirm and Filatov, one of the pioneers of eye surgery, in particular keratoplasty, a term used to identify corneal transplantation.
Thanks to the improvement of surgical instrumentation and operative techniques, starting from 1936 keratoplasty operations were increasingly effective and safe, to the point that the first eye and cornea conservation banks began to be established.
