AIM: To investigate the clinical effect of autologous penetrating keratoplasty in the treatment of corneal blindness.

METHODS: Totally 8 patients with corneal blindness were treated by autologous penetrating keratoplasty in our hospital from 2014-01 to 2018-03. Using retrospective analysis, the patients were followed up for one year. To observe the intraoperative complications and postoperative conditions such as visual acuity, corneal transparency, and other were observed.

RESULTS: The uncorrected visual acuity of all the 8 patients was greater than 0.02 1wk after operation, and the rate of restoration of visual acuity was 100%(8/8). The corrected visual acuity of 5 patients(5-8)was more than 0.3 1mo after operation. The corrected visual acuity of 3 patients(3-8)with severe cataract before operation was improved to 0.08-0.2. One year later, all the corneal grafts in the recipient eyes were transparency and no recurrence of infection or secondary infection occurred in all 8 patients.

CONCLUSION: Corneal graft is easy to grow and there are no exclusion reactions, fewer postoperative complications after autologous corneal transplantation. So, corneal implants can remain transparent for a long time, and the surgery cost is lower. Autologous corneal transplantation can not only provide long-term useful vision for patients with monocular blindness combined with corneal blindness, but also reduce their financial burden and bring great benefits to patients.