Keratolimbal Grafts: Outcomes, Innovations and Alternatives

Limbal epithelial stem cell deficiency is one of the most difficult histopathological causes of corneal opacity and keratoplasty failure. Its implication in the medical and surgical treatment of several corneal diseases has been widely described, but its treatment and clinical results have variable success rates. Several surgical techniques have been proposed in the past century, being limbal autografts from the fellow healthy eye, the one with the most long-term survival rate. The classification of the ocular surface reconstructive techniques is nowadays well defined, and the tissue options and donor sources have been widely described by researchers. Recent advances like Simple limbal epithelial transplantation (SLET) are providing new promising results, waiting until the research in ex vivo expansion and transplantation of isolated limbal stem cells becomes available to the general corneal surgeon.