A comparison of corneal autografts with homografts.

Background and Objective: To determine whether ensured graft acceptance through the use of corneal autografts yields a better outcome than when standard homografts are used.
Patients and Methods: Four patients who needed a corneal transplant in one eye and who had a blind fellow eye underwent a corneal autograft in the eye with corneal pathology.
Results: Three of the four patients had clear grafts on long-term follow-up, and no patient experienced immunologic graft rejection. However, two of the four patients had large amounts of astigmatism postoperatively.
Conclusion: Autografts provided protection against immunologic graft rejection. However, because corneal autografts yielded unpredictable amounts of astigmatism, their outcomes are not necessarily better than those of homografts.