The Excellence Center for Cornea and Limbal Stem Cell Transplantation is the first center in Thailand to provide specialized cornea medical services with the latest technology and equipment. It was formerly called the Cornea Unit under the Ophthalmology Department, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. The Center is renowned for being the first to perform corneal replacement surgery in Thailand in 1959. Since then, corneal surgery technology has continued to progress to the point that surgeons can now replace the problematic cornea layer while retaining the good layers. The advantage of this technique is that only a specific area on a cornea layer is replaced, when necessary, therefore, reducing the size of the surgical wound and increasing the rate of patient recovery.
Stem cell transplantation is another innovation that the Center is proud of as it is the first agency to successfully cultivate stem cells in Thailand. It employs the techniques of removing good stem cells from a patient’s good eye for cultivation, cultivating stem cells from donated eye, and culturing stem cells from patient’s oral epithelial cells for effective corneal transplantation in patients with limbal stem cell deficiency. These three techniques are the results of a collaboration with the Excellence Center for Stem Cell and Cell Therapy under the leadership of Asst. Prof. Dr. Nipaj Isara Sena Na Ayudhya.
Vision
We aim to provide corneal medical services to patients in need of comprehensive corneal and stem cell transplantation.
Operations
- Provide comprehensive corneal treatment to patients with cornea dysopsia through corneal transplantation.
- Provide comprehensive treatment to patients with ocular surface disease who need a stem cell transplant.
The Excellence Center for Cornea and Limbal Stem Cell Transplantation is managed by…
Assoc. Prof. Wilawan Puangsicharoen as the president and Assoc. Prof. Ngamchit Kasetsuwan (Head of the Laser Vision Center) as the vice president, cooperating with specialists, nurses, and medical scientists.
Services
Currently, this Excellence Center has provided services for corneal medical treatment, corneal skin disease and limbus hypothyroidism, including corneal degeneration, corneal inflammation and corneal infection, managed by the top expert physician team in Thailand.
In addition, there is also research of corneal stem cell culturing cooperating with the unit of stem cell therapy research, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University as the first center in Thailand fully equipped with advanced technology and medical tools.
- Femtosecond laser for corneal transplantation.
- Development of corneal surgery using DALK DSAEK and DMEK technologies.
- Corneal stem cell transplantation in patients with eye skin disease.
- Corneal UV irradiation.
- The corrective ring surgery for corneal distortion.
It is obvious that this center has the full potential to cure all types of corneal diseases and that the patients with complicated corneal disease from various hospitals nationwide are transferred to this Center. Currently, approximately 300 patients are treated per month and over 120 corneal replacement surgeries are achieved per year while the funding from NSTDA is provided for over 30 cases per year.
In addition, the center is planning to develop an electronic system to support patients and stop them from traveling to the hospital by cooperating with hospitals at all the provinces to provide medical advice via Teleconference.
