摘要
It is our pleasure to offer the reader this special issue of the Annals of Eye Science that focuses on bioengineered cornea.Corneal disease is referred as one of the leading causes of blindness,only secondary to cataract in overall importance.The majority of corneal blind patients could potentially have their sight restored through corneal transplantation,whereas the barrier to the performance of corneal transplantation in many counties is the limited tissue availability.On a global level,there were an estimated 12.7 million people on the waiting lists for corneal transplants in 2012,and China had more than 3 million with its prevalence at 0.225%.What is more,the number of corneal blind patients in China is still increasing by 10%annually.In spite of large population of corneal blind patients in China,only fewer than 8,000 corneal transplantations were performed in 2012.
