Around 20 lakh people are blind due to corneal eye diseases in India. The cornea services at Aravind Eye Hospitals in Madurai, Tirunelveli, and Coimbatore see around 3,000 cases of infectious keratitis every year, probably the greatest number in the world. Of these cases, 50% are caused by fungi.

The in-house ocular microbiology laboratory assists in diagnosing infective corneal ulcers. The most common fungi isolated were Fusarium species, while the most common bacterium isolated was Streptococcus pneumoniae. The other cases seen in this clinic are corneal dystrophies, of which the majority are macular corneal dystrophies.

The first case of Acanthamoeba keratitis in non-contact lens wearers was reported in the corneal clinic at Aravind-Madurai. Current research investigates the use of new antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial keratitis as well as the genetics of macular corneal dystrophy. Several research programmes are conducted in association with the Proctor Foundation, USA. Pharmaceutical companies involved in drug trials include Allergan, Alcon, Santen Pharmaceuticals and Vistakon. Through the Rotary Aravind International Eye Bank, corneally blind patients at Aravind receive corneal transplants almost daily.

The cornea services have registered a growth of about 15% of the overall outpatient services and surgery across all the hospitals. A new customized LASIK laser facility (Bausch & Lomb - Zyoptix) was installed at Aravind-Madurai. Aravind-Tirunelveli has also acquired a Bausch & Lomb Technolabs 217 C Laser, making it the third Aravind facility to acquire a LASIK laser. Various drug trials have been commissioned at the facilities, the main ones being Gatifloxacin therapy in bacterial keratitis (Aravind-Madurai and Coimbatore) and steroid therapy in bacterial keratitis. Special emphasis was made on basic research facilities including stem cell characterization using confocal microscope and estimation of cytokine levels and matrix metalloproteinase studies in fungal keratitis.