The Barron Donor Cornea Punch is a disposable, single-use instrument for harvesting of donor corneal tissue for corneal keratoplasty procedures such as penetrating keratoplasty and the more recently-developed endothelial keratoplasty. The punch set is comprised of a nylon cutting block and a top that contains the cutting blade.  It is delivered with a plastic ring that protects the blade during shipment. The top, blade protector ring, and cutting block are held together with a silicone band, and the assembly is hermetically packaged in a pouch and sterilized with ethylene oxide.

The punch features a solid stainless steel blade that is permanently mounted in a nylon housing with four stainless steel guide posts to align with four corresponding holes in the cutting block. The guide posts, which are precision aligned with the blade,  accurately center the blade over the donor cornea as the tissue is cut.  The well of the cutting block has four small holes that may be inked with a sterile marking pen (included) to identify the four quadrants of the cornea for cardinal suture alignment in the recipient bed.

 The holes in the cutting block are located approximately 0.6 mm inside the edge of the cut that will be made by the blade.  The marking can either be done from the top of block prior to placement of the donor tissue (see left diagram), or preferably from the bottom after the donor tissue has been placed in the well of the cutting block and the top put in place (see right diagram).