Keratoconus
Keratoconus (ker-uh-toe-KOH-nus) occurs when your cornea — the clear, dome-shaped front surface of your eye — thins and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape
Keratoconus:
What is Keratoconus?
To put it simply, keratoconus is a corneal disorder (the clear membrane at the front of the eye). The cornea, which directs light to the retina, should be perfectly round and uniform in thickness.
Patients with keratoconus typically experience the first signs of corneal thinning in their late teens or early twenties. Due to this thinning, the cornea bulges in the middle and takes on an asymmetrical cone form.
Keratoconus affects the cornea of both eyes, however one may be more advanced than the other.
Symptoms of Keratoconus:
Blurred vision
Ghosting of images
Distorted vision
Sensitivity to light
Glare
Frequent change in glass prescriptions
Causes of Keratoconus
Various genetic and environmental factors contribute to it.
Known risk factors include a family history, a tendency towards eye rubbing, history of asthma or frequent allergies and other conditions like Downs Syndrome and Ehler Danlos Syndrome.
How do you diagnose Keratoconus?
A trip to the ophthalmologist is in order if you are experiencing any of the aforementioned issues, or if you have recently been diagnosed with corneal astigmatism and are unhappy with your glasses.
After your strength has been measured, you will be put under a slit lamp biomicroscope for a thorough checkup. Corneal topography scans the cornea to measure its thickness and shape and are recommended when keratoconus is suspected.
Some scans serve as a screening tool, while others help decide what kind of management is necessary.
Once diagnosed, how is Keratoconus managed ?
To begin, your corneal thickness and steepness will be measured and used to assign you a disease severity grade.
We usually just let the illness go worse for mild cases where the cornea is still thick and there is no considerable steepening. This calls for repeated corneal topography measurements at 3- to 6-month intervals.
Corneal collagen cross linking (CXL or C3R) is a treatment for moderately severe instances with thin corneas that use UV light and a substance called riboflavin to halt the thinning of the cornea and the advancement of the disease.
Corneal ring segments (INTACS, made of a polymer, or CAIRS, made of donor corneal stromal tissue) may be implanted in addition to cross linking. The corneal thickness is increased and the cornea is made flatter by these ring segments.
In extreme circumstances, the cornea may need to have its anterior layers removed and replaced with donor tissue in a procedure known as a DALK transplant.