Keratoconus is a degenerative eye disease in which the cornea gradually becomes thinner and, as a result of structural changes, takes the shape of a cone, which leads to a significant decrease in vision.
The causes of the development of keratoconus are not reliably known. Nevertheless, there is a connection with atopy, Down’s syndrome, and Danlos-Ehler’s disease. The hereditary nature of this disease is also often noted.
Symptoms:
– Decreased and blurred vision
– It is not possible to correct vision by using glasses and lenses
– Double image when looking with one eye
– Flares and halos around the light source
– examination by an ophthalmologist using a slit lamp (in the advanced stages of the disease, this allows an immediate diagnosis)
– refractometry and keratometry
– keratotopography (OCULUS Pentacam) – a method by which it is possible to obtain a topographic map of the front and back surface of the cornea, and calculate the refractive power at each point of the cornea, which allows diagnosing keratoconus in the early stages of the disease
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At the initial stage, in order to correct visual acuity, it is possible to use glasses, rigid contact lenses, or scleral contact lenses.
The most modern method of treating keratoconus is crosslinking (Corneal Collagen Crosslinking).
During the procedure, the cornea is treated with riboflavin followed by ultraviolet irradiation, as a result of which the collagen fibers of the cornea are strengthened and the progression of keratoconus is stopped.
With a significant decrease in the thickness of the cornea and at progressive stages of the disease, when therapeutic treatment is impossible or ineffective, surgical treatment is performed – keratoplasty.
Keratoplasty is a surgical operation during which the affected area of the cornea is replaced with a donor cornea – a keratobioimplant. To date, the world standard for keratoplasty is the anterior deep layered keratoplasty (DALK – Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty)
penetrating keratoplasty and anterior deep layered keratoplasty.
Timely diagnosis has saved the eyesight of thousands of patients – contact the doctors of our clinic for help!
