Treatment Options For Keratoconus

Keratoconus usually starts during the teenage years or as a young adult. The progressive eye disease, which can affect one or both eyes, usually presents itself with symptoms including blurred or distorted vision, increased sensitivity to bright light, a need for frequent changes to prescription glasses, and worsening or clouding of vision. The rapid advancement in medicine made treatment options for this disease not only widely available but also cost-efficient. Treatment options depend on the severity of a patient's keratoconus. This article will focus on the most preferred options for treating keratoconus.

Specialized Contact Lenses

Patients diagnosed with keratoconus will typically end up wearing specialized contact lenses that vary depending on their condition's severity. Soft contact lenses are mostly recommended for individuals diagnosed with an early stage of keratoconus. Scleral lenses, hybrid lenses, or piggyback lenses are prescribed to patients diagnosed with advanced keratoconus. Patients with very irregular shape changes in their cornea use scleral lenses, which are designed to sit on the white part of the eye in order not to touch the cornea. They are also larger compared to gas permeable lenses. Scleral lenses are made in such a way to cover even relatively large areas of the distorted cornea. Hybrid lenses feature a rigid center with a soft outer ring and are prescribed to patients who cannot wear hard contact lenses, as are piggyback lenses.

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Corneal Transplant

A corneal transplant is advised to patients who have corneal scarring or thinning. A research study from the Netherlands found transplantation led to improved vision and stabilization of the disease in most of their participants. It also determined that placing the donor tissue in the middle of the cornea helps in faster healing period.

There are also several kinds of corneal transplant surgery recommended for patients suffering from keratoconus, such as lamellar keratoplasty. This is a partial-thickness procedure in which only a section of the cornea is replaced. Penetrating keratoplasty is a full transplant and removes the full thickness of the cornea and replaces it with donor tissue. Lastly, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty involves preserving the endothelium of the cornea and is useful for a successful transplant, as the surgery helps avoid transplant rejection by preserving a critical inside lining in the cornea.

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