What is it
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is one of the most common degenerative diseases of the cornea that causes the thinning and deformation of corneal tissue slowly and progressively. As the loss of corneal thickness evolves, the cornea shifts outward and modifies its normal structure, adopting an abnormal conical shape. This causes a distortion of vision, to the point of making it difficult to perform everyday activities such as driving, writing, reading or watching television.
This condition can develop in only one eye, although it often affects both. It is usually detected in adolescence and tends to progress to stabilize around the age of 40. The causes that determine its appearance are quite unknown, although it is true that, in some cases, it seems to be related to genetic factors. The influence of habits such as rubbing the eyes insistently also seems to be observed.
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Keratoconus is usually manifested by different symptoms such as decreased and blurred vision, double vision, sudden appearance or evolution of associated refractive errors (myopia and astigmatism), hypersensitivity to light and glare. When it is in a very advanced stage, its signs can be clearly perceived on the ophthalmological examination.
Treatment
The choice of the most suitable keratoconus treatment will depend on the degree of involvement and evolution of the disease.
Although there is no total cure, the treatments currently available can slow down its progression or slow it down.
For this reason, early detection is an important factor in preventing it from progressing.
Depending on the severity of the case, the ophthalmologist will advise different treatment options.
The only viable treatment when visual impairment is irreversible and keratoconus cannot be corrected with other procedures is corneal transplantation.
- When keratoconus is incipient , optical correction is considered, but as the disease develops, it is insufficient to correct the visual deficit, due to the appearance of irregular astigmatism and constant variations in prescription.
- When keratoconus causes irregular astigmatism, it is common to wear semi-rigid contact lenses, custom-made and designed to compensate for the irregularity of the cornea. However, these types of lenses can cause tolerance problems over time.
- When optical correction is not effective and in the case of very curved corneas, intrastromal rings can be implanted to improve corneal deformation (flattening the cornea). This surgical treatment provides greater stability to the cornea and thus stops the progression of the disease. This procedure can be combined with corneal crosslinking.
Other pathologies
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