Treating Keratoconus

Know Your Town June 29, 2021

Keratoconus is quite an ancient disease however it has garnered recent interest because of an increase in refractive surgery procedure (a procedure to get rid of number/glasses). The word “keratoconus” is a combination of “kerato” which means cornea (the front hour glass like transparent surface of the eye) and “conus” which means a cone.
Normally the cornea is spherical in shape however in some people, the cornea is weaker and is not able to withstand the eye pressure. Just like blood pressure, every eye also has its own pressure and the inability of the weaker cornea to withstand this pressure causes bulging of the cornea forward, altering its shape from spherical to conical, a disease which is called “keratoconus”..

Keratoconus is a genetic disorder but it is not present from the birth. One of the known associations of this ailment is eye allergy and rubbing of eyes. Some of the children with eye allergies and habit of rubbing their eyes are prone to develop this disease.

Just like any other eye disorder, Keratoconus can be treated. The treatment consists of two parts:
1. To increase the strength of the weaker cornea: This is done with the help of riboflavin eye drops and ultraviolet light and this procedure is called as corneal cross linking.

2. Visual rehabilitation: In this treatment, the objective is to improve the quality and the quantity of the vision. There are multiple options available in this step like: TOPOGUIDED PRK (to improve the quality of vision), SPECIALTY CONTACT LENSES (to improve the quality of vision and decrease the power of glasses), INTACS (Intra corneal ring segment are placed to flatten to cornea. This treatment is reserved for severe cases), ICL (internal contact lens) and corneal transplant.

The aforementioned treatment modalities are all available at the Wavikar Eye Institute (WEI).
It is important to note that in Keratoconus, every eye is unique. To decide which type of modality is best suited for the patient, detailed study is required. WEI has recently installed MS39, which is one of the latest machines for this detailed study. It is the first of its kind in the entire Maharashtra.