Keratoconus

The cornea is the eye’s outer lens. It is clear and dome-shaped. Keratoconus happens with the gradual thinning and outward bulging of the cornea like a cone.

Symptoms

Keratoconus warning signs and symptoms may change with progression in the disease. They include:

• Hazy or distorted vision
• Double vision problem while looking with one eye
• Increase in sensitivity to bright lights
• Blurry vision making it difficult to drive at night
• Both near and far objects appear unclear
• Occurrence of triple ghost images
• The need to frequently change eyeglass prescriptions
• Clouding of vision all of a sudden

Treatment options

Keratoconus treatment choices depend on the severity of the condition.

Lenses

They help treat mild to moderate Keratoconus. Lenses are of mainly five types, namely:

• Soft contact lenses
• Hard contact lenses
• Piggyback lenses
• Hybrid lenses
• Scleral lenses

Therapy

Corneal collagen cross-linking

The therapy involves corneal saturation with riboflavin eye drop followed by UV light treatment. Consequently, the cornea is cross-linked and stiffened to avert any more damage to its shape.

Corneal collagen cross-linking helps bring stability to the cornea during the early stages of the disease and diminishes the risk of gradual vision loss.

Surgery

Surgery is required when one suffers from the following:

• Extreme corneal thinning
• Corneal scarring
• Poor vision even when prescribed the most potent medication or lenses
• Inability to wear contact lenses

Surgical options include the following:

Penetrating keratoplasty

It refers to the transplant of the whole cornea. The surgery involves the removal of the thickened central portion of the cornea and its replacement with donor tissues.

Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK)

This surgical procedure helps preserve endothelium – the inner corneal lining. Therefore, DALK is highly beneficial in avoiding the possibility of the vital inner lining getting rejected after a full-thickness corneal transplant from the donor.

Get in touch with your ophthalmologist or optometrist if you encounter rapid worsening of your eyesight. The doctor may look for keratoconus symptoms in the course of routine eye examination and recommend the appropriate treatment.