Keratoconus Diagnosis and Management

Keratoconus is a progressive eye disease in which the normally round cornea thins and begins to bulge forward to form a cone-like shape. The bulging forward of the cornea creates asymmetry in the cornea resulting in asymmetrical astigmatism. The result of this abnormal corneal shape is that it scatters and deflects light as it enters the eye on its way to the light-sensitive retina, causing blurry and distorted vision that is often not correctable with glasses. Symptoms of keratoconus are: glare, haloes, distorted vision, and progressive vision loss, abnormal vision through prescribed glasses, watering eyes, and regular eye rubbing.

Keratoconus can be diagnosed by the professional eye doctors at the Advanced Vision Institute. Being diagnosed with keratoconus can be a very scary revelation because the condition can be progressive and if not properly managed can lead to a surgical procedure known as corneal transplant. The good news is that our doctors now have the ability to treat and manage keratoconus through some very advanced technologies to prevent progression of this eye disease.
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The first technology is a revolutionary type of specialty contact lenses. These contact lenses offer sophisticated customized technologies that can be specifically designed by our doctors to completely restore a patients vision back to 20/20 and improve the quality of vision back to where it was prior to the onset of symptoms of keratoconus . Custom Scleral contact lenses utilize a fluid interface which masks the distortion caused by keratoconus allowing extremely high quality HD vision. Another type of contact lens is a hybrid lens. These lenses are a combination of a rigid gas permeable lens and a soft contact lens. These lenses offer crisp high definition vision and are very stable on the eye for patients that have high degrees of astigmatism.

The second technology approved by the FDA to treat keratoconus is a procedure known as corneal cross linking. This first approval was in 2016 by a company called Avedro. This technology uses high concentrated Riboflavin that is then exposed to specific UV light in order to cause cross linking of the collagen fibers in the cornea. This restores the biomechanical strength of the cornea in patients suffering from keratoconus. Cross linking can also stabilize the condition and help restore the cornea to more of normalized shape. Recently many medical insurances have started to cover the cross linking procedure.

If you have been diagnosed with keratoconus or suffer from symptoms mentioned in this publication, then call Advanced Vision Institute to have a personal consultation with our doctors to understand your options in order to manage your condition.