Cross-Linking
In its initial stages, the visual defect generated by keratoconus can be corrected with soft, rigid and in more advanced cases, custom-made glasses or contact lenses.
In cases where the central portions of the cornea are transparent, conservative techniques should always be used.
The most recent therapy for the treatment of keratoconus is cross-linking which serves to strengthen the collagen fibers of which the cornea is composed by the instillation of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and the subsequent irradiation of the ocular surface with ultraviolet light that activates the drug.
How to Perform Cross-Linking
The treatment is performed under topical anesthesia (eye drops), lasts about 40 minutes and at the end of the intervention, a soft contact lens is applied in cases where the epithelium has been removed.
In more advanced cases, with the Femtosecond Laser, it is possible to resort to the implant of intrastromal segments or intracorneal rings, invisible to the naked eye, which have the purpose of restoring a more physiological shape, reducing the deformation and irregularity of the central portions of the cornea.
Usually, the intervention allows an improvement of both the naked eye’s vision and the correct vision with glasses or contact lenses. In severe cases, partial or total corneal flap transplantation should be used.