Diagnosing and Treating Keratoconus

Keratoconus is an eye condition that involves the bulging and thinning out of your cornea. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, keratoconus changes the shape of your cornea. This results in distorted and blurred vision in both your eyes. You then begin having difficulties in doing daily activities. If you think you may have this progressive eye ailment, here’s what you need to know about diagnosing and treating keratoconus.

 

Diagnosis

Your keratoconus diagnosis starts with a consultation. Here, your eye specialist will review your family and medical history. Next will be an eye exam, in which your eye doctor may subject you to other tests to gain more information about your cornea’s shape. The tests for diagnosing keratoconus are the following:

• Corneal mapping. Your eye doctor will conduct photographic tests like corneal topography and corneal tomography. These procedures aim to record images of your cornea’s general shape.

• Slit-lamp exam. The eye doctor focuses a vertical light beam on your eye’s surface and then views your eye using a low-powered microscope. This test aims to determine the shape of your cornea and see if there are other eye issues present.

• Eye refraction. Your eye specialist uses specialized equipment to measure your eyes and target any vision issues. You need to look through the phoropter, which has wheels of various lens types. By doing so, your eye doctor can determine the right lens combination that will give you optimal vision. Other eye specialists use a retinoscope, which is a hand-held tool for assessing your eyes.

• Keratometry. During this test, your eye expert focuses a bright circle of light on each of your corneas. To determine the overall shape of your cornea, your eye doctor will measure the reflection of light.
  
   

Treatment

The progression and the severity of your keratoconus determine your treatment. Your eye specialist will aim to improve your eyesight and delay the progression of your eye condition.
 

Corneal collagen cross-linking washes your cornea with riboflavin drops and then treats it with ultraviolet (UV) light. Clinical findings show that through this treatment, your cornea stiffens, preventing further changes in shape. Corneal collagen cross-linking can also help decrease your risk of vision loss by providing stability to your cornea.
 

For mild or moderate keratoconus, your eye specialist can treat you with contact lenses or eyeglasses. This can be a long-term treatment if your cornea has already stabilized because of corneal collagen cross-linking.

You may need surgery if you have the following:

• Extreme thinning of the cornea.

• Corneal scarring.

• Inability to wear any type of contact lens.

• Poor vision.
   

Your eye specialist may recommend deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) or penetrating keratoplasty. These corneal transplant procedures are largely successful, but some complications include infection, graft rejection, poor vision, and even astigmatism.


 

Your eye doctor can catch keratoconus and treat it early with regular comprehensive eye exams. At Reed Optical, we are dedicated to performing efficient diagnostic tests to provide you the ideal keratoconus treatment. You can visit our clinics in Claremont and Sunapee, New Hampshire, for a one-on-one consultation. Please call us at 603-543-3125 (Claremont) or 603-763-7302 (Sunapee). That way, we can help you schedule an appointment or answer your questions about our diagnosis and treatment of keratoconus.