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Treatment options include contact lenses, intrastromal corneal ring segments, corneal collagen cross-linking, or corneal transplant.
When cross-linking is performed only after the cornea becomes distorted, vision remains blurry even though the disease is stabilised. As a result, combining corneal collagen cross-linking with LASIK ('LASIK Xtra') aims to strengthen the cornea at the point of surgery and may be useful in cases where a very thin cornea is expected after the LASIK procedure. This would include cases of high spectacle power and people with thin corneas before surgery. Definitive evidence that the procedure can reduce the risk of corneal ectasia will only become available a number of years later as corneal ectasia, if it happens, usually occurs in the late post-operative period. Some study show that combining LASIK with cross-linking adds refractive stability to hyperopic treatments and may also do the same for very high myopic treatments.
In 2016, the FDA approved the KXL system and two photoenhancers for the treatment of corneal ectasia following refractive surgery.
As it is associated with excessive sun or wind exposure, wearing protective sunglasses with side shields and/or wide brimmed hats and using artificial tears throughout the day may help prevent their formation or stop further growth. Surfers and other water-sport athletes should wear eye protection that blocks 100% of the UV rays from the water, as is often used by snow-sport athletes. Many of those who are at greatest risk of pterygium from work or play sun exposure do not understand the importance of protection.
Given that episodes tend to occur on awakening and managed by use of good 'wetting agents', approaches to be taken to help prevent episodes include:
- Environmental:
- ensuring that the air is humidified rather than dry, not overheated and without excessive airflow over the face. Also avoiding irritants such as cigarette smoke.
- use of protective glasses especially when gardening or playing with children.
- General personal measures:
- maintaining general hydration levels with adequate fluid intake.
- not sleeping-in late as the cornea tends to dry out the longer the eyelids are closed.
- Pre-bed routine:
- routine use of long-lasting eye ointments applied before going to bed.
- occasional use of the anti-inflammatory eyedrop FML (prescribed by an ophthalmologist or optometrist) before going to bed if the affected eye feels inflamed, dry or gritty
- use of a hyperosmotic (hypertonic) ointment before bed reduces the amount of water in the epithelium, strengthening its structure
- use the pressure patch as mentioned above.
- use surgical tape to keep the eye closed (if Nocturnal Lagophthalmos is a factor)
- Waking options:
- learn to wake with eyes closed and still and keeping artificial tear drops within reach so that they may be squirted under the inner corner of the eyelids if the eyes feel uncomfortable upon waking.
- It has also been suggested that the eyelids should be rubbed gently, or pulled slowly open with your fingers, before trying to open them, or keeping the affected eye closed while "looking" left and right to help spread lubricating tears. If the patient's eyelids feel stuck to the cornea on waking and no intense pain is present, use a fingertip to press firmly on the eyelid to push the eye's natural lubricants onto the affected area. This procedure frees the eyelid from the cornea and prevents tearing of the cornea.
Amniotic membrane transplantation is an effective and safe procedure for pterygium removal. Amniotic membrane transplantation offers practical alternative to conjunctival auto graft transplantation for extensive pterygium removal. Amniotic membrane transplantation is tissue that is acquired from the innermost layer of the human placenta and has been used to replace and heal damaged mucosal surfaces including successful reconstruction of the ocular surface. It has been used as a surgical material since the 1940s, and has been shown to have a strong anti-adhesive effect.
Using an amniotic graft facilitates epithelialization, and has anti-inflammatory as well as surface rejuvenation properties. Amniotic membrane transplantation can also be fixated to the sclera using sutures, or glue adhesive. Amniotic membrane by itself does not provide an acceptable recurrence rate.
Several other corneal ectatic disorders also cause thinning of the cornea:
- Keratoglobus is a very rare condition that causes corneal thinning primarily at the margins, resulting in a spherical, slightly enlarged eye. It may be genetically related to keratoconus.
- Pellucid marginal degeneration causes thinning of a narrow (1–2 mm) band of the cornea, usually along the inferior corneal margin. It causes irregular astigmatism that, in the early stages of the disease can be corrected by spectacles. Differential diagnosis may be made by slit-lamp examination.
- Posterior keratoconus, a distinct disorder despite its similar name, is a rare abnormality, usually congenital, which causes a nonprogressive thinning of the inner surface of the cornea, while the curvature of the anterior surface remains normal. Usually only a single eye is affected.
- Post-LASIK ectasia is a complication of LASIK eye surgery.
There are a number of different treatments to deal with TSPK. Symptoms may disappear if untreated, but treatment may decrease both the healing time and the chances of remission.
- PRK laser eye surgery may cure this disease (NOTE: A full clinical study has not been done, but a case study of one person was reported in 2002 PRK-pTK as a treatment).
- Artificial tear eye-drops or ointments may be a suitable treatment for mild cases.
- Low-dosage steroidal eye-drops, such as prednisone, fluorometholone, loteprednol (Lotemax 0.5%) or rimexolone. Steroidal drops should be used with caution and the eye pressure should be regularly checked during treatment.
- Soft contact lenses.
- Ciclosporin is an experimental treatment for TSPK. It is usually used during transplants as it reduces the immune system response.
- Tacrolimus (Protopic 0.03% ointment) is also an experimental treatment.
- Laser eye treatment.
- Amniotic membrane (Case Study)
With the eye generally profusely watering, the type of tears being produced have little adhesive property. Water or saline eye drops tend therefore to be ineffective. Rather a 'better quality' of tear is required with higher 'wetting ability' (i.e. greater amount of glycoproteins) and so artificial tears (e.g. viscotears) are applied frequently. Also recommended is Muro 128 5% Ointment (Sodium Chloride Hypertonicity Ophthalmic Ointment, 5%) which is a great relief overnight, it lasts longer than most regular tears and provides protection for those with severe cases.
Nocturnal Lagophthalmos (where one’s eyelids don’t close enough to cover the eye completely during sleep) may be an exacerbating factor, in which case using surgical tape to keep the eye closed at night can help.
Whilst individual episodes may settle within a few hours or days, additional episodes (as the name suggests) will recur at intervals.
Where episodes frequently occur, or there is an underlying disorder, one medical, or three types of surgical curative procedures may be attempted:
use of therapeutic contact lens, controlled puncturing of the surface layer of the eye (Anterior Stromal Puncture) and laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK). These all essentially try to allow the surface epithelium to reestablish with normal binding to the underlying basement membrane, the method chosen depends upon the location & size of the erosion.
A meta-analysis found evidence that does not support the use of patching.
In early stages of keratoconus, glasses or soft contact lenses can suffice to correct for the mild astigmatism. As the condition progresses, these may no longer provide the person with a satisfactory degree of visual acuity, and most practitioners will move to manage the condition with rigid contact lenses, known as rigid, gas-permeable, (RGP) lenses. RGP lenses provide a good level of visual correction, but do not arrest progression of the condition.
In people with keratoconus, rigid contact lenses improve vision by means of tear fluid filling the gap between the irregular corneal surface and the smooth regular inner surface of the lens, thereby creating the effect of a smoother cornea. Many specialized types of contact lenses have been developed for keratoconus, and affected people may seek out both doctors specialized in conditions of the cornea, and contact lens fitters who have experience managing people with keratoconus. The irregular cone presents a challenge and the fitter will endeavor to produce a lens with the optimal contact, stability and steepness. Some trial-and-error fitting may prove necessary.
Before LASIK surgery, people must be examined for possible risk factors such as keratoconus.
Abnormal corneal topography compromises of keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration, or forme fruste keratoconus with an I-S value of 1.4 or more is the most significant risk factor. Low age, low residual stromal bed (RSB) thickness, low preoperative corneal thickness, and high myopia are other important risk factors.
The treatment of corneal perforation depends on the location, severity and the cause of damage
- Tissue adhesive can be used to seal small perforation, but this method cannot be used to treat perforations larger than 1 mm.
- Non infected corneal perforation generally heals when a pressure bandage is used.
- For certain types of corneal perforations, lamellar keratoplasty is used as treatment.
Topical antibiotics may be reasonable.
One review has found that eye drops to numb the surface of the eye such as tetracaine improve pain; however, their safety is unclear. Another review did not find evidence of benefit and concluded there was not enough data on safety.
NSAID eye drops are also useful. A 2000 review found no good evidence to support medications that paralyze the iris. A 2017 review did not find evidence to suggest that topical NSAIDs would significantly reduce pain over standard-of-care treatments, but did find that NSAIDs could be associated with people using fewer pain medications by mouth.
Treatment includes the use of protective eye glasses. A number of surgical options are also available.
Further progression of the disease usually leads to a need for corneal transplantation because of extreme thinning of the cornea. Primarily, large size penetrating keratoplasty has been advocated.
Recent additions of techniques specifically for keratoglobus include the "tuck procedure", whereby a 12 mm corneo-scleral donor graft is taken and trimmed at its outer edges. A host pocket is formed at the limbal margin and the donor tissue is "tucked" into the host pocket.
It is a much rarer condition than keratoconus, which is the most common of the cornea. Similar to keratoconus it is typically diagnosed in the patient's adolescent years and attains its most severe state in the twenties and thirties.
Prophylaxis consists of periodic administration of Vitamin A supplements. WHO recommended schedule, which is universally recommended is as follows:
- Infants 6–12 months old and any older children weighing less than 8 kg - 100,000 IU orally every 3–6 months
- Children over 1 year and under 6 years of age - 200,000 IU orally every 6 months
- Infants less than 6 months old, who are not being breastfed - 50,000 IU orally should be given before they attain the age of 6 months
Treatment options include contact lenses and intrastromal corneal ring segments for correcting refractive errors caused by irregular corneal surface, corneal collagen cross-linking to strengthen a weak and ectatic cornea, or corneal transplant for advanced cases.
Due to the different underlying causes, proper diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis can only be determined by an eye care professional. Punctate epithelial erosions may be treated with artificial tears. In some disorders, topical antibiotic is added to the treatment. Patients should discontinue contact lens wear until recovery.
Untreated glaucoma leads to total blindness. Surgical treatment is required. Presently-utilized surgical procedures include goniotomy, trabeculotomy, or trabeculectomy.
Most patients can be treated non-surgically with eyeglasses, or contact lenses.
The early stages of pellucid marginal degeneration may also be managed with soft contact lenses. Success has been shown with the use of rigid gas permeable contact lenses combined with over-refraction. Patients wearing contacts dont report increased problems with glare and contrast sensitivity, but it is not clear if this is due to the corneal disease, or the contact lenses themselves.
New studies found that the use of Scleral contact lens, a type of rigid gas permeable (RGP) lens, may be a good option for most patients with PMD. Most of these lenses are in the range of 15.5mm to 18.0mm in diameter. Regardless of the lens size, it is thought that the larger the RGP lens will in most cases be more comfortable then standard rigid corneal lenses, and at times more comfortable than soft lenses, regardless of the fact that it is a rigid lens. The highlight to the scleral design and the correction of eye disorders such as pellucid marginal degeneration is that vision with these types of lenses is exceptional when fit correctly.
Treatment can occur in two ways: treating symptoms and treating the deficiency. Treatment of symptoms usually includes the use of artificial tears in the form of eye drops, increasing the humidity of the environment with humidifiers, and wearing wraparound glasses when outdoors. Treatment of the deficiency can be accomplished with a Vitamin A or multivitamin supplement or by eating foods rich in Vitamin A. Treatment with supplements and/or diet can be successful until the disease progresses as far as corneal ulceration, at which point only an extreme surgery can offer a chance of returning sight.
The effect is normally temporary and after a period of six to eight weeks, the cornea usually returns to its former transparency. The recovery can be aided nonsurgically by bandaging with an osmotic saline solution. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory topical may be used to reduce the pain and inflammation.
The preferred treatment of congenital glaucoma is surgical not medical. The initial procedures of choice are goniotomy or trabeculotomy if the cornea is clear, and trabeculectomy ab externo if the cornea is hazy. The success rates are similar for both procedures in patients with clear corneas. Trabeculectomy and shunt procedures should be reserved for those cases in which goniotomy or trabeculotomy has failed. Cyclophotocoagulation is necessary in some intractable cases but should be avoided whenever possible because of its potential adverse
effects on the lens and the retina.
Depending on severity, therapies may range from topical or oral anti-inflammatories to irrigation and surgical repair.
Sclerocornea is a congenital anomaly of the eye in which the cornea blends with sclera, having no clear-cut boundary. The extent of the resulting opacity varies from peripheral to total ("sclerocornea totalis"). The severe form is thought to be inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, but there may be another, milder form that is expressed in a dominant fashion. In some cases the patients also have abnormalities beyond the eye (systemic), such as limb deformities and craniofacial and genitourinary defects.
According to one tissue analysis performed after corneal transplantation, the sulfation pattern of keratan sulfate proteoglycans in the affected area is typical for corneal rather than scleral tissue.
Sclerocornea may be concurrent with cornea plana.