Keratoconus is an eye condition where the clear front of the eye, the cornea, gets thin and bulges outward into a cone shape. This spoils the quality of the image projected into the eye, and the vision becomes progressively blurred. This usually begins in the teens or early twenties and affects mostly males
Glasses may be sufficient in the early stages of keratoconus, but contact lenses are needed when the cornea becomes so misshapen that glasses are no longer effective in correcting vision. In some cases, the corneal shape becomes too distorted that contact lenses won't fit. Also, scarring may develop, causing vision to become clouded. At this stage, a corneal transplant is usually needed.
C3-R is a non-surgical keratoconus treatment method that can stop keratoconus from progressing to the stage where contact lenses or corneal transplantation becomes necessary.
Corneal collagen crosslinking with riboflavin causes the formation of normal chemical links between the collagen protein strands in the cornea. This makes the cornea more rigid and can stop the keratoconus from progressing. The treatment may even cause the keratoconus to reverse to some extent.
Anyone with progressive keratoconus is potentially suitable. Patients with very advanced keratoconus or whose vision is already spoiled by scarring will usually not be good candidates for the procedure.
The facility of C3R is available at our hospital.
