Keratoconus is a progressive eye condition where the cornea bulges into a cone-like shape and causes vision problems. Unfortunately, the condition itself is not preventable.
However, certain treatments can slow down or stop keratoconus from getting worse. Keep reading to learn more about how to prevent keratoconus from progressing.
What is Keratoconus?
Keratoconus is when the cornea of your eye, which is normally rounded, thins and bulges into a cone-like shape. This can impact your vision and result in symptoms like:
- Blurry vision
- Distorted vision, where lines appear wavy or curved
- Increased sensitivity to light
- Red or swollen eyes
- Inability to wear contact lenses
- Increased nearsightedness and astigmatism
- Double vision in one eye
- Seeing halos and glare around bright lights
Keratoconus typically develops slowly in patients in their late teens to early 20s. It often affects both eyes, but some patients only develop the condition in one eye.
Can Visual Aids Help Patients with Keratoconus?
When you first start experiencing symptoms of keratoconus, you may be able to improve your vision with glasses or soft contact lenses. However, as the condition progresses, you will likely need specialized contact lenses to accommodate the shape of your cornea.
Colorado Eye Consultants specializes in custom fittings for specialty contact lenses in patients with keratoconus and other corneal conditions. Rigid gas-permeable lenses are hard lenses that allow oxygen to pass through to the eye, making them more comfortable for patients with keratoconus.
Scleral lenses are also great for keratoconus because they cover the entire surface of the cornea. This makes them more stable than other contact lenses.
They also provide sharper vision, better durability and handling, and more comfort. While these visual aids can be highly beneficial for keratoconus patients, they cannot prevent the condition from progressing.
Can You Stop Keratoconus from Progressing?
There are several treatments that can prevent keratoconus from progressing and worsening your vision. Colorado Eye Consultants features corneal crosslinking, a minimally invasive alternative to more complex procedures like corneal transplantation.
Your cornea contains collagen fibers that bond together to fortify its structure. Corneal crosslinking involves stimulating these fibers to form more bonds and strengthen your corneal tissue.
This can stop it from bulging and slow or stop keratoconus from impairing your vision further. Before the procedure, your eye doctor will numb your eyes with anesthetic drops to ensure you are comfortable.
Then, they will remove the outer layer of your cornea, called the epithelium, and apply riboflavin (vitamin B2) eye drops. After letting them sit for 30 minutes, they will use targeted UV light on your cornea to stimulate collagen bonding through a photochemical reaction with the riboflavin.
Before sending you home to recover, they will apply antibiotic and steroid eye drops and cover your eye with a contact lens and bandage. The entire procedure takes around an hour, with recovery occurring over the following weeks.
It typically takes around a week for your epithelium to regrow and two to three months for vision to stabilize completely. As the first clinic in the Rocky Mountain Region to perform corneal crosslinking back in 2010, Colorado Eye Consultants has performed thousands of procedures over the years to help patients with keratoconus take control of their vision.
They consistently stay at the forefront of keratoconus treatment by participating in studies on how to innovate corneal crosslinking. Some of these studies include epithelium-on crosslinking and cross-linking with ultraviolet-A light clinical trials.
These advancements in treatment have the potential to increase the efficiency of corneal crosslinking, improving outcomes and reducing recovery times for patients with keratoconus.
Do you want to learn more about preventing the progression of keratoconus? Schedule an appointment at Colorado Eye Consultants in Littleton, CO, today!
