Your cornea is a thin layer of clear tissue on the front of your eye that does a lot more than cover your pupil to keep stuff out. It also provides a lot of your eye’s focusing power.
It focuses much of the light that passes through it down and through the lens of your eye. Your lens further refines the light until it reaches the retina, which detects the light and transmits it to the brain.
Vision is impossible without a healthy cornea. However, a lot can go wrong with the cornea.
Since it is at the front of your eye, it is susceptible to scrapes, abrasions, and other damage. It is also vulnerable to disease.
Keratoconus is a disease that can affect your cornea. It can harm your vision and should be taken care of right away.
Keep reading to learn more about keratoconus and how you can treat it.
What is Keratoconus?
Keratoconus occurs when your cornea begins to get thinner. This thinning can cause irregularities across the surface of the tissue.
Keratoconus causes the cornea to bulge and become cone-shaped, which impacts your vision. Despite decades of research, the causes of keratoconus are still mostly unknown.
It seems to begin in puberty and gradually worsen into your mid-thirties. How rapidly it progresses varies from person to person.
It generally occurs in both eyes at the same time. Although, the abnormalities in the corneas are usually unequal.
There does seem to be a link between keratoconus and a loss of collagen in the cornea. It may have to do with an imbalance in the production of corneal tissue.
Also, there seems to be a genetic component to the development of keratoconus. A predisposition to developing keratoconus is likely part of what causes it.
Since the cause of keratoconus is still such a mystery, there is currently no known way to prevent it. But that does not mean that there are no effective treatments to control it if you have it.
How is Keratoconus Treated?
Before you can treat keratoconus, you need a diagnosis. Eye doctors use several tests to diagnose it.
During a comprehensive eye exam, you give a complete medical and family history to your eye doctor. You also undergo a thorough set of tests so they can develop an understanding of your eyesight. The tests relevant to keratoconus include:
- Corneal topography mapping
- A slit-lamp exam to check the middle and outer layers of the cornea for irregularities
- A pachymetry to measure the thinnest areas around the cornea
Treatment for keratoconus depends on the stage of the disease. You can get by using glasses in the early stages, although hard contact lenses may be necessary as it worsens.
As the disease progresses, your eye doctor may recommend a procedure called corneal cross-linking or CXL. CXL strengthens the collagen bonds in your corneas. It doesn’t reverse the damage already done by keratoconus, but it effectively slows its progression.
If it reaches the most advanced stages, you may need a full corneal transplant. This procedure uses a donor cornea or an implantable contact lens to hold your cornea flat.
Do you need keratoconus treatment? Schedule an appointment at Stahl Eyecare Experts in Manhattan, NY, to halt its progression!
