Evaluation of the Role of Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking in Stoppage of Progression of Keratoconus

Hypothesis: Collagen cross-linking is a new, minimally invasive method, aims to strengthen the stroma by inducing cross links between neighboring collagen fibers in cases of keratoconus. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of collagen cross-linking in treating keratoconus and improving visual acuity.Aim: Is to assess the effectiveness of corneal collagen cross-linking in stoppage of the progression of keratoconus through comparing visual acuity and pentacam diagnostic criteria before corneal collagen cross-linking and 6 months to one year after corneal collagen cross-linking.Participants: Fifty patients undergoing CXL in singleeye.Study Design: A Prospective, interventional, single center study.Intervention: Riboflavin-ultraviolet X (UV-X) induced CXL included instillation of 0.1% riboflavin and follow-up UAVA, BCVA and pentacam assessment at baseline, 1,3,6,12 months after the procedure.Results: The mean age of 23.32±3.99 years. Twenty nine patients were males (58%) and 21 were females (42%). There were 50% of patients that had CXL for the right eye keratoconus and 50% for the left side. There was a significant improvement of UAVA, BCVA and decrease in K1, K2 at 12 months of follow-up compared to baseline with unchanged corneal thickness. Minimal and transient complications were recorded.Conclusion: CXL is a safe minimally invasive procedure that showed improvement in UAVA and BCVA in keratoconus along 1 year follow-up. CXL stopped the progression of keratoconus along 1 year follow up with unchanged corneal thickness. CXL is a safe with infrequent and unsustained complications for treatment of keratoconus.