Importance of early screening to detect Keratoconus

Often when you visit an eye clinic out of experiencing changes in your eyeglass prescription, the doctor might ask you to go for certain screening tests. And most of you might end up thinking that these tests are unnecessary. But did you know you might be suffering from a progressive eye disease known as Keratoconus?

What is Keratoconus?

It is a progressive eye disease wherein the normally round cornea of the eye thins & begins to bulge into a cone-like shape. The cone shape deflects light, and it enters the eyes on its way to the retina. This condition leads to frequent fluctuations in eyeglass prescription, causing distorted vision shortly.

When to suspect Keratoconus?

People who experience the following signs are more prone to Keratoconus:

• People with high cylinders.
• Experiencing frequent changes in eyeglass prescription every time they go for a routine checkup.
• People facing blurred or distorted vision slowly.

These are not the actual symptoms of the disease. But if a patient has any of the above signs, the doctor might prescribe a list of tests through which they can say whether it's positive or negative.

Causes of Keratoconus

According to research, the weakening of the corneal tissue might lead to Keratoconus since there is an imbalance of enzymes inside the cornea. The imbalance leads to the weakening and bulging of the cornea. Though there are no particular reasons behind the occurrence of the disease, it has been seen that Keratoconus is closely associated with excessive eye rubbing, eye allergies, and exposure to ultraviolet rays, heredity, and history of poorly fitted contact lenses.

Diagnosis and screening

Early screening of Keratoconus involves in-depth corneal analysis with different advanced techniques. Our clinic performs several advanced topographic Keratoconus screening tests that accurately identify the earliest forms of the disease.

Treatment

In the very first stage, the eye specialist will ask you to change your soft contact lenses into gas permeable special contact lenses. These specialized lenses vault over the cornea and offer an improved vision. In the mid-stage, the doctor might go with corneal cross-linking, wherein the corneal tissue is strengthened to halt bulging of the eye's surface.

If the disease is detected in the final stage, the only available option is corneal transplantation.