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Study shows posterior changes continue after cross-linking for keratoconus
In a study to assess anterior and posterior changes in corneal tomography and topography after cross-linking for keratoconus, researchers found that the degenerative disorder continued in the posterior corneal surface even as the anterior surface stabilized.
Steinberg and colleagues reported in Optometry and Vision Science that they studied 20 eyes with keratoconus before and after corneal cross-linking (CXL), with an average follow-up time of 2 years. They utilized Scheimpflug analyses and analyzed differences in topographic, tomographic and pachymetric values as well as the distance and direction between the anterior maximum keratometry and the apex and the distance and direction between the thinnest point in corneal thickness and the corneal apex.
The study results showed that while the front surface stabilized, the back elevation increased in the 2 years after CXL.
"Corneal topography proved to be useful in the follow-up for CXL because of significant changes in the keratometry. Increasing posterior elevation values, despite a stabilized anterior corneal surface, might be a sign of ongoing ectatic changes in the posterior corneal surface," the authors concluded.
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Optom Vis Sci. 2014; doi: 10.1097/OPX.0000000000000141.