VIDEO: Treatment of corneal nerve dysfunction requires multidisciplinary approach
A multidisciplinary approach is key to treating patients with corneal nerve dysfunction and neuropathic ocular pain, according to a speaker at Twin Cities Ocular Surface Disease Symposium.
“We looked at a lot of data that help us understand normal functioning corneal nerves, risk factors that break down those corneal nerves and what that inside-to-outside problem looks like when corneal nerves degenerate and cause a breakdown of the overlying epithelium,” Hardeep Kataria, OD, FAAO, founder of Avant Eyes Optometry & Advanced Dry Eye Center in Los Angeles, said in this Healio video perspective. “And then on the other end of the spectrum, we talked about patients who come in with a significant amount of pathological, neuropathic ocular or corneal pain.”
Patients with ongoing inflammation may experience a “huge emotional response” to pain that could require systemic pain management or even mental health therapy, she said.
“Overall, we talked about corneal nerve dysfunction on a continuum, rather than two ends of the spectrum of stain without pain and pain without stain,” Kataria said.
Collapse
Healio Interviews
Read more about