Keratoconus - a Review from a Tertiary Eye-Care Center

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the clinical pattern of keratoconus in patients visiting a tertiary eye-care center. This may improve the knowledge of the disease and treatment options. Methods: The records from a tertiary eye-care hospital-based center were reviewed retrospectively to collect the required data. Medical records from 187 patients who had visited the contact lens clinic in the course of a three-month period were reviewed. The data available on demographics, year of diagnosis of keratoconus, topographic measurements, slit-lamp biomicroscopic findings, previously used or currently advised refractive correction, visual acuity and contact lens parameters were reviewed and recorded. Results: Of the 187 patients, 365 eyes were included in the study. Six eyes that had previous corneal grafting and 3 eyes that were fellow normal eyes of unilateral keratoconus were excluded. The patients’ mean age was 21.3±6.96 years. There were 172 (47.12%) eyes previously diagnosed as keratoconus and 193 (52.87%) eyes that had been newly diagnosed as keratoconus. In the newly diagnosed group, 188 eyes were fitted with different types of contact lenses and 5 eyes were advised surgery. In the previously diagnosed group, 138 eyes and 6 eyes continued wearing conventional and multicurve custom rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses, respectively. Of the remaining 28 eyes, 3 eyes were fitted with RGP lenses, 16 were refitted with piggyback, 2 with multicurve custom RGP and 7 were advised for scleral lenses or surgery. Conclusion: This study brings out the clinical profile of keratoconus patients in a tertiary eye-care center in south India. The findings in this study stresses out the importance of defining the treatment options in keratoconus with the appropriate contact lenses.

Keywords

• keratoconus
• India
• contact lenses
• tertiary eye clinic