Evaluation of Demarcation Line after Epithelium-Off Iontophoresis Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking for Progressive Keratoconus

Abstract

The aim of the study was to visualize and evaluate the characteristics and depth of the demarcation line with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) after epithelium-off iontophoresis corneal collagen cross-linking (epi-off I-CXL). In this prospective, consecutive, single center study 18 eyes of 18 patients with keratoconus were involved. One month after epi-off I-CXL, all the patients underwent an AS-OCT scan to search for a demarcation line and its characteristics. The corneal stromal demarcation line was identified in all the eyes. Mean depth of the corneal stromal demarcation line was 261.8 ± 46.7 μm (range: 184 to 362 μm), at 56.7 ± 12% corneal depth. In conclusion, epi-off I-CXL determines a demarcation line that can be visualized with AS-OCT, which seems clearly distinguishable and similar to that created in standard CXL.

Keywords

• keratoconus
• corneal collagen cross-linking
• iontophoresis
• anterior segment
• optical coherence tomography