Clinical Results of Riboflavin and Ultraviolet-A-induced Corneal Cross-linking for Progressive Keratoconus in Korean Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To report the clinical results of 10 progressive keratoconic eyes in Korean patients treated by corneal cross-linking and compare the progression of keratoconus in the fellow eyes. METHODS: This present retrospective case series was comprised of 10 progressive keratoconic eyes (10 patients) that had corneal cross-linking. Patients were examined before corneal cross-linking as well as 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postoperatively. The main outcome measures were best corrected visual acuity, maximum keratometry, mean keratometry, corneal thickness, corneal astigmatism and endothelial cell count. RESULTS: The best corrected visual acuity (logMAR) improved from 0.60 +/- 0.39 to 0.52 +/- 0.38 at 12 months postoperatively. The maximum keratometry decreased from 62.39 +/- 8.82 D preoperatively to 60.21 +/- 9.21 D at 12 months postoperatively and the mean keratometry decreased from 51.59 +/- 5.86 D to 50.04 +/- 6.21 D at 12 months. In addition, the corneal thickness (at the thinnest area) decreased from 433.60 +/- 44.31 microm to 403.40 +/- 38.95 microm at 12 months. There was no statistically significant difference between the preoperative and 12 months postoperative endothelial cell count (p = 0.731). CONCLUSIONS: This present 1-year follow-up study of Korean keratoconus patients showed corneal cross-linking appeared to be effective in the stabilizing progression of keratoconus and improving best corrective visual acuity and keratometry.