C3R for keratoconus
What is Keratoconus?
Your cornea is the clear, dome-shaped window at the front of your eye. It focuses light into your eye.
Keratoconus is when the cornea thins out and bulges like a cone.
Changing the shape of the cornea brings light rays out of focus.
As a result, your vision is blurry and distorted, making daily tasks like reading or driving difficult.
Keratoconus is caused when the collagen protein fibers weaken in the eye and affect the cornea. It changes the shape of the cornea by bulging out on one side of the eye.
However, it can be treated by a C3R surgery at our hospital, Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital in Ahmedabad.
What are the Causes of keratoconus?
Etiology is unknown.
Several risk factors associated with this condition are:
• Family history: If someone in your family has this condition, you have a greater chance of getting it yourself. If you have it, get your children’s eyes checked for signs starting around at the age of 10. About 1 out of 10 people with keratoconus have a parent who has it too.
• Age: It usually starts when you’re a teenager. But it might show up earlier in childhood. It can also affect people 40 and older, but that’s less common.
• Certain disorders: Studies have found a connection between keratoconus and systemic conditions such as Down syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, and retinitis pigmentosa.
• Inflammation:Inflammation from things like allergies, asthma, or atopic eye disease can break down the tissue of the cornea.
• Eye rubbing:Excessive Rubbing of eyes. It can also make keratoconus progress faster if you already have it.
What Are the Symptoms of Keratoconus?
Keratoconus often starts when people are in their late teens to early 20s. The vision symptoms slowly get worse over a period of about 10 to 20 years.
Keratoconus often affects both eyes, and can lead to very different vision between the two eyes. Symptoms can differ in each eye, and they can change over time.
In the early stage, keratoconus symptoms can include:
• mild blurring of vision
• slightly distorted vision, where straight lines look bent or wavy
• increased sensitivity to light and glare
In later stages, keratoconus symptoms often include:
• more blurry and distorted vision
• increased nearsightedness or astigmatism (when your eye cannot focus as well as it should). As a result, you may need new eyeglass prescriptions often.
• not being able to wear contact lenses. They may no longer fit properly and they are uncomfortable.
Keratoconus usually takes years to go from early- to late-stage. For some people, though, keratoconus can get worse quickly. The cornea can swell suddenly and start to scar. When the cornea has scar tissue, it loses its smoothness and becomes less clear. As a result, vision grows even more distorted and blurry.
How Is It Diagnosed at Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital?
Keratoconus Diagnosis
Keratoconus can be diagnosed through a routine eye exam.
Our Expert Doctor will examine your cornea,and may measure its curvature. This helps show if there is a change in its shape.
Doctor also map your cornea’s surface and its shape using a special instrument(Pentacam) and the investigation is known as corneal topography. This detailed image shows the condition of the cornea’s surface.
How Is Keratoconus Treated?
Keratoconus treatment depends on your symptoms.
1)Glasses and Contact lenses :Initially vision may be correctable with spectacles, but as the condition progresses, and the cornea becomes more irregular causing distorted vision, spectacles become less effective.
• In such a situation, contact lenses not only provide better vision, but also help to retard the progress of the disorder.
• A rigid contact lens (RGP / “semi-soft” contact lenses) must be used, so that it can hold its shape, as a soft lens would simply mould to the existing shape and thus not allow complete correction of the problem.
• Fitting contact lenses for keratoconus requires expertise.
• Well-fitting contact lenses dramatically improves such a patient’s vision to nearly that of a normal person’s, and significantly improves his or her quality of life.
• Any excessive pressure of a poorly fitting lens on the cone apex can cause permanent scarring (This scarring can also occur naturally as a part of disease progression).
• For this reason it is important for regular follow-up visits to be made so that any corneal changes that have occurred can be compensated for in the design of a new lens
(2)Collagen cross-linking(C3R) : Our expert doctor uses a special UV light and eye drops to strengthen the cornea. Doing this helps to flatten or stiffen your cornea, keeping it from bulging further.
(3)Intacs :This is a small curved device that our expert doctor surgically puts in your cornea. Intacs help flatten the curvature of your cornea to improve vision.
(4)Corneal transplant: When symptoms are severe, our expert doctor may suggest a corneal transplant. Your ophthalmologist replaces all or part of your diseased cornea with healthy donor cornea tissue.
What Is C3R(Corneal Collagen Cross Linking with Riboflavin)?
Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) is a minimally invasive procedure used to prevent progression of keratoconus
In this condition, the front part of eye, called the cornea, thins out and gets weaker over time. This makes it bulge into a cone shape, which can distort your vision and make it hard to see.
In corneal cross-linking, doctor use eyedrop medication and ultraviolet (UV) light from a special machine to make the tissues in your cornea stronger. The goal is to keep the cornea from bulging more.
It’s called “cross-linking” because it adds bonds between the collagen fibers in your cornea. They work like support beams to help the cornea stay stable.
Corneal cross-linking is the only treatment that can stop progressive keratoconus from getting worse. And it may help you avoid a corneal transplant, which is major surgery.
How is c3r treatment performed at Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital?
The patient is admitted to our well-equipped operation theatre to undergo a c3r surgery.
Firstly,anaesthetic eye drops are put in eye to numb the eye Only one eye is treated in one sitting.
Then, eye doctor will put in specially formulated riboflavin (vitamin B2) eyedrops, which allow your cornea to better absorb light.
It takes about 30 minutes for the drops to soak into your cornea.
Later the eye is exposed to UVA light from the specialized machine for 30 minutes.
Riboflavin eye drops are instilled in eye while eye is being exposed to UVA light.
After the treatment, the doctor puts antibiotic eye drops and a bandage contact lens in the eye.
It is advisable to wear protective eyewear like sunglasses until the eye is completely healed.
What are the preventive measures for Keratoconus?
• Do not rub your eyes!
• With keratoconus, try to avoid rubbing your eyes. This can damage thin corneal tissue and make your symptoms worse.
• If you have itchy eyes that cause you to rub, speak to your ophthalmologist about medicines to control your allergies.
• Avoid sleeping with the hand against the eye:It can cause and/or lead to the progression of keratoconus.
• Avoidance of allergens and treatment of ocular surface disease may help decrease eye irritation and therefore decrease eye rubbing.
• Avoid sleeping in Prone position(lying on your stomach) .
Why should i choose Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital for Keratoconus treatment?
We are Ahmedabad’s most renowned eye specialists for Keratoconus surgery and treatment.
Our multi-equipped facilities and surgical care is available at Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital to offer a smooth experience for C3R treatment.
At Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital, we are committed to providing the best eye care facility in Ahmedabad.
Our eye specialists have expertise in various eye operations and aim to provide every service to every patient.
Our innovative and modern technology ensures that all your eye problems are taken care of at affordable prices.
Connect with us for any eye surgery requirements and schedule an appointment with us soon!
Testimonials
Why should i choose Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital for Keratoconus treatment?
I had visited Ranchhodrai Eye Hospital for my eye number check up.and. I have undergone treatment.procedure went very smoothly. N after I recovered very fast.i am very much satisfied with the treatment given by Dr Bhoomika and Dr Madhav Jodhani.Surely it is one of the best eye hospital for keratoconus in Ahmedabad