ABSTRACT

Objectives:

To monitor the corneal thickness change during the dextran-free isotonic riboflavin solution-aided corneal collagen cross-linking procedure in keratoconus patients.

Materials and Methods:

Corneal thickness measurements during the corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) treatment for progressive keratoconus were evaluated. The corneal thickness measurements were obtained with ultrasonic pachymetry device at five different time points: 0, 15, and 30 minutes after epithelial removal and 15 and 30 minutes after the initiation of UVA irradiation.

Results:

Twenty-four eyes of 24 patients with progressive keratoconus were included in the study. The thinnest pachymetric values obtained at the 0, 15, and 30 minute measurements after corneal deepithelisation were 409.38±10.43 µm (383-435 µm), 434.56±17.68 µm (400-485 µm), and 457.44±21.78 µm (428-516 µm), respectively. Pachymetric values obtained at 15 and 30 minutes after UVA application to the cornea were 471.69±23.38 µm (439-526 µm) and 482.63±23.69 µm (436-524 µm), respectively. The gradual increase was found to be statistically significant when each measurement was compared with the previous values (p<0.001).

Conclusion:

We found that the corneal thickness was not decreased during the CXL with dextran-free isotonic riboflavin solution; on the contrary, corneal thickness was increased regularly during the procedure.