Evaluation of the therapeutic effect of corneal collagen cross-linking in treatment of resistant corneal ulcer

Poster Details

First Author: Mohammed IqbalHafez Ahmed EGYPT

Co Author(s):                  

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To evaluate therapeutic effect of corneal cross-linking in 5 cases of resistant corneal ulcer.

Setting:

: Ophthalmology department, Sohag University hospital

Methods:

5 eyes of 5 patients with resistant corneal ulcers failed to heal after maximal topical treatment underwent corneal collagen cross linking using ultraviolet rays A and transepithelial riboflavin. Preoperative and postoperative evaluation included slit lamp examination of the cornea, corneal pachymetry and visual acuity. The main outcome measures will be the improvement of epithelization, relieve of pain, improvement of the corneal stromal edema and improvement of visual acuity. Exclusion criteria were corneal thickness less than 400 um, topical treatment less than one month, impending corneal perforation and corneal melting.

Results:

Three eyes of the 5 eyes showed improvement of re-epithelization up to complete healing of the ulcer and development of corneal opacification with relieve of ciliary injection, photophobia, pain, foreign body sensation and lacrimation. Also there was imporvemnt of corneal edema but visual acuity showed no remarkable improvement. Most of these results were obtained within 14 days post CXL. The remaining 2 eyes developed silimar results but after more than one month of CXL.

Conclusions:

CXL should be considered as a new adjuvant therapeutic tool in patients with resistant corneal ulcer. Further studies on a large proportion of patients with longer follow up period should be done for accurate evaluation of this procedure. FINANCIAL INTEREST: NONE