Short-term Outcomes of Collagen Crosslinking for Early Keratoconus

Purpose: to assess the efficacy of collagen crosslinking with riboflavin and ultraviolet a (uva) radiation for treatment of early keratoconus. methods: thirty-one eyes of 22 patients with early keratoconus were included in this study. all patients underwent slit lamp examination and assessment of uncorrected visual acuity (ucva), best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (bscva), intraocular pressure, corneal topography and pachymetry. collagen crosslinking was performed without epithelial removal. riboflavin was applied to the cornea every 3 minutes 30 minutes before uva irradiation and every 5 minutes thereafter. patients were re-assessed 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment. results: postoperatively, ucva increased by 2 snellen lines and bscva was improved by 1.7 snellen lines (p < 0.001). spherical equivalent refractive error was reduced by 0.55 d, and maximum and mean k values were decreased by 0.65 d and 0.51 d respectively (p < 0.05 for all comparisons). evidence of regression was present in 71% of treated eyes. conclusion: collagen crosslinking demonstrated significant improvement in vision with reduction in corneal power and spherical equivalent refractive error in eyes with early keratoconus.