Research progress of corneal collagen cross-linking in the treatment of keratoconus

Abstract:

Corneal collagen cross-linking(CXL)is a new treatment for corneal diseases such as primary or secondary keratoconus, infectious keratitis and bullous keratopathy. CXL is used to increase the biomechanical stability of the stromal tissue and prevent the progression of keratopathy based on Laws of Photochemistry, which is widely used in clinical practice at present. Currently, commonly used method in clinical practice is the traditional “epithelium-off” corneal cross-linking method(dresden protocol), but the classical method takes a long time, and there may be postoperative complications such as poor healing of the corneal epithelium and infection. In recent years, a number of studies have improved the classical method, such as the choice of riboflavin solution immersed in the cornea, increasing the energy of ultraviolet light to shorten the accelerated cross-linking time of irradiation and cross-epithelial CXL. Thus, this paper reviews clinical and basic researches of the current use of non-classical CXL in the treatment of keratoconus.

Key words:corneal collagen cross-linking; keratoconus; riboflavin