Recent developments in keratoconus diagnosis

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Keratoconus and ectatic corneal diseases represent a hot area of research. The need to enhance diagnosis in order to recognize milder forms of the disease and identify inherent predisposition for ectasia progression has gained significant importance because of refractive surgery and also due to the development of new treatment modalities to treat ectatic corneal diseases. This article discusses the nomenclature related to the diagnostic tests used to characterize keratoconus and ectatic corneal diseases, providing a prospective discussion on the latest developments for the diagnosis and follow up of these conditions, including imaging modalities, biomechanical assessments, and an outlook in genetics and molecular biology.

Areas covered: We performed an extensive Pubmed literature search, considering the latest developments in the diagnosis of keratoconus and additional ectatic corneal diseases.

Expert commentary: Corneal ectasia is characterized by biomechanical failure and stromal thinning, causing corneal bulging with subsequent visual impairment due to irregular astigmatism. Moderate and advanced stages are easily recognized, but the identification of mild or subclinical forms remains a challenge.

KEYWORDS:

• Keratoconus
• ectasia
• topography
• tomography
• biomechanics

Declaration of interest

Dr. Ambrósio and Dr. Belin are consultants for Oculus. Dr. Ambrósio is a consultant for Alcon and Zeiss.The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded