Current status and prospect of keratoconus prevention and treatment

Keratoconus is a blinding eye disease characterized by central or paracentral corneal thinning, forward conical protrusion, and high myopia with irregular astigmatism.There are still no effective radical treatments for keratoconus.Current methods mainly include the prevention and treatment of risk factors, non-surgical optical correction and surgical treatment.The main risk factor prevention and treatment measures include intervention of eye rubbing behavior, symptomatic treatment of allergic diseases and systemic diseases, and correction of poor sleeping position.Non-surgical optical correction uses spectacles or corneal/scleral contact lenses to improve corrected vision.Surgical treatments include intracorneal ring segment implantation to improve corrected vision, corneal collagen cross-linking to increase the biomechanical stiffness of the cornea, and corneal transplantation to treat patients with severe keratoconus or corneal scarring.In addition, femtosecond laser-assisted keratoplasty, lenticule intrastromal keratoplasty combined with corneal collagen cross-linking have been gradually applied in clinical treatment, and tissue engineering based on biosynthetic substitutes, 3D bioprinting technology and cell engineering based on stem cell therapy have provided research prospects for the treatment of keratoconus.This article summarizes the prevention and treatment of clinical risk factors, non-surgical optical correction and surgical treatment, and discusses the research perspective of innovative treatment, in order to provide personalized treatment for patients with keratoconus.

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