Excessive eye rubbing may induce this eye disease? Severe cases can cause blindness...

| 15-year-old boy rubs his eyes all the time and develops keratoconus

Recently, a 15-year-old high school student named Xiao Liu (pseudonym) had to undergo corneal transplant surgery to improve his vision in both eyes because his corneas had quietly become thinner and close to perforation. The cause of the disease was found to be long-term eye rubbing after suffering from allergic rhinitis .

Coincidentally, an 11-year-old boy named Gao Gao (pseudonym) went to an optical shop to get glasses because of blurred vision in his left eye, but found that the vision correction of that eye could not improve. He was then diagnosed with keratoconus in his left eye.

"In the outpatient clinic, we often encounter patients like Xiao Liu who rub their eyes frequently and fail to seek medical treatment in time. Later, it is found that they have mechanical keratoconus and have to undergo surgery." According to the doctor, keratoconus is a chronic and hidden disease with a high incidence rate among children and adolescents and is easily ignored, which leads to delayed treatment. If left unchecked, the disease will worsen and cause corneal thinning, perforation, and even blindness .

| What is keratoconus?

Keratoconus is a common, non-inflammatory, chronic, progressive, localized corneal ectasia disease characterized by corneal ectasia, central or paracentral thinning and protrusion, and a cone shape. When viewed from the side, you will find that the cornea of ​​the eye is bulging forward. If you find this, you should seek medical attention immediately.

The development of keratoconus is like blowing up a balloon; the cornea gradually expands and becomes thinner. Its clinical manifestations are thinning and convexity of the central or paracentral cornea, resulting in highly irregular corneal astigmatism, which in turn affects vision.

Keratoconus usually occurs in teenagers , and most of the children who come to the hospital for examination are in adolescence. At an age when they should be full of vitality and youth, they have lost their clear vision due to keratoconus, which has affected their study and life.

For most people, keratoconus is a very unfamiliar eye disease. In addition, diagnosing keratoconus requires a certain level of experience and the support of diagnostic equipment. Even for ophthalmologists, it is difficult to make a quick and accurate diagnosis. Therefore, most people know very little about keratoconus.

Many keratoconus patients are not diagnosed in the early stages, which delays treatment and causes the disease to develop to the late stages requiring corneal transplantation.

| Why does keratoconus occur?
The cause of keratoconus is still unclear. It may be related to a decrease in the amount of corneal collagen or abnormal arrangement of collagen fibers, which leads to reduced mechanical resistance of the cornea and corneal thinning and protrusion. Genetic factors and allergies may be related to this disease. In addition, bad habits such as excessive eye rubbing have been proven to induce keratoconus .

Therefore, it is recommended that you should try to avoid rubbing your eyes in normal times, and do not sleep on your stomach to put pressure on your eyeballs; for eye rubbing behavior secondary to other eye diseases such as allergic conjunctivitis and dry eyes , the primary disease should be actively treated.

| How do I know if I have keratoconus?

Some people will experience acute corneal edema, which can lead to a sudden and drastic decrease in vision; while for others, the condition progresses slowly and the decrease in vision is not obvious, which may be confused with myopia or astigmatism.

The onset of keratoconus can be divided into 4 stages:

1. Latent period: It is difficult to diagnose at this time. If one eye is diagnosed with keratoconus and the other eye has refractive error, it should be highly suspected.

2. Early stage: There may be no abnormal manifestations in early examinations, only different degrees of myopia and astigmatism may be found in the eye examination. Corneal topography may show thinning of corneal thickness and increased height of the posterior surface.

3. Progressive stage: Visual acuity decreases significantly, frame glasses are difficult to correct, the curvature of the angle segment increases, and the thickness of the angle segment becomes significantly thinner.

4. Late stage: The cornea is cone-shaped and protrudes forward, the stroma becomes thinner or even breaks, forming scars. If the Descemet's membrane ruptures, it manifests as acute corneal edema.

| How to treat keratoconus?

In recent years, the clinical diagnosis methods and technologies for keratoconus have become more comprehensive and systematic, and the treatment plans have also made breakthrough progress. If the disease is in the early stage and the condition is stable, frame glasses, rigid corneal contact lenses (RGP), and rigid scleral contact lenses can be used to correct vision and improve visual quality.

If the condition becomes unstable and progresses further, corneal collagen cross-linking should be performed as soon as possible if the cornea meets the surgical conditions, in order to strengthen the thinning cornea and prevent the progression of the disease. If the disease progresses to the late stage, corneal transplantation will be required to save vision.

| What is corneal collagen cross-linking?

Corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) is a new type of corneal photodynamic therapy. The system uses riboflavin as a photosensitizer and uses 365nm ultraviolet light to irradiate the cornea locally, stimulating the cross-linking of collagen fibers to enhance the hardness and resistance of the cornea. It can not only be used to treat progressive keratoconus, but also brings hope for the treatment of refractory corneal ulcers, corneal degeneration and other diseases.

Doctors remind that if there is a sudden deterioration in vision and wearing frame glasses cannot correct it , you should pay great attention and go to a professional ophthalmology hospital in time for early detection, early intervention and early treatment.