Purpose. To evaluate corneal transparency following accelerated collagen cross-linking (ACXL) in pediatric keratoconus.\nDesign. A prospective interventional case series. Methods. This study included 47 eyes (25 patients), aged 9ââ?¬â??14 years, with\ndocumented progressive keratoconus. After applying 0.1% riboflavin drops, ACXL was performed. Assessment included\ncorrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), corneal haze, and corneal densitometry in\ngrayscale units (GSU). Result. The mean baseline and corneal densitometry peaked at 3 months post-ACXL while central\nand posterior densitometry showed a statistically significant increase (P < 0 05) and peaked at 8 months postoperatively. By\n12 months, densitometry in all corneal layers (P ââ?°Â¥ 0 99) and concentric zones (P ââ?°Â¥ 0 97) reached near baseline values.\nSlit-lamp graded haze peaked at 1 month to 1.82 Ã?± 0.65 (P < 0 05) and declined to near baseline at 12 months (0.39 Ã?± 0.58).\nThere was a statistically significant increase in the mean UCVA and CDVA at 12 months. Conclusion. Total and\nanterior corneal densitometry peaked after 3 months, while central and posterior densitometry peaked after 8 months.\nMaximum haze was at 1 month post-ACXL. All corneal layers, concentric zone densitometry and haze reached near\nbaseline values after 1 year. Scheimpflug densitometry showed weak correlation with CDVA over the 12-month follow-up\nperiod (r = âË?â??0 193).
Loading....