Assessment of corneal higher order aberrations before and after corneal collagen cross-linking in patients with keratoconus

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the short term effect of corneal collagen crosslinking on higher order aberrations of cornea in patients with keratoconus using corneal topography. Patients and Methods: the study was a prospective cohort study that was conducted in a private specialized eye hospital on 40 eyes of 28 keratoconus patients. Each patient was fully assessed preoperatively including doing corneal topography using Pentacam® HR. Transepithelial accelerated CXL was done to all patients. Postoperative corneal topography was done at six months and data was retrieved and analyzed. Results: RMS HOA recorded a higher mean value preoperatively, with an extremely statistically significant difference (p=0.00). All elements of HOAs showed lower postoperative values except for trefoil 30º. The difference was statistically significant in comma 0º, comma 90º, spherical aberrations and fifth order comma 90° (p=0.026, p= 0.003, p=0.005, and p=0.001 respectively).