The disease usually begins in adolescence, but the onset can occur earlier, progression can occur later in life, and spontaneous halting of progression is possible at any stage.
The condition appears in the form of a feeling of visual discomfort, splitting of letters when reading, the presence of a shadow of the observed image, splitting of light around its sources and a progressive decrease in visual acuity.
In the initial stage of development, the cone affects one eye, then the disease process is extended to the other eye. Often, the impairment of visual acuity in advanced forms of cones makes patients unable to recognize letters seen from far and near, use a computer and smartphone, use public transportation, drive a car, move around without risking accidental injury.
The effectiveness of corneal cone therapy is determined by when the disease is detected. The more advanced the cone, the more difficult it is to get good results, even when we can use several procedures. Therefore, it is important to detect the disease early enough.
The effectiveness of corneal cone therapy is determined by when the disease is detected. The more advanced the cone, the more difficult it is to get good results, even when we can use several procedures. Therefore, it is important to detect the disease early enough.
The treatment of the cone is primarily to halt the progression of the disease and to improve the quality of vision. To date, the only method with a proven effect on stopping the progression of the disease is cross-linking surgery. Cone treatment has the best effect in the least advanced stages of its development, which is why early detection is so important.
At Eyemed Ophthalmic Center, we use one of the most advanced KXL II systems from Avedro to perform the cross-linking procedure, which is the only one approved in the US market before the FDA and which allows the procedure to be performed in even very thin corneas.
In order to achieve better quality of vision, it is possible to combine the cross-linking procedure with other treatment methods such as mini scleral contact lens selection, phakic lens grafting (so-called implantable contact lenses), refractive lens exchange of the patient’s own lenses with artificial lenses (RLE) and laser vision correction.
The effectiveness of corneal cone therapy is determined by when the disease is detected. The more advanced the cone, the more difficult it is to get good results, even when we can use several procedures. Therefore, it is important to detect the disease early enough.
Thanks to our experience and advanced SIRIUS and PERAMIS diagnostic platforms, as well as the AMARIS laser, we are able to perform vision correction surgery in combination with cross-linking procedure as one of the few centers in Poland.
At Eyemed Ophthalmology Center, we perform corneal wavefront (CW) and ocular wavefront (OW) procedures, which provide the best results with maximum safety. Combined laser vision correction and cross-linking procedures improve the quality of vision (by reducing or eliminating higher-order aberrations), facilitate the subsequent selection of glasses or contact lenses, reduce or even eliminate the visual defect caused by the cone (provided early detection and treatment of the disease).
