Keratoconus is a progressive bilateral, asymmetric, non-inflammatory corneal degenerative disease that leads to the formation of a central or paracentral cone.
Corneal epithelium is a non-vascular tissue composed of 5-7 layers of non-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium with average thickness of 50 um. It has a strong masking effect on a lot of changes that happen beneath in the stromal layer of the cornea. For this reason it is of great importance to study corneal epithelial changes in keratoconus disease.
One of the most advanced methods of imaging of the corneal epithelium and different layers is the MS-39 (CSO, Italy) using anterior segment optical coherence tomography for accurate details about the corneal layers.
It is noted that the corneal epithelium distribution is different in keratoconic eyes from normal eyes, and the most obvious change is that, it gets thicker superiorly and thinner inferiorly in keratoconic eyes.
AIM:
The aim of the study is to measure the corneal epithelial layerthickness with spectral domain OCT technology using MS-39 in healthy subjects and patients with different stages of keratoconus.