Effects Of Collagen Cross Linking On Fungal Keratitis

fungal keratitis is a debilitating disease. it takes long time to heal, requires multiple medications and multiple visits to the clinic. also the disease being more common in lower economic strata of society, it may lead to devastating effects in life of the patient. collagen cross linking when done at initial stages of the infection may lead to improvement in terms of quantity of medications used, time for total healing of infection, out patient visits and financial burden and final Best corrected visual acuity. This study aims wether collagen cross linking helps to achieve these targets

study was done in out patients department of kahalekar super speciality eye hospital.

patients who had corneal infection underwent corneal scraping. the scraping sample was examined under 10% KOH mount for fungal hyphae. Also the sample underwent grams staining. patients who had pure fungal infiltrate were used for this study. patients were counselled thoroughly about the procedure. all the legal and regulatory formalities completed. patients underwent epithelial debridement, then corneal soaking with 0.1% riboflavin dye for twenty minutes with one drop instilled every 10 minutes. this was then followed by UV irradiation for 30 minutes usuing conventional dresden protocol. patients were followed every 3 days after the procedure and results documented

12 patients were inducted in the study. all the patients recovered fully. no patients progressed to corneal transplant. no patients had corneal melt and none required cyanoacrylate glue application. all the patients showed faster resolution of symptoms, faster healing, less requirement of medication and less fullow ups required to the OPD. final scar size and best corrected visual acuity was improved as compared to patients who did not undergo collagen cross linking.

collagen cross linking for fungal keratitis helps in faster healing, less requirement of medications, less follow ups to the OPD, less corneal scarring and improved final best corrected visual acuity as compared to patients who did not undergo collagen cross linking