Keratinous

Keratinous or conical cornea is an uncommon bilateral thinning of the central cornea. It may be a developmental anomaly or a combination of developmental aberration and degeneration. Characteristically, one eye begins to show the changes around puberty and the other eye in due course of time or in the early 40s. In its incipient stage, there may not be any apparent clinical sign except that frequent changes in refraction become necessary. Even fu correction may not give normal vision. If this be the case, a slit-lamp examination will reveal the situation.

Further, keratorfletry will denote rather steep corneal curvatures with or without a marked distortion of the mires depending upon the extent of progress of the cone.

The correction of vision via contact lenses is based on the principle of neutralization of the corneal irregularity by means of the fluid lens formed in the retro-Iens chamber. Contact lenses help to replace the irregular corneal surface. Hence, contact lenses are the treatment of choice despite several fitting difficulties, and the patient is usually satisfied. If contact lenses do not help a corneal graft surgery is the only choice.