Massive corneal edema treated with corneal cross-linking.

INTRODUCTION: Massive corneal edema disrupts the fine architecture of corneal stroma that guarantees its transparency, causing opacities that seriously impair clear vision and are usually solved by corneal transplant. Corneal cross-linking, a treatment developed to halt keratoconus progression, results in a loss of water and a compaction of corneal stroma. It might therefore be useful to improve the pathologic edematous condition of some corneas, ameliorating visual acuity and allowing more time for a surgical procedure of keratoplasty.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Six patients with visual impairing corneal edemas further to lens phacoemulsification, penetrating keratoplasty, or post-infective neovascularization were treated with corneal cross-linking alone, or in combination with amniotic membrane apposition with or without anti-angiogenic therapy.

RESULTS: All patients partly resolved the edematous condition, improving both corneal transparency and visual acuity.

CONCLUSIONS: Corneal cross-linking appears to be a useful method to treat massive corneal edemas, so that keratoplasty can be at least delayed, and need not to be an emergency treatment in these cases.