In a continued tradition of excellence, cornea specialist Dr. Nicole Lemanski presented a case study on epithelial off corneal crosslinking in a patient with rheumatologic disease. This case study, presented at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Portugal, was the first of its kind in the reported ophthalmologic literature.

“Epithelial off Corneal crosslinking is used to treat keratoconus, a disease of the clear part of the eye usually found in younger individuals. Untreated, patients may need a corneal transplant. While the procedure itself is highly successful, it is not done in patients with rheumatologic disease, such as lupus, ankylosing spondylitis (“bamboo spine”), etc because of the risk of complications after the procedure,” Dr. Lemanski noted.

“In this case, a nearly year long effort was made to aggressively control the patient’s systemic disease prior to crosslinking, inspired by data gleaned from high risk corneal transplant patients. In this case, successful treatment halted this patient’s keratoconus without complication” she noted.

Head ophthalmologist, Dr. Mabel Cheng, MD, spoke to the significance of the presentation:

“Pushing the bounds of what we do and how we treat patients is paramount to the success of medicine. Sharing those results is equally important and allows collaboration to extend the population of individuals that can have cornea saving surgeries, such as crosslinking. We are proud to have contributed these novel data to the greater ophthalmologic community.”

If you or a loved one have keratoconus, don’t delay: speak with a corneal specialist today. Call us at 518-782-7777 or book online at www.mabelchengmd.com