Clinical Profile and Visual Rehabilitation with Mini-Scleral Device in Irregular Corneas at a Tertiary Eye Hospital : An Observational Study

TL;DR

This study examines how mini-scleral devices improve vision in patients with irregular corneas, showing most achieved normal vision.

Contribution

The study provides clinical evidence on the effectiveness of mini-scleral devices for visual rehabilitation in irregular corneas.

Findings

Keratoconus was the most common irregular corneal condition in the study.

96.63% of eyes achieved normal vision after using mini-scleral devices.

Most patients were young males under 30 years of age.

Abstract

Keratoconus, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, corneal dystrophy, and corneal scar are the sight threatening conditions of the anterior eye. Optical management of these irregular corneas include use of spectacles and contact lenses like corneal lenses (GP) as well as corneo-scleral/mini scleral and scleral lenses. Mini scleral device(MSD) delivers refractive corrections to most of the irregular corneas and provide maximum comfort with proper visual rehabilitation. It also halts the corneal transplant in many cases. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical profile andvisual outcome ofmini scleral device in different irregular corneas.

The hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2022 to December 2023 in contact lens department of tertiary eye hospital of eastern Nepal. During study period total 208 eyes of 128 patients were included in the study. Eyes with different irregular cornea in which mini scleral device trial was performed were included in the study.

The mean age (±SD) of the patients was 21.03 (6.70) with minimum 11 years and maximum 42 years. Majority of them were male 94 (73.44%) and below 30 years of age 113 (88.28%). Majority of eyes had keratoconus 180 (86.54%). After trial of MSD, majority of the eyes 201 (96.63%) achieved normal vision (0.0-0.50 log MAR) among them 84 (40.38%) eyes had achieved 0.0 log MAR visual acuity.

Keratoconus was found the most common irregular cornea and majority of eyes achieved normal vision with MSD.

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