Abstract:

Objective To evaluate effect and safety of long-term wearing RGPCL for mild to moderate keratoconus in young children. Design Retrospective case series. Participants 40 keratoconus children. Methods From 2001 to 2011, 40 keratoconus children (80 eyes) with age 3-16 years old (mean age of 12.80±3.09 years) wore RGPCL for three years. They all took refractometer and other ocular measurements. We observed the changes of corneal thickness, corneal endothelial cells, corneal topographic (including K values, SRI and corneal astigmatism) during 3 years of wearing RGPCL. The safety of RGPCL on both eyes were also evaluated. We evaluated the controlling effect of wearing RGPCL on keratoconus. Main Outcome Measures Corrected visual acuity, corneal K values, corneal astigmatism, SRI, corneal thickness, corneal endothelial cell density. Results Corrected visual acuity improved 0.19±0.03. There were no significant changes in corneal thickness (13.81±7.98 μm, P=0.274) before and after wearing RGPCL during three years. Flat K changed 0.26±0.59 D. Steep K changed 0.97±0.75 D. SRI changed 0.09±0.10, and corneal astigmatism declined 0.88±0.40 D. All these changes were not significant (all P>0.05). We had not found inflammation and obvious damages of cornea and conjunctiva. Conclusion Through observing the corneal thickness, corneal K value, corneal astigmatism for three years, we demenstrated long-term wearing RGPCL have certain control effect for keratoconus in children. No obvious damage was found in the cornea and conjunctiva. Long-term wearing RGPCL is safe and effective for. keratoconus children. （Ophthalmol CHN， 2016, 25： 317-320）

Key words: keratoconus, children, rigid gas-permeable, contact lens