Clinical Research Directory

Outcomes of CTAK Surgery

Measuring quality of vision and quality of life outcomes using a validated questionnaire in participants undergoing CTAK surgery for corneal ectasia

Safety and Effectiveness of the PXL-Platinum 330 System for Corneal Cross-Linking in Eyes With Corneal Ectasia

To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the PXL Platinum 330 system for performing corneal cross-linking (CXL) for the treatment of ectatic disorders.

Wavefront Guided Scleral Lenses for Keratoconus and Irregular Astigmatism

Aberrations are the spreading of light from a point focus. Aberrations of the eyes can be objectively evaluated with a wavefront aberrometer. Lower order aberrations such as defocus and astigmatism can be corrected with glasses and traditional/disposable soft contact lenses. Patients with ectatic corneal disease, such as keratoconus, or irregular astigmatism cause by surgery, trauma or disease, experience vision that is unlikely to be adequately corrected with glasses or disposable soft contact lenses due to higher order aberrations (HOA). HOA's cause halos, flare, glare, starbursts, doubling, smearing or ghosting of vision. Specialty contact lenses, such as scleral lenses, can be used to mask the irregularity of the cornea, reducing HOA's and improving vision. In many patients the resultant vision, though improved, still has some level of residual HOA's affecting the quality of vision. Custom scleral lenses with customized wavefront guided optics can be used to reduce residual HOA's and improve vision further. These lenses have been referred to as higher order aberration correcting scleral lenses or HOA correcting sclerals and wavefront guided scleral lenses or WFG sclerals.

Dresden Corneal Disease and Treatment Study

The purpose of this study is long-term follow up of patients with corneal diseases to analyze the quality of surgical interventions and diagnosis. Corneal ectasia, especially keratoconus, is a corneal disease that leads to an irreversible loss of visual acuity while the cornea becomes steeper, thinner and irregular. For these patients, surgical intervention (e.g. corneal cross-linking) is performed, in case of disease progression. Overall, a long-term follow up is needed to evaluate an early disease progression as well as corneal stability after surgical intervention.