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Primary surgical options for acute corneal hydrops: A review
Gonzalo García de Oteyza1, Guido Bregliano2,3, Irene Sassot4
1Clínica Oftalmológica García de Oteyza, Barcelona, Spain.
Insights
Acute corneal hydrops often resolves but may require intervention. Newer surgical techniques are emerging as effective alternatives to corneal transplantation, offering faster healing and improved outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Corneal Diseases
- Surgical Innovation
Background:
- Acute corneal hydrops typically resolves within 4-6 weeks with medical therapy.
- Severe corneal edema or large Descemet breaks can impede natural healing.
- Historically, corneal transplantation was the primary option for persistent cases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent surgical alternatives to corneal transplantation for acute corneal hydrops.
- To highlight techniques that accelerate healing and reduce corneal edema.
- To assess the feasibility, safety, and outcomes of these novel surgical approaches.
Main Methods:
- Review of recently published studies on surgical interventions for acute corneal hydrops.
- Analysis of various surgical techniques and their reported results.
- Evaluation of complication rates and visual acuity improvements.
Main Results:
- Surgical alternatives are increasingly replacing penetrating keratoplasty for acute corneal hydrops.
- New techniques demonstrate feasibility and safety with low complication rates.
- These methods aim to expedite corneal healing and edema resolution.
Conclusions:
- Emerging surgical techniques offer promising alternatives for managing acute corneal hydrops.
- These procedures can accelerate recovery, improve vision, and prevent complications.
- Further research supports the growing role of these surgical options in ophthalmology.
Abstract:
Acute corneal hydrops usually resolves alone or with medical therapy along the first 4-6 weeks. However, depending on the severity of the corneal edema or the size of the Descemet break, self-healing might be difficult. Years ago, those patients had no more options than corneal transplantation, but surgical alternatives are on the rise in this century. These surgeries are becoming more popular with a variety of techniques relegating penetrating keratoplasty to a residual role. These techniques aim to accelerate corneal healing, reduce the edema, improve visual acuity and prevent from severe complications that may appear if corneal hydrops is not treated rapidly. Feasibility and safety are the favorable aspects of these techniques since the complications rates described remain low. In this review, we emphasize the recently published studies that describe both the techniques and their results.
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