corneal cross-linking for pseudophakic bullous keratopathy

purpose: to evaluate the efficacy of riboflavin administration and ultraviolet a (uva) cross-linking on advanced symptomatic bullous keratopathy (bk). methods: 10 patients with symptomatic pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (pbk) were included. slit-lamp examination, visual acuity, foreign body sensation (fbs) and corneal thickness as measured by pentacam, were performed before corneal cross-linking. after using sodium chloride solution for one week, the central 8 mm zone of the corneal epithelium was removed, and cross-linking, with riboflavin instillation every 3 minutes for 30 minutes, and uva irradiation for 40 minutes was performed. va, fbs and corneal thickness were evaluated up to 6 months. results: three male and 7 female patients with mean age of 66±13 years were included. mean follow-up duration was 6.2 months. va increased in 9 eyes postoperatively, fbs subsided in 70% of patients. mean corneal thickness was reduced by 74 µm 6 months after the procedure (p= 0.059). conclusion: collagen cross linking for bk improves fbs & va and decreases corneal thickness; this extends the time interval for corneal transplantation and improves visualization for dsaek procedures.