{"id":27351,"date":"2024-09-11T17:17:44","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T15:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/crosslinking-in-children\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T15:56:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T14:56:33","slug":"crosslinking-in-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/crosslinking-in-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Crosslinking in children"},"content":{"rendered":"

The progression rate of keratoconus in children and adolescents is particularly high.
\nAround 90 percent of affected young people have active keratoconus, which continues to progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

Children whose parents have keratoconus should undergo preventive examinations.
\nThese are not the only special features when it comes to children and adolescents.
\nThere is an increased risk of complications during surgery. <\/span><\/p>\n

Time of treatment for children<\/span><\/h2>\n

While regular follow-up checks are carried out in adults and treatment is initiated as soon as the keratoconus progresses, faster action is required in children.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the disease is diagnosed, it is important not to wait for it to worsen due to the high rate of progression.
\nAs a rule, crosslinking should be performed as soon as possible.
\nIn this way, maximum visual acuity can be maintained. <\/span><\/p>\n

Effect of crosslinking on children<\/span><\/h2>\n

In children and adolescents, CXL achieves the same effect as in adults: a hardening of the cornea to stop the progression of keratoconus.
\nThe success rate in children is comparable.
\nIn fact, a faster effect is often observed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rapid improvement with CXL & rapid progression of the disease without therapy<\/span><\/h2>\n

After CXL treatment, the cornea improves quickly in children – faster than in adults.
\nThe cornea stabilizes and sometimes even flattens out.
\nThis contributes to an improvement in vision.
\nThe results of CXL are significantly more intensive in children than in adults. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, a faster progression of keratoconus can be observed in children – the health of the eye can deteriorate massively within a few months.
\nThis makes early treatment all the more important. <\/span><\/p>\n

Treatment procedure <\/span><\/h2>\n

The procedure for crosslinking in children does not differ from the procedure for adults.
\nThe treatment is generally performed on an outpatient basis under local anesthesia.
\nFor younger children or those who prefer a general anesthetic, this is also possible after consultation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Which method is best?<\/span><\/h2>\n

EPI-ON or EPI-OFF – which is better? A question we are often asked.
\nEPI-OFF is the classic method of CXL in which the ephitel is removed.
\nThis ensures that the riboflavin can penetrate the eye. <\/span><\/p>\n

Disadvantage: Pain may occur after the treatment.
\nIn addition, a longer healing process is necessary, which is associated with an increased risk of infection.
\nThis should be taken into account, especially in children.
\nFrequent eye rubbing can further increase the risk of infection. <\/span><\/p>\n

EPI-ON – the newer method<\/span><\/h3>\n

Ongoing research into the CXL method now makes it possible to perform crosslinking without removing the ephitel.
\nInstead, eye drops are applied to increase the permeability of the riboflavin. <\/span><\/p>\n

EPI-ON has the advantage that pain is rarely felt after the operation.
\nIn addition, the risk of complications (e.g. infection) is lower and the healing process is usually significantly shorter. <\/span><\/p>\n

Selection of the method<\/span><\/h2>\n

Both methods are comparable in terms of overall results, although EPI-OFF is said to be slightly more effective.
\nIf your child suffers from particularly aggressive progression, the EPI-OFF method may be more advisable. <\/span><\/p>\n

EPI-ON is suitable if the bandage lens and the application of eye drops are likely to cause difficulties. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is keratoconus?
\nDr. Victor Derhartunian explains what keratoconus is and what treatment options are available.
\nRead more… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-27351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faqs-en","tag-crosslinking-glossary-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}