To evaluate effectiveness of cornea collagen crosslinking (CXL) for keratoconus in patients younger than 18 years of age.

In a prospective clinical study 64 eyes of 37 patients under 18 years of age included. All patients had keratoconus and evidence of progression over past 6 months. Subjects underwent CXL with total epithelial removal and instillation of riboflavin before irradiation with 3mW/cm2 UV for 30 minutes. Patients underwent ophthalmology exam and topography before and 12 months after crosslinking procedure.

Age of the patients was 15.83 +/- 1.53 years (mean +/- SD). 26 (70.3%) of them were male, 14 (37.8%) had positive family history of keratoconus, 11 (29.7%) had history of allergic disorders and 15 (40.5%) had history of notable eye rubbing. Refractive astigmatism decreased significantly from -4.50 +/- 0.29 diopters to -4.11 +/- 0.28 1 year after the procedure (P=0.001). LogMAR uncorrected visual acuity and best corrected visual acuity improved significantly 12 months after CXL (P=0.012 and 0.001 respectively). Maximum keratometry before and after the operation was 53.82 +/- 0.72 and 53.33 +/- 0.72 respectively (P=0.018).

According to our result, CXL improves refractive, visual, and topographic parameters in patients with keratoconus younger than 18 year old.