Purpose: Subjective and objective evaluation of scleral lens tolerance and fitting before and after corneal cross-linking (CXL) for progressive keratoconus.
Methods: In this prospective cohort, evaluations were made of 18 unilateral eyes in patients who underwent CXL and had been wearing scleral lenses before the procedure. All the patients gave informed consent; they were able to cooperate with the study, were eligible for CXL, had been wearing well-fitting scleral lenses for at least 3 months, and had no other active ocular disease. Data were collected before and 1 year after CXL. Outcome measures were changes in clinical and subjective scleral lens performance. The following components were studied: scleral lens corrected distance visual acuity, scleral lens specifications, scleral lens fit, wearing time, and subjective measures on visual analogue scale questionnaires (1 to 100 mm).
Results: There was no significant change in scleral lens corrected distance visual acuity (p = 0.632). Sixty-one percent of eyes needed a scleral lens fit and/or power change. Wearing time (median, 16 hours per day) and subjective tolerance were found to be stable.
Conclusions: Scleral lens tolerance after CXL appeared to be stable.