CXL FAQ

How long has CXL been used as a treatment for keratoconus?
Dr Theo Seiler was the first person to experiment with cross linking in around 1999 in Dresden. It took 2 more years to enrol patients into a study that is still ongoing, so results from this are still being colated and are reported on at regular intervals. As of May 2008, over 400 patients have been treated in Dresden.

What does it involve?
The procedure is fairly straightforward. Essentially, drops of Riboflavin (Vitamin B12) are instilled into the eye every 2 1/2 minutes for 30 minutes, then an ultraviolet light source is swung over the cornea and switched on. The drops are continued whilst the UV light is shone onto the cornea.

There are two variations on this procedure. "Epi off" menas that the front surface of the cornea, the epithelium, is removed before the procedure and "epi on" menas that it is left intact. There is still controversy over which procedure works best and an article on the CXL resources pages describes the difference: Corneal Cross Linking - potential pitfalls