Demography of corneal dystrophies at a tertiary eye care centre in South India

Abstract

To report the frequency of corneal dystrophies. All patients who presented to the out-patient department were examined for signs of corneal dystrophy from January 2017 to December 2019. All patients underwent a thorough evaluation for demographics, clinical presentation, history of consanguinity, family medical history, and clinical outcome of keratoplasty (in those who required it) and a clinicopathologic correlation was attempted. Complete ophthalmological examination was conducted for all patients which included vision (distance & near), slit lamp examination, retinoscopy, auto refractometer readings, dilated fundus examination, pentacam as well as anterior segment OCT. Photographic documentation was done for all dystrophy patients. During this time period we had 118 patients who were included in the study. History of consanguineous marriage was noted in 62% of the study population. History of a similar problem in siblings and other members was elicited in 27 (22.88%) and 15 (12.71%) patients, respectively. 23 patients required keratoplasty. The average follow-up of each keratoplasty case was 36±14 months. Among these cases, only 2 groups had graft failure, viz, CHED and macular dystrophy. The higher frequency of dystrophies could be due to higher consanguineous marriage, which indicates a need for counselling. Also, there is an increased need for thorough work-up before planning intraocular procedures.