Corneal Epithelium Remodelling After Eye Rubbing Discontinuation in Pediatric Allergic Patients

Introduction: Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of eye rubbing discontinuation on the epithelial thickness profile by spectral-domain AS-OCT (anterior segment optical coherence tomography) in allergic children with no tomographic sign of corneal ectasia. Methods: Right-handed boys (average age 11.2 years, 8-12 years) with history of eye rubbing and relatively normal Pentacam (Oculus; Wetzlar, Germany) exams were recruited for the study. Patients were evaluated using AS-OCT (Zeiss Cirrus 5000 HD-OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA) at the baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment. Treatment included education to avoid eye rubbing and preservative free 0.25 mg/mL topical ketotifen. Epithelial thickness (ET) and full corneal thickness (CT) parameters were compared with paired non-parametric Wilcoxon (signed-ranked) test. A p-value lower than 0.05 was considered for statistical significance. Results: Twenty-five boys completed the protocol. No eyes had tomographic criteria for keratoconus (Belin-Ambrosio Deviation Value < 1.22). Minimum epithelial location moved from the inferotemporal to superotemporal octant after treatment. The differences between minimum and maximum epithelial thickness (-2.8 ��m vs -5.2 ��m; p
Revista Sociedade Portuguesa de Oftalmologia, Vol. 45 N.�� 4 (2021)