Corneal Keloid

Abstract

To report the natural history and the outcome after the surgical management of 2 cases of corneal keloids. Two male patients, 21 and 24 years old, with a history of corneal opacity for 5 and 17 years, respectively, with no history of an ocular trauma were studied. The first patient initially underwent a superficial keratectomy (SK), after which the corneal opacification recurred. He subsequently underwent 2 SK procedures combined with phototherapeutic keratectomy and mitomycin C, followed by a femtosecond laser-assisted deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty. The second patient underwent a bilateral SK followed by a penetrating keratoplasty in the left eye with the rapid recurrence of the lesion. The patient subsequently underwent an implantation of a Boston type 1 keratoprosthesis in the right eye, with a favorable outcome. The histopathologic features of both excised corneal specimens were consistent with the diagnosis of a corneal keloid. Corneal keloids recur after SK and phototherapeutic keratectomy, indicating that keratoplasty procedures may be more effective than keratectomy procedures in their management. However, corneal keloids may recur even after a penetrating keratoplasty, in which case keratoprosthesis implantation represents a viable option for visual rehabilitation.