Flat RK Cornea

This is a profile view of an eye that underwent Radial Keratotomy (RK) surgery 30 years ago. The wide grey-white lines seen here are the open RK incisions, still open after all these years. Note how flat this cornea is. It is so flat that no contact lens, rigid or soft can adhere to the surface of this cornea. In addition, eye glasses are not able to provide this patient with functional vision in this eye. The patient’s uncorrected vision in this eye is less than 20/800. With a scleral lens, this patient is able to obtain functional vision once again. There is no surgical procedure that will undo the damage to this eye caused by RK surgery. In addition, the corneal surgeon who referred this patient to our office declined to perform a corneal transplant surgery on this eye due to the magnitude ( width, length and depth) of the RK incisions.