Conductive Keratoplasty - CK

Conductive Keratoplasty is abbreviated as CK and it is one of the newer types of refractive surgery available. It uses little heat from radio waves in order to shrink the collagen in area of the cornea. The collagen is a glue-like connective tissue. CK can be used to treat conditions like hyperopia or farsightedness and presbyopia or ageing ayes.

In a blended vision procedure, CK is performed on one eye in order to give sharper vision for images up close. The other eye is not treated. You will need coordinated vision in order to see properly at distances and clearly up close. Your eyes will continue to change as you grow older and you can have CK treatment anytime especially when your vision starts to worsen once more.

Here are some of the criteria used to assess whether a patient is fit for conductive keratoplasty

• You should be in a good level of health

• Patients who are more than forty years old

• Myopia can not be treated with CK

• Those who have had good vision during their life

• People who need reading glasses to make up for their blurry vision

• You must have good medical history which is free from eye infections like severe dryness, glaucoma, corneal dystrophy, and kerataconus

• If you have gone through a laser eye surgery in the past then you may have to wait for about six to nine months before you go through with a CK treatment

• Those with pacemakers can not go through with a CK procedure because this will interfere with it

• Your vision has to be stable. This means that there must not be a significant change in your distance prescriptions for the past two years

• You should not be pregnant or breastfeeding

• You should not be diabetic or depend on insulin

What is involved when one goes through a Conductive Keratoplasty procedure?

CK is also known as Ultra-CK and it is a procedure that makes the cornea steeper. A cool-tipped pen-shaped instrument is used to make the corneal tissue smaller. Radio wave energy is used in a circular pattern in the cornea area while the eyes are soothed with eye drops. This circular movement can be compared to tightening a belt. As a result, the cornea will have more curvature. This procedure is painless. People can return to their normal day to day activities after forty eight hours. Their vision will gradually improve after four weeks although there will already be significant improvements right away.

What are some of the side effects after a conductive keratoplasty procedure?

Some of the side effects that you may encounter after a CK procedure are the following

• over correction of your eyesight which may last for a couple of weeks
• glares and halos which can occur for around four weeks
• there may be fluctuation in your vision after the procedure is performed. You can recover quickly although you should not strain your eyes during this period
• your eyes may be extra sensitive to light so you may want to wear sunglasses
• the speculum is the area in your eye which keeps it open. Even if the CK procedure is painless, there will still be pressure in this area. You may feel discomfort in this area after the surgery for up to two days
• your eyes may feel dry for the first few days after the treatment

Caring for your eyes

Here are some tips that you should keep in mind after an eye surgery. Keep them in mind even for general eye care as well

• you should avoid exercising for a week in order to prevent sweat from dripping into the eye
• you should not get contaminated water in your eyes for the first week so avoid going to swimming pools, lakes, beaches, spas
• you should avoid getting soap in your eyes for at least one week after the procedure
• you should avoid make-up for a week after the surgery
• you should not rub your eyes for two weeks after surgery

CK Eye Surgery Guide:

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• What is ‘CK?’
• How does it differ from other eye procedures?
• Who should consider CK?
• What are the risks of CK?
• What are the benefits of CK?

• What should I ask the surgeon at the consultation?
• How much does CK cost?
• What is the CK procedure?
• How long do the effects of CK last for?
• What does recovery from CK involve?

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