Keratoconus Treatment Chemical Mechanism Analysis
Keratoconus Treatment Chemical Mechanism Analysis
Keratoconus is a rare condition, affecting 1 in 2,000 people, describing a conical shaped anterior cornea caused by thinning and weakening of the corneal collagen layers that would typically allow the cornea to hold its dome shape. In this paper the chemical mechanism behind the crosslinking polymerization of a novel medical procedure is examined. In this procedure, UV-radiation and riboflavin are utilized to generate a singlet oxygen radical which reacts with amino acid chains on the fibrils in the corneal collagen matrix-- allowing for cross linking between collagen fibril packets, stiffening and constraining the anterior cornea to it’s healthy, spherical shape.
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