Abstract
Purpose:
To screen a population of Jewish children and teenagers living in Rome (Italy) for corneal abnormalities in particular for keratoconus.
Methods:
542 eyes of 271 students, ages 10 to 20 have been examined at the Hebrew School of Rome, using Sirius corneal topographer (CSO), a combination between a rotating Scheimpflug camera and a Placido disk. Minimum corneal thickness, central corneal thickness, 5 mm cylinder front and total, anterior and posterior corneal asymmetry and other useful corneal indices have been evaluated.
Results:
A total of 127 boys and 144 girls participated in the study. Corneal topography suggestive strongly for corneal abnormality was present in both eyes of 1 student (0,36%). Corneas examined showed a prolate profile. Anterior Mean simK avg was 7,751 (SD 0,81); minimum corneal thickness was 547,99 (SD30,55), central corneal thickness was 551,46 (SD 30,56) mean 5 mm cylinder front was -0,79 (SD 0,44) and total was 0,55 (SD 0,36), anterior corneal asymmetry was -0,058 (SD 0,53) and posterior corneal asymmetry was 0,0041 (SD 0,93).
Conclusions:
corneas examined had a normal prolate profile. Although the studied population belongs to a closed community and previous studies report one of the most elevated world prevalences of keratoconus in Jewish population (2%) , the prevalence of corneal abnormalities in our study was not the same. Many explanations should be given. The prevalence of abnormal corneas was 0,36%, probably had an early keratoconus.