Dear Editor,
We would like to respond to the comments of this letter, although we believe that it is not actually relevant to the topic of our article regarding the use of two corneal grafts from a keratoconic donor for lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties.[1] As reported in our article, keratoconic corneas could be potential candidates for corneal transplantation in specific situations, such as during periods of local tissue shortage in patients with poor visual potential or in emergency penetrating keratoplasty (PKP).[1] On the contrary, the authors of the letter reported cases of performing corneal cross-linking (CXL) on corneal grafts which do not derive from a keratoconic donor. In a similar way, we have also reported the use of cross-linked corneal grafts for the tectonic reconstruction of the anterior ocular segment for the management of scleral and conjunctival melting.[2] Nevertheless, we agree that CXL could be similarly performed to a keratoconic donor cornea in order to increase its strength and biomechanical stability prior to its use in emergency PKP or another exigent situation.[3]
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Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
- 1.Kymionis GD, Tabibian D, Voulgari N, Fabro F, Grentzelos MA. Using corneal graft from keratoconic donor for lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2020;68:226–9. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1118_19. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Kymionis GD, Plaka AD, Diakonis VF, Grentzelos MA, Kontadakis GA, Mersinoglou AC, et al. Cross-linking as an adjuvant treatment for tectonic corneal lamellar graft preparation. Open Ophthalmol J. 2013;7:79–81. doi: 10.2174/1874364101307010079. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Agarwal M, Natarajan R. Comments on: Using corneal graft from keratoconic donor for lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2020;68:1505–6. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_138_20. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]