AOA 2023: Comanaging the keratoconus patient

Susan Gromacki, OD, MS, FAAO, FSLS, caught up with Optometry Times to tell us all about her presentation with Jonathan Etter, MD, FAAO, which united the OD and MD perspectives on keratoconus and collagen crosslinking.

Video transcript

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Hi, my name is Dr. Susan Gromacki. I presented a lecture with Dr. John Etter, cornea specialist, called "Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL): MD and OD perspective," and I think it was really educational for the practitioner.

I presented early diagnosis, the signs and symptoms of keratoconus, what to look for, and then he took over and talked about the surgical procedure, which is cross-linking. I think it made a big impact. Because keratoconus is certainly undiagnosed in many populations. It's something we're diagnosing more and more, but it's still an area where optometrists have a lot to learn about the nuances of diagnosis.

For example, listening to the patient, listening to their symptoms, looking very carefully for the very specific signs of keratoconus; whether it be looking at the auto refractor and seeing an error message, whether it be looking at the cornea and seeing Vogt's striae. Those types of things should all be part of our regular daily workups of these patients.

And then today we have an incredible technology which can arrest the progression of keratoconus and that is cross-linking.

So, I'm so glad that I shared the stage with Dr. Etter, who I refer my cross-linking patients to, and I think it went really great.