Current techniques of lamellar keratoplasty for keratoconus

In recent years, there has been a considerable interest regarding the concept of lamellar keratoplasty (LK), which contributed in spreading the use of this procedure in the treatment of keratoconus. This is a new frontier in corneal surgery that minimizes trauma on the recipient patient since it works on a “closed bulb”. The LK surgery, in fact, aims to selectively replace diseased corneal stroma, leaving the healthy endothelium. The main advantage of LK is to avoid major causes of failure of penetrating keratoplasty as immunological rejection, and the late mismatch in the transplanted cornea, thus increasing the life of transplantation. In the last decade, several techniques of LK have been proposed, depending on how the anterior portion of the recipient cornea is removed. This article, through a literary research reviews the various emerging techniques of anterior lamellar surgery for the management of keratoconus, analyzing their indications, visual outcomes, and rate of complications.