Keratoconus associated with allergic diseases of the eye surface in pediatric practice

Keratoconus (KC) is a disease of the cornea characterized by its thinning and deformation. Typically, KC causes a significant deterioration in corrected and uncorrected visual acuity (in children of puberty and post-puberty ages among others). Despite plenty of papers focused on the disease, its etiological and pathophysiological mechanisms are still unknown. Nevertheless, many authors reported a correlation between age of manifestation and the disease course. Moreover, discrepant data are available on potential KC association with allergic diseases of the eye surface. The paper highlights advanced aspects of etiopathogenesis of allergy-associated KC, as well as up-to-date literature data and relevant clinical studies. The authors demonstrated a clinical case report of torpid KC in a pediatric patient with allergic conjunctivitis. They reported the disease course features, as well as clinical and functional outcomes of surgical treatment including corneal collagen cross-linking in the patient with a concomitant allergy history. Analysis of bibliographic data along with the clinical case report suggesting more severe course of allergy-associated KC, determine the issue urgency and require further in-depth study of these comorbidities. The clinical case report indicates more severe course of allergy-associated KC, and this requires further study of these comorbidities. KEYWORDS: cornea, keratoconus, corneal ectasia, allergic conjunctivitis, ultraviolet corneal crosslinking. FOR CITATION: Bikbov M.M., Titoyan K.Kh., Khalimov A.R., Usubov E.L. Keratoconus associated with allergic diseases of the eye surface in pediatric practice. Russian Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology. 2025;25(2):146–151 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2311-7729-2025-25-2-11