Epioxa: Epi-On Cross-Linking — Stopping keratoconus without removing the surface layer

At Eyecare Center of Orange County, Dr. Alexander Bonakdar has cared for patients for more than three decades. Trained at Bascom Palmer, board certified, and trusted by more than ten thousand Orange County patients since nineteen ninety one.

The goal has not changed. Progressive keratoconus has to be stopped, and cross linking is the treatment that does it, strengthening the bonds inside the cornea so the cone stops advancing.

The original procedure has one uncomfortable step. The cornea's thin surface layer, the epithelium, is removed so the riboflavin drops can soak in. It works well, but that surface takes days to heal, and those days are the hard part.

Epioxa is the newer, epithelium on approach. The drops are reformulated to soak through the intact surface, and the procedure adds oxygen and a stronger light so the strengthening still happens underneath. Nothing is scraped away.

Keeping the surface intact is the whole point. Far less discomfort afterward, a faster return to work and screens, and much less raw surface to heal. That is the trade this approach was designed to win.

One thing no version of cross linking changes. It preserves the vision you have, it does not bring back what progression has already taken. The earlier the cone is stopped, the more there is to keep.

If you or your child has progressing keratoconus, ask whether epi on cross linking fits. Progression, corneal thickness and your maps decide it, and we measure all three in this office.