New treatment Epioxa offers people with degenerative eye condition keratoconus a non-surgical alternative

A new treatment offers a non-surgical treatment to people with a degenerative eye condition called keratoconus.

Keratoconus typically affects young people and can lead vision problems and even require a cornea transplant.

Mitchell Grometer was diagnosed with the condition earlier this year. Now a student at the University of Missouri, when he was a high school lacrosse player he started to notice his vision getting blurrier.

"I started squinting a lot in class and even, like, playing sports, I would have to like squint to even look at things," he said.

As Dr. Neel Vaidya of Chicago Cornea Consultants explained, keratoconus affects the cornea, the clear prat in the eye in front of your pupil and iris that you see through.

"It actually develops this cone shape," he explained. "And that happens because the fibers that make up the cornea aren't as strong as they should be."

Untreated, keratoconus can require a cornea transplant. In the past, the treatment was to remove part of the cornea. But Grometer had a new procedure called Epioxa, which was just rolled out in the U.S. earlier in 2026.

"We're basically putting a specially formulated eye drop on the surface of the eye, coupling that with increasing the oxygen content in the area," Vaidya explained. "So when we pump in oxygen with these special goggles, and by increasing the oxygen content in the area around the eye, it increases the penetration of this medication into the cornea."

"Once the cornea has been sufficiently saturated with the medication, then we use a specially designed UV light, and the combination of the medication in the cornea and the UV light creates a chemical reaction," he said.

Grometer said the treatment only took 30 minutes and was painless. Even when the numbing wore off, he said, he felt good. And because there is no cutting, recovery is easier.

Epioxa stabilizes the eye so you can get effective contacts or glasses, which Grometer plans to do.

"I'm excited to be able to see things clearly," he said.

Chicago Cornea Consultants is one of only four practices in the area that offer Epioxa.