Keratoconus - An Inflammatory Disease in Disguise

For decades, textbooks defined keratoconus as a 'non-inflammatory' degenerative thinning of the cornea. But a growing body of peer-reviewed research is challenging that assumption, revealing elevated inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and altered protease activity in the tears and corneal tissue of affected patients. In this episode, host Maya Iyer sits down with Dr. Saikumar Gandapodi, Board-Certified Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Ayurvedic practitioner, and Founder and Director of Netra Eye Institute, to explore why keratoconus may be far more of an inflammatory and systemic disease than its classic definition suggests.