Keratoconus treatment in Dallas under one team, not four.
Most people who have had keratoconus for a while are not short of appointments. They are short of someone holding the whole plan. Mapping, cross-linking, CTAK, and lens fitting happen in one building here — twenty-five minutes north.
Four offices, three opinions, nobody holding the plan.
Dallas is not short of eye care. What it is easy to end up with is a diagnosis in one place, cross-linking in another, a scleral lens fitting somewhere else, and an annual check with an optometrist who inherits the story secondhand. Each visit is competent. The sequence is nobody's job, and keratoconus is a condition where the sequence is most of the treatment.
That is the practical case for consolidating. Corneal mapping, progression assessment, FDA-approved cross-linking, CTAK tissue addition, and specialty lens fitting are all performed by one team in one facility here, which means the decision about what happens next is a clinical judgment rather than a referral and a three-month gap.
Dr. Shehz is a cornea-trained surgeon and has the specific training keratoconus management requires — not every ophthalmologist performs cross-linking, and fewer offer CTAK. Patients come from Lakewood, Preston Hollow, Uptown and further south; the drive is about twenty-five minutes on US-75 or the Tollway. We coordinate with the optometrist you already have rather than replacing them.
Keratoconus is managed in sequence. When the sequence is split across four offices, it stops being a sequence.
i.
One record, one plan.
Every map, every measurement, every decision in one chart — so the next step is chosen against the whole history rather than the last visit.
ii.
Stabilize and reshape in one place.
Cross-linking and CTAK are both performed here. Moving from one to the other is a clinical call, not a new referral and a new waiting list.
iii.
Your optometrist stays in the loop.
We take referrals directly and send findings back. This adds the surgical and diagnostic layer; it does not take over your routine care.
02/Beyond stabilizing
Keratoconus has three separate problems. Most clinics only treat one.
A cone-shaped cornea is progressive, it is irregular, and it is hard to correct. Those are three different problems. Cross-linking answers the first by halting progression. It does not answer the second — a stabilized cornea is still a distorted one.
CTAK answers the second. By adding laser-shaped donor tissue inside your own cornea, it works toward a more regular surface, which is what makes the third problem tractable: glasses and contacts start working again. Which combination your eye needs, and in what order, is what the consultation is for.
03/Treatment options
The pathway runs in order. Stabilize, reshape, refine.
Which of these your eye needs, and in what sequence, comes out of the corneal maps rather than off a menu. Cross-linking is the time-sensitive one. Reshaping can wait for a stable cornea, and usually should.
Reshape without a transplant
CTAK (Corneal Tissue Addition)
A piece of sterilized donor cornea, laser-shaped to the map of your own eye and placed inside your cornea to round the cone back toward its natural shape. Nothing is removed, so a transplant stays on the table rather than behind you.
The FDA-approved treatment that uses riboflavin and ultraviolet light to strengthen the collagen bonds holding your cornea's shape. It does not reverse keratoconus — it stops it getting worse, which is why timing matters more here than anywhere else.
Scleral and rigid gas-permeable lenses vault over an irregular cornea and give light a smooth surface to pass through. Often the bridge between diagnosis and stability — and, after CTAK, frequently easier to fit and wear.
Three steps, in this order. Skipping one is how people end up stuck.
Keratoconus care is a sequence, and the order is not arbitrary. Stabilizing a cornea that is still changing comes first, because reshaping one that has not settled does not hold. Each step below answers a different question about your eye.
Light and a woven pattern represent corneal cross-linking.First
Stop the progression
Corneal cross-linking strengthens the collagen bonds holding your cornea's shape. It is the time-sensitive step: it protects the cornea you still have rather than recovering the cornea you had.
Shaped donor tissue positioned within the cornea.Then
Reshape the cone
CTAK places a laser-shaped piece of sterilized donor tissue inside your own cornea, working the cone back toward a regular shape. Nothing of yours is removed, which is what separates it from a transplant.
A specialty lens arching over the corneal surface.Finally
Sharpen what is left
Once the cornea is stable and more regular, glasses or specialty lenses do the remaining work — and a more regular cornea is markedly easier to fit and more comfortable to wear against.
04/Getting here
The drive is the easy part.
The route
North on US-75 or the Dallas North Tollway — about twenty-five minutes from most of Dallas. Ground floor with free parking, which is not nothing.
Allow about 60–90 minutes for a full keratoconus consultation. Bring prior topography, cross-linking records, and current lens prescriptions — consolidating the history is half of what the first visit is for.
Open Monday–Friday 8:00–5:00 and Saturday 9:00–3:00, with English- and Spanish-speaking staff. Questions before booking? Call 214-972-2020 and a human answers.
05/FAQ
Questions patients ask, answered straight.
Don't see your question? Call 214-972-2020 or book a visit and ask Dr. Shehz directly.
I have already had cross-linking elsewhere. Is it worth coming in?
Often yes, particularly if vision is still not correcting well. Cross-linking halts progression but does not reshape the cornea. If a stabilized cornea is still too irregular for comfortable correction, CTAK is the part of the pathway that addresses the shape.
What should I bring to a first visit?
Any corneal topography or tomography, pachymetry values, cross-linking operative notes, and your current glasses or contact lens prescriptions. Older maps are the most useful thing you can carry in — they are how progression gets established.
Do I have to leave my current eye doctor?
No. We handle the diagnostics and surgical side of keratoconus and coordinate with your existing optometrist, sending findings back. Most patients keep their routine care exactly where it is.
What is CTAK?
Corneal Tissue Addition Keratoplasty. A femtosecond laser shapes sterilized donor corneal tissue to match your own corneal map, and that inlay is placed inside your cornea to round the cone toward a more regular shape. It adds tissue rather than removing it, so it is not a transplant.
How far is Plano from Dallas?
About twenty-five minutes on US-75 or the Dallas North Tollway, depending on where in Dallas you start. Ground floor, free parking.
Is keratoconus treatment covered by insurance?
Most medical plans cover FDA-approved cross-linking for documented progressive keratoconus. CTAK coverage varies by plan. We verify benefits before scheduling and put any out-of-pocket portion in writing.
Still have questions?
Talk to our team, no pressure, no sales pitch. We answer the question, not the upsell.
Already stabilized but still not seeing well? That is a shape problem.
Cross-linking answers progression. It does not answer distortion. If your cornea has stopped changing but still will not correct comfortably, CTAK is the part of the pathway that has not been tried yet.
Maps read against your history, an honest assessment of where you are in the pathway, and one team responsible for what happens next. About twenty-five minutes from Dallas. Call 214-972-2020 or book online.
Reshape without a transplant
Stop the progression
See clearly in the meantime
