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This patient who suffered keratoconus could not use contact lenses because of steepening of the cornea. A procedure was carried out in which a donor corneal lenticule (A) was sutured to the bare epithelial basement membrane (B).

a. What is this procedure?

b. What is the effect of this procedure on a keratoconic cornea?

a
Answer a. 
Epikeratophakia. A donor corneal lenticule is placed on bare epithelial 
basement membrane zone after debridement of the epithelium and is sutured into a small groove or annular keratectomy in the periphery.
 

Answer b
Giving the cornea a more uniform and flatter surface. The lenticule
is sutured tightly to the cornea to compress it and return it to a more normal contour and thereby neutralizing the myopia and irregular astigmatism.