Purpose of review: The purpose of this review is to outline the risk factors, clinical features, diagnosis, and management of acute corneal hydrops in corneal ectatic disorders.
Recent findings: The advent of newer investigative modalities aids in diagnosis and planning of treatment in cases of acute hydrops. Although visual outcome does not differ with intervention such as intracameral air/gas injection the duration of symptoms and the risk of complications decrease in comparison with medical therapy alone.
Summary: The intent of this article is to highlight the various risk factors and the newer diagnostic modalities such as ultra biomicroscopy, anterior segment optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy in cases of acute corneal hydrops. Further, the conventional as well as the newer treatment modalities are also described. Although newer diagnostic and treatment modalities are found to be useful, the available information in literature is limited. This article will encourage future prospective studies and randomized controlled trials, which may help in finding novel diagnostic and effective therapeutic techniques.