does anyone know about keratoconus?

[docjolly]

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Hi All,

My eye doctor recently diagnosed me as having keratoconus in one of my eyes. Her explanation was inadequate. At the end of my exam, she mumbled to me that I would have to receive special hard contact lenses. It is no wonder that I left her office feeling quite helpless and confused about my understanding of it..Can you please tell me what causes keratoconus? Is there a cure? Is it likely that I will develop keratoconus in my other eye?

Thank you for any help that you can give me 🙂

 

[Andrew_Doan]

http://www.kcenter.org/disease_info/Keratoconus.html

Above has the info you're seeking.

 

[cpw]

great site Andrew !!

docjolly, if you have extra questions the site didn't answer feel free to ask.

Keratoconus is a progressive disease of the cornea. The cornea gets progessively steeper and steeper (usually on the lower half of the cornea). It will get worse as you get older, but in most cases you can see very well by wearing a gas permeable contact lens (the "special hard lens" your doc was telling you about) You may be at a stage now where you don't need this lens yet.... but you may get there. Like the site Andrew posted said.. only 20% progress to needing a corneal transplant.. I've actually heard stats closer to 10%. So, it's rare to progess that far.

I have a friend with keratoconus in her mid-40s who is still managed with contact lenses. She sees 20/20 to this day.

I hope this makes you feel at least a little better about it. I'm sure there's lots of places you can read about it on the net. But, a lot of them are misleading, too technical, and can even be a little scary.

nothing you did to your eyes made this happen and unfortunately there's no cure yet. But it is easily managed by a good OD with contact lenses. If your OD didn't answer your questions well enough I suggest finding a good one who will and will fit you with the contacts you need so you can see well enough to continue your active lifestyle (once it gets to a point you need the specialize contacts).

Good luck! Again, let me know if you have other questions and I hope this helped at least a little 🙂

cpw