Can Anyone Help

[jama]

hi everyone i hope you can help me, i have keratoconus and would like to know whether vision can be reversed or can only get worse. the understanding i have is trying to find the best solution possible to stabalize my vision or trying to make it deteriorate as slowly as possible as it can and will only get worse.

my right eye is very blurry with triple vision and my left eye is now developing; i would like some indication as to what are the chances my left eye will become as bad as my right. is this inevitable?

i have one more query, if my left eye developes to level of my right and i could no longer wear glasses; excluding contact lenses is there any other choices. i would no longer be able to drive, read, watch tv comfortably.

[Anne Klepacz]

Hi Jama and welcome to the forum!
I'm afraid no one can predict how KC will develop in any individual. For most people, KC in the second eye doesn't seem to develop as far as the first, but there are some people who have needed a corneal graft in both eyes. KC also tends to stabilise on its own as people get older. Most experts say that after the age of 40, the cornea tends to get thicker as part of the natural ageing process - but again, there are individuals who haven't followed this rule. A new procedure which is designed to stop the progress of KC is collagen crosslinking (if you do a search for it on this forum, you'll find people who have had this done). At the moment it's generally only available privately, though a few hospitals have done or are doing clinical trials. The majority of people with KC do get better vision with contact lenses. And there is a variety of different lenses used for KC these days, so even if you've tried contact lenses in the past and not got on with them, it's worth trying again to see if some of the newer types of lens might suit you. And if you'd like the DVD of our 2007 conference, which covered all the latest options for KC, just e-mail your postal address to anne@keratoconus-group.org.uk and I'll put one in the post to you.
All the best
Anne

[Lynn White]

HI Jama

Anne has covered most of this here. The only way to improve vision in your RE is either by contact lenses or types of refractive surgery with or without Cross linking. At the moment KC cannot be reversed.

Many people see very well with contact lenses and it will reduce the multiple images you get.

Lynn