UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hello and thanks for the acceptance to the forum!

I was diagnosed with early keratoconus in 2004. My astigmatism was very low (0.75 low!) and this was a non-issue other than it stopping me having lasik for myopia/astigmatism.

Since then I've had a few bouts of optic neuritis that have messed with my eyes' acuity a bit. Recently I've started having not so great vision with glasses (it's normally not perfect, but stable) and my eyes started becoming very dry. I went to the opticians, was prescribed eye drops and told that my astigmatism was higher than the previous time (but still not that high at 1.50). I'm being referred to hospital to have an updated topography done to see what's what and to look into the possibility of RGPs instead of glasses. I've included pics of the last topography, done in 2009. Do the astigmatism/topography/symptoms sound like keratoconus beginning to grumble a bit? If so would the RPGs help with acuity/dryness?

Thanks so much for reading! Hope this finds everyone well!

Ziggy

Hi Ziggy and welcome to the forum,
It's good that you're being referred to hospital for a topography. That will hopefully answer your questions about what's going on much better than any of us unqualified forum users can! As for rgps, they might well help with acuity if the change in your vision is due to KC, but I'm afraid they won't help dry eye. That needs investigating too, though there are now much better drops for dry eye than there used to be which will help if you do need to move to contact lenses.
All the best, and let us know how you get on.
Anne

Hi Anne and many thanks for the reply and kind words!

Oh yes, of course the hospital docs will be the ones to give a definitive answer on what's what; it's just people with experience in a particular disorder do sometimes know from experience if symptoms sound common for that disorder or not!

Thankfully the optician prescribed some drops to use until I'm seen by ophthalmology. I have an immune disorder too, hence the neuritis, so the dryness might be worth mentioning to the consultants for that.

Another question I have is does keratoconus falsely elevate the pressure in affected eyes? The optician said there was a big difference between the two eyes pressure-wise and she was wondering if that's perhaps because one of the eyes has a much thinner cornea than the other and therefore giving a false reading?

Will do, thanks!

Ziggy