All these questions....

[pa1]

Hi,

I found out that i had Keratoconus today after visiting XXXXXXX for a consultation for laser surgery.

The fact i was told that "You are unsuitable for lasersurgey; you have a degenerative diesease" wasn't the best way to be told is for discussion at a different time...


I'm 25 and my prescription is left = -6.50 and right = -4.50. I have soft contact lenses and glasses and can see perfectly with them and have no irritation etc. so didnt realise i even had a problem!

My concern is that i wont be able to continue to wear soft contact lenses. I had hard gas permeable ones when i was 17 and had to get rid of them after 2 weeks because they hurt so much.

Anybody any idea if i could keep wearing my soft ones? Also, if I can wear them at the moment and get collagen treatment will that 'hold' the current state of my eyes?

Also, is my prescription as it is because my eyes are bad (as in the regular sense) or is it because of teh Keratoconus?

All these questions.....

Many thanks!

[Anne Klepacz]

Hello pa1 and welcome!
What a dreadful way to be told you have KC! Especially as you may well not have a 'problem'. We get quite a few people coming here because, like you, they've been told they have KC when they go for laser surgery. The topography machines in laser clinics now detect very mild (subclinical) KC which, like you, people aren't even aware of. And in one sense, it's good that they do, because laser surgery which thins the cornea would make the KC worse and you would then have a problem. But it's perfectly possible that your KC will remain stable, at this subclinical level. And that means you would be able to continue wearing soft lenses (especially as there are now new developments in special soft lenses for KC which you could move to if your present ones stop doing the trick).
The optoms who post here will be able to tell you more, but the prescription you quote is basically just telling you about your shortsightedness. KC involves astigmatism as well so it's the astigmatism figures that would indicate how mild your KC is.
From what you say, it sounds as though you were fine until you went to the laser clinic and met someone who should have known better than to scare and panic you. With any luck, your KC will stay at the level it is. The thing to do is to monitor it over the next year or two to check whether it is changing. If it doesn't, then I'm not sure I'd be rushing to have collagen treatment (if it ain't broke, don't fix it!) Of course, if it does progress, then it's an option to consider.
Hope that helps.
Anne

[Lynn White]

Hi PA1

I posted at the exact same time as Anne and my response disappeared into the ether!! Anne has said exactly what I was going to say. It is quite likely that if you had never gone to get laser surgery, you would never have known you have sub-clinical keratoconus. As Anne says, astigmatism is a major part of keratoconus and your prescription appears to show none of it, so I am guessing your condition is quite mild.

Take a deep breath and calm down. As an example of what we mean, I was checking out my brother-in-law who has KC and my nosy sister asked to have a topography too, just for curiosity sake. To all of our surprise, we found she had sub-clinical keratoconus! She shows no other signs of it and has had perfectly good vision all her life. If she had never demanded to have a topography, I would never have found it for she demonstrates none of the signs otherwise.

The clinic was doing its duty in telling you - and they had no other choice, as they had to tell you why they were refusing to do the surgery. Not the best way to find out though!

[Andrew MacLean]

Hello PA1

I don't really have anything to add, but wanted to say welcome to the forum.

I am sorry that you were told the way you were; I guess that there is no good way to hear that you have an eye condition, but it may be that without the topography for laser surgery your KC would have remained 'sub-clinical', and you would never have known!

Anyway welcome to the forum and remember the excellent advice that was written in large friendly letters on the cover of the most remarkable guide:

Don't Panic.

Andrew

[pa1]

Dear All,

Many thanks for all your swift and lengthy responses. They are really helpful and i suppose i was panicking a bit!

I have been to see my GP who has referred me to an opthamologist - luckily i can see the optho tomorrow.

Thanks again.

[Andrew MacLean]

Well done. Please stay in touch. Share your experiences. We can all benefit from each other, and so this mutually supportive community can keep on growing!

Let us know how you get on tomorrow.

Andrew

[pa1]

HI All,

I went to the Ophthalmologist today.

He did a few tests and said that it is in its "very early" stages and is "extremely mild" and my cornea only appears thin in the very centre. This has made me feel much better.

However, he referred me onto a cornea specialist who he says will be able to give me some sort of prognosis and also explain what refractive surgery may be available.

Will let you know how it goes - my appointment is in three weeks as I am about to go on holiday.

Thanks again for all your help when I was panicking.

Best wishes,

PA

On a further note I am seriously considering contacting the Healthcare Commission regarding XXXXXXX: the optometrist was grossly unprofessional. I suppose if they couldn't get any money out of me they weren’t interested in my well-being... any thoughts on this?

[Andrew MacLean]

PA

Well done! I hope that your KC will continue at the mild stage for a very long time. It often does.

Andrew

[Karl R]

PA

Depending on your age, there is every possibility that you KC will hardly progress; the progression curve for KC is exponential with the most progression seen in the teen years. Chances are that the corneal specialist will not recommend surgical intervention if your KC is very mild and will probably prefer to manage the KC with lenses.