Help Needed

[Richard]

Hello all!

I have recently been diagnosed with KC and was in the process of joining the fire service, which is looking more and more unlikely to happen. I was just really hoping to find out if i could get some sort of laser eye treatment or anything to help instead of glasses or lenses. Any help appreciated

[jayuk]

Richard

Welcome to the board.

Laser treatment is definately out of the question...reason being is that part of the payload for KC is that the cornea thins.....therefoer any treatment which helps thining even more is very dangerous....

What are the visual requirements for entry?

Have you spoken with the ppl to determine this?

Jay

[GarethB]

Hi Richard

Welcome to the forum.

I will be honest with you, laser eye treatment is out of the question as KC is due to thinning of the cornea and any laser treatment will make it thinner too so is more likely to aggrevate the condition.

If you are in the very early stages and using glasses, you might be able to persuade an eye centre to use C3R treatment that in most cases halts the conditions and in some regresses it. This treatment is very new in the UK and the pioneers are in Dresden Germany.

Like anyother treatment there are no guarentees and you would probably still have glasses, but your uncorrected sight may make the minimum requirments.

Here are some forum links;

Jays C3R progress

Cross linking recent thread

I beleive the sight requirments are similar to that of the Police which I can not remember off hand. Depending how early you are in KC you might achieve this and live for the rest of your life with glasses. KC can stabalise as quick as it can start.

Do as Jayuk says and aske a few more questions. Someone in the fire service will be a good person to approach too.

I know a few who have applied for the service and they say it is a tough thing to get into.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Regards

Gareth

[Richard]

cheers for the replys, the links gave me something to think about. Im defo going to give CR3 some thought.

Fire brigade requirments are:

uncorrected distance visual acuity of 6/6, 6/6.
read N12 at 30cm unaided with both eyes open. see at least 6/60 unaided with each eye individually.

jay could you please give me any contact details for the clinic in dresden?

[GarethB]

Richard,

Looks like Fire want near perfect vision. In all honesty, C3R may well be a long shot.

[Richard]

yeah i know, its canny depressing really, just didnt want to give up untill i had no chance of getting in.

[Knight]

The thing is as well KC is progressive, even thou there are treatments, they can slow it down or stop it, but KC is still present and can (usually) get worse and I have read, once declared for jobs like this they can't or wont hire you because it's likely if/when it gets worse you wont be able to meet the strict eyesight regulations and they are concerned about you having to take days off work or unsuitable in certain conditions if wearing contacts.
I've read recently also for joining the police service, that if you have a graft they wont hire you either or consider you for employment for at least a year post graft. But I recall about seven years ago, reading that if you had laser treatment because of the halo affect it caused at night that the military and emergency services would not hire you yet back then would hire you if you had a graft but a few months ago I read that's been changed, they'll hire you alright given certain time with laser treatment but a graft throws it open for between a year to five years consideration.
I think, it would be a nice side note, that different treatments if applicable, should list, the wider impact certain treatments have upon certain job fields and positions.

[GarethB]

Richard,

On a more positive note, KC can stabalise for a long period of time too.

The bias on this board is still very much the more extreme cases so still unrepresentative of the KC community as a whole.

[Lynn White]

Richard...

The actual standard can be read here

http://www.assoc-optometrists.org/uploaded_files/pdf/15-fire.pdf

The relevant passage is... No history of night blindness or ocular disease likely to progress and result in future failure of the visual
standards.

Even with C3R you cannot guarantee the condition will not progress so that you cannot see 6/6. For most people this would not be a problem - to drive you need only 6/12+.

The issue here is smoke. You need the best acuity possible to get through a smoke filled room and rescue people. Anything less and lives are at risk.

You need to go back and discuss this with your ophthalmologist, if you haven't already. You will have to declare the condition to the Fire Service and you will also need to have the support of your ophthalmologist who may well be able to explain that the condition is not likely to progress, if this is actually so.

I am not being negative here, just pragmatic. You have a condition which is variable and unpredictable and you need the support of your medical staff to help you through it. No-one can guarantee that any therapy they offer can stabilise KC. However, you may be able to come to an arrangement that if C3R (or any other therapy) stabilises you for a certain period then you can be accepted into the service.

I would also gently add that these regulations are not here as a hurdle, they are here to protect others that will be relying on you to save their lives - both civilians and fellow officers. You owe it to THEM to be the best Fire officer you can.

Lynn[/i]