Newly Diagnosed

[Nick Howes]

Hello all. My daughter (21 and away at university in Bristol) has just been diagnosed by an optician with KC. I have been an A&E nurse for more than 25 years, but have never come across this before. My question is whether Sarah should seek an ophthalmologist's opinion. The optician suggested that she could seek a specialist's opinion, but that he or she would be likely only to suggest the same as himself. My reading so far does not convince me that this is necessarily true, but this forum might be able to give her much more pertinent advice. Thanks for reading.

[GarethB]

Hi Nick,

Even this formum can be biassed towards the more extreme cases.

BAsically a vast majority of people who have KC cope fine with either glasses or rigid gas permeable contact lenses with minor progression of the condition.

The support groups leaflets are very helpful on this.

If you contact Anne Group Aim/Contact

You may have downloaded the groups fact sheets; Fact Sheets Page

The FAQ section is very new and that too has lots of useful items Grequently Asked Questions However some are to do with the more advanced cases of KC whih are quite rare.

An opthalmologist may will probably agree with the optician, especially if the optician is experienced in dealing with KC.

Having been through University with KC, my personal view is the first priority is to explain the situation armed with the student fact sheet to your daughters tutors. The equipment available to help should she need it has vastly improved since I was at Uni.

Hope this helps.

Gareth

[Andrew MacLean]

Hi Nick and welcome to the forum

Actually, as I understand it, opticians are not diagnosticians, and should not offer any sort of diagnosis.

The straightforward answer to your question is "yes", your daughter ought to arrange to see an ophthalmologist. I think that there is a pretty good eye department in Bristol.

The Ophthalmologist will let your daughter know whether or not she has Keratoconus, and if the condition is diagnosed then your daughter will be able to discuss options and methods of managing the condition.

Gareth is right, the vast majority of Keratoconic people never see their condition progress beyond a stage where it is easily and comfortably corrected by contact lenses, or in some cases even glasses.

There is a minority who need surgery, and for them there is a range of surgical options.

Please assure your daughter that the sum will come up tomorrow and that there is no reason to panic! What is she studying>

Andrew

[Nick Howes]

Please assure your daughter that the sum will come up tomorrow and that there is no reason to panic! What is she studying>

Andrew

Thanks to you both. Sarah is studying fine art at UWE Bristol, but she's had a couple of bad weeks, thinking that she had hay fever. If the optician is right, it would explain her sore eyes! Nevertheless, I'll pass on your advice and it reassures me that it's not just me that thinks that an Ophth's opinion would be a good idea.

By the way Gareth, enjoy the shoes!!

[GarethB]

Nick,

Many of us find eye drops sooth the effects of itchy eyes which mnay with KC experience regardless of hay fever.

I have used Blink by Amo, but the best for me is Systane by Alcon. It can be trial and error finding the drops that best suit us, however that is just me experience which I know is not representative of the general population.

There appears to be an increase in artists with KC.

Nick, will take the shoes of in a mo, them stilletoes kill your back

[rosemary johnson]

Hi, and welcome.
Itchy eyes the last few weeks may well be hay fever - lots of people seem to have it particularly badly this year. Must be the crazy weather.
Hope your daughter's feeling better soon, and her KC (if it is indeed KC) stays nicely under control.
Rosemary

[Sweet]

Nick hello there.

I think that your daughter should go and get seen by an opthalmologist as only they can actually diagnose her and tell her what options she has. Hopefully it will be very mild and she will be able to wear glasses, but there are many contact lenses available which we talk about here.

I am a nurse in 'A & E' as well but unless you are working in one dedicated to eye problems then you will probably not across anyone who has KC. I haven't and on spending the day at Moorfields didn't come across any there either!

Am hoping that your daughter gets all the help and advice she needs, and that you let her know that we are always here if she wants to drop in anytime!

Sweet X x X

[John Smith]

I think that's actually a point worth underlining.

Here are two A&E nurses, neither of whom have ever come across a case of KC in their professional lives.

That really does highlight that serious KC complications are indeed quite rare.

[Vic]

Hi Nick,
Can't really add much to the good advice given above, but I just thought I would say that I used to live in Bristol and can highly recommend the Eye Hospital there. The ophthalmologists and optoms have always been brilliant.
Best of luck to your daughter,
Vic

[Prue B]

Has your daughter suffered hayfever previously, because all my aliergies and hay fever symptoms started after I was diagnosed with KC. As a child and most of my teens I was allergy free.