New to group

[paul s]

I have been aware I have KC for about 8 years and its great to find this group. It seems to get worse as the years pass. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has a graft or any other treatment. I have been using GP lenses which took about 6 months to get right but today my vision is not as good as I would like. Driving in the dark is starting to become ify. Whats the next step.

[GarethB]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the forum.

With KC it can change year on year, mine sometimes changes daily but not a lot and on the whole depsite the daily changes sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse in equal measure it has been stable for over 2 years. Your KC may still stabilise.

What spect of night driving is problematic for you?

I have found since using eye drops to improve lens comfort and lens wear my sensitivity to light is far less problematic. Before that I did have trouble with oncoming lights. The lights too would hit the windscreen and I would get a starburst effect and the window would almost go completly white.

Now my main cars have a very light window film tint applied which has redcued this, the glass on my car is kept scrupulously clean inside and out (especially inside) using Autoglym glass cleaner. As I have said I use eye drops for lens comfort and i drink water instead of caffeine drinks. All of which has made night driving pretty much problem free.

The only time lights are a problem is if the lights catch the edge of my lens because it does not sit centrally due to where the KC is on my cornea. In these cases i fold the mirror in so that the light is reflected slightly differntly and reset the mirror when the problem has passed. I use the dip funtion on the rear view mirror a lot too. The other thing that helps too is that my RGP lens are ever so slightly tinted too which helps.

Regards

Gareth

[paul s]

Any particular make of drops that are best? What about the grafts, are they able to give you perfect vision in most cases.
Cheers

[John Smith]

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry to say that no, grafts don't usually give perfect vision. That's not the point.

The point of a graft is to make the eye easier to correct using contact lenses, glasses, or in some cases (like Gareth) you do get "perfect" 6/6 vision. You may be able to wear soft lenses after a graft. It's a bit of a lottery I'm afraid, but you usually get much better vision afterwards.

A graft isn't the logical next step after RGPs though. There are lots of other lens styles and technicques that you could try.

[Sweet]

Paul, welcome to the forum!!

Nice to hear from you but sorry that your sight is getting worse. I agree with what Gareth and John have already said and would say that there are many lenses to try before you decide on surgery.

Have a read through all the info on the home page and do contact Anne and become a member and get loads of details!!

Hope to hear from you again! ... Sweet X x X

[GarethB]

It took me six months to find an eye drop strategy that worked. In this period I tried about 7 different drops for at least 1 week. If they appeared to help then I would go into an extra week.

I found too that I had to change what I drank as hydration makes a big difference. The amount of fluids I drink is the same except at least 2 litres is just water, no more than 2 cups coffee per day and a couple glasses of milk. Still have the odd indulgance with meals or down the pub, but never more than a couple of pints beer or a couple of glasses of wine then it is on fruit juice rather than fizzy drinks that often act as dieretics.

The drops that work for me I know are useless to others here, unfortuntly it is a case of try it and see but you have to be methodical in your approach and be in it for the long term so you know what helps and what makes things worse.

Any surgical intervention for KC is primarily to help make sight correction easier.

There are loads of different lens types that fit under the RGP banner so if one does not work there is often a good chance one of the others will.

There are soft lenses for milder KC however these have their disadvantages too and on the whole from comparing these with RGP's there are just as many pro's and con's to each so it would be wrong to say one is better than the other.

Unfortunatly KC is full of contradictions and it is a case of working with the optom to find what works best for you.

[Andrew MacLean]

Paul

Welcome to the forum!

I guess that you know well enough that KC develops at different rates in different people. for most there is never the need for any sort of surgical intervention, while for others there is a rapid development to the point where surgery is the only remaining option.

I was able to hold out until I was 53 before having my first graft, and 56 before my second. Others need surgery while still in their 20's.

The graft is not a cure for Keratoconus. Along with C3R, lenses, Intacs etc, the graft is a way of managing the condition. A graft does not guarantee good sight; even a surgically successful graft may leave the patient with poor sight.

My own experience has been that the first graft was a great success, with good sight returning after 20 months. My second graft is still at a very early stage and I do not yet have good sight in that eye.

All the best

Andrew