Today is World Sight Day.
There are 217 million people with a moderate or severe distance vision impairment.
I am going to talk today in my blog about an eye condition called Keratoconus which I suffer from.
What is Keratoconus?
Keratoconus (keh-rah-toe-cone-us) is a degenerative condition that affects the cornea. The cornea focuses light into your eye to help produce a clear image. Keratoconus causes the centre of the cornea to become progressively weaker and thinner. This causes the cornea to bulge outwards in an irregular cone shape. It makes your vision very blurry and distorted.
It tends to be diagnosed in a patient in their teenage years and usually effects both eyes. The exact cause of Keratoconus is still unknown but there are several theories and research ongoing as to the cause. Some being:
· Genetic – a fault with the collagen.
· Environmental factors like eye rubbing.
· Allergies/Eczema/Asthma.
· In some rare cases it may be inherited from a family member.
New genes have been discovered and exciting new research suggests it may be due to an imbalance of enzymes within the cornea.
Due to the irregular shape of the cornea it can be hard to treat with glasses or soft lenses. Corneal topography is used to measure and map the shape of the cornea. Specialist use this to tell how thin the cornea is and what treatment options to pursue. This could be hard contact lenses or in more severe cases invasive treatment of collagen cross-linking or a corneal transplant.
My eye sight journey
I first started to wear glasses for distance when I was 11 years old. It soon became apparent that I needed my glasses prescription changed more frequently than normal. I was then diagnosed with an astigmatism. My eyes became worse and this wasn’t a normal presentation of just an astigmatism. My optician referred me to a specialist at my local hospital. It was then I was diagnosed with Keratoconus. I was then transferred to a more specialist hospital that specialised in Keratoconus. I managed with glasses and contact lenses at the beginning but when my condition got worse, I had the collagen cross-linking operation in my left eye. This was very successful but unfortunately, my right eye was not suitable for this operation due to the cornea being too thin and steep. I needed a corneal transplant on this eye if I was to get any quality of vision back in it.
I learnt to adapt only having vision in one eye and was put on a waiting list for a transplant. There is sadly a shortage of corneas as there seems to be a stigma about donating your eyes/corneas. There are a lot of misconceptions as to why people choose to not donate their eyes/corneas. I have explained to people what the cornea looks like and how it is transplanted. I have shown them my eye and they agree you cannot tell I have had a transplant. I also explained how much it has changed my life being given the gift of sight. I hope this helped to change their minds. https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/cornea/
I had my corneal transplant in October 2016, 2 weeks after I returned from the Rio Paralympics. I am so grateful to my donor and her family who have given me the gift of sight. It has made such a big difference to me having sight in both eyes again. I am currently trialling a specialist hard contact lens suitable for my condition and a transplanted cornea.
It is important that everyone shares their wishes with their relatives about organ donation. Knowing so many lives can be saved or changed following organ donation can be a great source of comfort to families. It is easy to sign up on the website: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision/register-your-details/ and say YES to all today to donate.
If you would like to find out more, please visit the following pages:
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