Keratoconus-what does your local Optician know? High street opticians cater for a wide variety of people requiring spectacles, or contact lenses to help them see clearly. The relationship between the patient and the optician is usually a comfortable one as the optician has the knowledge and advice to help the patient maintain clear vision. However, there are some relatively uncommon diseases, like keratoconus where the local optician may not be able to offer the most up to date advice. Keratoconus is a rare condition affecting around 1 in 2,000 of the general population. For those who have keratoconus, it is a worry as its progression can lead to a significant loss of sight. Keratoconus is characterised by a thinning and conus-like protrusion of the cornea. This is due to alterations that cause weakening of the corneal structure. At first, the protrusion occurs in the lower half of the eye but later affects the central part of the cornea. As it is a rare condition your local optician may not spot it straight away. Keratoconus usually starts during puberty or early adolescence. As the keratoconus progresses it leads to short sight (myopia) and, if the bulging is uneven, also astigmatism (distortion of vision). You may visit the optician because you realise a decrease or blurring in vision, or increasing short- sightedness with a significant change in astigmatism. So if you are young and your prescription is changing rapidly you may have keratoconus. At first your optician will offer corrective lenses for driving or reading as keratoconus is difficult to differentiate from other more common vision defects. However, keratoconus has also been linked to other health disorders such as eczema or hay fever, Down’s syndrome and connective tissue disorders. Contact lens wear, eye rubbing have also been linked to the occurrence of keratoconus. If your prescription changes and you need to wear rigid (hard) contact lenses then it is possibly time to ask your optician if they think you have keratoconus. If they think you do, you will need to ask them what options they believe you have for controlling the disease. What they need to tell you about is the new treatments that are available to keratoconus sufferers. There is no cure for keratoconus but, if diagnosed early enough it can be dealt with so that there is no further loss of vision. Corneal Collagen Cross-linking with Riboflavin is a relatively new treatment that has proven to be very successful at curtailing the progression of keratoconus. The treatment strengthens the ‘cross- linking’ between the fibres in the cornea that enable it to maintain its current shape and not continue to weaken and bulge out even more. A very successful and very new additional treatment for keratoconus is Topography Guided Custom Ablation with Corneal Collagen Cross-linking, offered by Accuvision in the UK. This advanced treatment for keratoconus is designed to improve the central symmetry of the cornea with out attempting to correct other spherical, or other regular astigmatic, optical defects.

Keratoconus - What does your local Optician know?

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Keratoconus-what does your local Optician know?

High street opticians cater for a wide variety of people requiring spectacles, or contact lenses to help them see clearly. The relationship between the patient and the optician is usually a comfortable one as the optician has the knowledge and advice to help the patient maintain clear vision.

However, there are some relatively uncommon diseases, like keratoconus where the local optician may not be able to offer the most up to date advice. Keratoconus is a rare condition affecting around 1 in 2,000 of the general population. For those who have keratoconus, it is a worry as its progression can lead to a significant loss of sight.

Keratoconus is characterised by a thinning and conus-like protrusion of the cornea. This is due to alterations that cause weakening of the corneal structure. At first, the protrusion occurs in the lower half of the eye but later affects the central part of the cornea.

As it is a rare condition your local optician may not spot it straight away. Keratoconus usually starts during puberty or early adolescence. As the keratoconus progresses it leads to short sight (myopia) and, if the bulging is uneven, also astigmatism (distortion of vision).

You may visit the optician because you realise a decrease or blurring in vision, or increasing short-sightedness with a significant change in astigmatism. So if you are young and your prescription is changing rapidly you may have keratoconus.

At first your optician will offer corrective lenses for driving or reading as keratoconus is difficult to differentiate from other more common vision defects.

However, keratoconus has also been linked to other health disorders such as eczema or hay fever, Down’s syndrome and connective tissue disorders. Contact lens wear, eye rubbing have also been linked to the occurrence of keratoconus.

If your prescription changes and you need to wear rigid (hard) contact lenses then it is possibly time to ask your optician if they think you have keratoconus. If they think you do, you will need to ask them what options they believe you have for controlling the disease.

What they need to tell you about is the new treatments that are available to keratoconus sufferers. There is no cure for keratoconus but, if diagnosed early enough it can be dealt with so that there is no further loss of vision.

Corneal Collagen Cross-linking with Riboflavin is a relatively new treatment that has proven to be very successful at curtailing the progression of keratoconus. The treatment strengthens the ‘cross-linking’ between the fibres in the cornea that enable it to maintain its current shape and not continue to weaken and bulge out even more.

A very successful and very new additional treatment for keratoconus is Topography Guided Custom Ablation with Corneal Collagen Cross-linking, offered by Accuvision in the UK.

This advanced treatment for keratoconus is designed to improve the central symmetry of the cornea with out attempting to correct other spherical, or other regular astigmatic, optical defects.

Page 2: Keratoconus - What does your local Optician know?

The treatment takes place over a small area of the cornea and is immediately followed by Corneal Collagen Cross-linking with Riboflavin to ‘fix’ the re-shaped cornea.

For further information on this exciting new technique, please research keratoconus using the term

Topography Guided Custom Ablation with Corneal Collagen Cross-linking for keratoconus.

If your optician is familiar with these treatments then he is up to date with his knowledge of keratoconus and should be able to advise you where this type of treatment can be sought.