This blog includes articles written by doctors and eye care professionals who work with keratoconus patients on a regular basis. We hope you find these articles and resources helpful. If you’d like to leave a comment, please register and log in.
My vision challenges began in junior high school when I started to wear glasses. Although my vision was fine at that time, things started to change when I entered high school. I began to notice that I wasn’t able to read the chalkboard. Even though I sat in the front row, I found it difficult and frustrating to read the teachers’ notes. I went back to my optometrist, who gave me another pair of glasses with a stronger prescription. Unfortunately, the new glasses only helped for a period of time. By the time I was in my junior year, my vision was a problem again. The new glasses no longer corrected my vision. I decided it was time to see a new optometrist.
In my senior year of high school my new optometrist, Dr. Barry Leonard, diagnosed me with keratoconus. While I was glad to have found out the cause of …
Melanie's Keratoconus Story
I live inside an impressionist painting, where colors smear across the canvas and ghost images hover around any large object I can actually identify. At night, my world is ablaze with eight-pointed stars that spring from every source of light – headlights, streetlamps, neon signs and even candles on the altar at church. When I try to focus on your face, I see a double image of your features; your eyes and nose and mouth run together like melting wax. Like a blind person, I focus on your voice, your height and weight, and the way you move. I miss seeing you smile and roll your eyes and grimace – all the nuances that nurture communication. Because I can’t see you clearly, I often misunderstand. I’m a writer and graphic designer, but I can’t read the words on the monitor as I type them. I can’t read …
There are many different types of contact lenses available for keratoconus. Depending on the degree of clinical significance, lifestyle and ocular health, the optimal contact lens can be determined for each patient. This article describes the different design options currently available, along with the goals to keep in mind when fitting these patients.
Originally published in Contact Lens Today.
Abstract:
The purpose of this work was to identify potential tear-film based proteins expressed in keratoconus.
Recruited subjects were normal GP contact lens wearers, keratoconus subjects wearing GP contact lenses, and keratoconus subjects without contact lenses. Subjects wearing soft lenses or having previous ocular surgeries were excluded from participating. Approximately 5 microliters of tears were sampled from both eyes of each subject using glass microcapillaries. Additional testing included a brief history, visual acuity, slit lamp examination, and topography. Proteomic analyses used to compare samples included Bradford assays, cytokine arrays, SDS-PAGE, and mass spectrometry.
Forty-four subjects were enrolled in the study including 20 normals (GP wearers-controls), 18 with keratoconus and wearing GPs, and six with keratoconus (non-lens wearers). Across all proteomic approaches, several proteins were identified as possibly being unique to keratoconus. Increased expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) was found in keratoconus subjects with and without GP contact lenses …
Author: Dr. Anderson, OD, FAAO
Keratoconus is a bilateral, progressive corneal thinning disorder which manifests as irregular, asymmetric astigmatism. Symptoms include blurred, subacute distorted vision which is usually more pronounced in one eye than the other. Refraction is often difficult and patients may not be adequately corrected with spectacles. Contact lenses are the best form of visual correction in most cases of clinically significant keratoconus. There are many different types of contact lenses available for keratoconus. Depending on the degree of clinical significance, lifestyle and ocular health, the optimal contact lens can be determined for each patient. This article describes the different design options currently available, along with the goals to keep in mind when fitting these patients.
Soft Toric Lenses
Many times, patients in the early stages of keratoconus do well with soft lenses. A satisfactory baseline refraction, which will most likely have a moderate amount of cylinder, is necessary in …
By Dr. Brandon Ayres, MD
Keratoconus causes progressive thinning and distortion of the cornea that affects approximately 1 in every 2000 people. It tends to affect younger people sometimes starting in the early teen years and progresses most rapidly through the fourth decade. As the dystrophy progresses the cornea takes on an irregular cone like shape and may develop scar tissue. The changes in the cornea seen in keratoconus lead to “irregular astigmatism.” Irregular astigmatism means that light is not able to focus on the retina even with the use of glasses or traditional soft contact lenses.
The primary treatment options fall into two categories: contact lenses and surgery. This article outlines both options.
Glasses and Contact Lenses
In the very early stages of keratoconus patients may notice a change in their prescription glasses or contact lenses. Often times what is seen is an increase in astigmatism. If the keratoconus progresses only minimally, …
By Rob Davis, O.D., F.A.A.O.
In 2001, Quarter Lambda Technologies (later to become SynergEyes, Inc.) began research and development of a new hybrid contact lens design that ultimately received FDA clearance in 2005. The SynergEyes® hybrid lens differed from the original SoftPerm® design in several key areas. SynergEyes hybrid contact lenses use high oxygen permeable materials and a patented technology called “Hyperbond®” that significantly reduces the separation between the rigid and soft junction of the lens that was common in the SoftPerm® lens. The soft skirt portion incorporates a special surface treatment called ‘HydrolEyes®’ to improve surface wettability and comfort. In addition, the SynergEyes® lens is available with adjustable soft skirt curves as well as multiple fitting curves allowing for more customized fitting of the lens for virtually any patient in a contact lens practice.
SynergEyes initially developed four hybrid contact lens designs, including the SynergEyes® A lens for patients with astigmatism, …
The Story of Cassidy Randle – a Sharing Vision Grant Program Recipient. Cassidy is one of the first recipients of the Sharing Vision Grant program, a program designed to provide the new hybrid contact lenses ClearKone® to patients who may otherwise not have access to this new contact lens technology. When Synergeyes was contacted by Cassidy, she was almost blind in her left eye, was unable to drive and couldn’t distinguish family faces. After being fit with ClearKone, Cassidy is now able to see again and pursue her dreams of becoming a physician.
By: David Kading, OD, FCLSA, FAAO
If you have just been diagnosed with keratoconus, let me first of all reassure you that there have been many recent advancements in the realm of keratoconus to equip eye care professionals with the proper tools to help you.
Keratoconus is a vision disorder that affects the front surface (cornea) of the eye. The changes that take place occur because the cornea becomes thinner in certain areas. The condition causes the normal regularly shaped cornea to become microscopically irregular in shape. This causes light to scatter in irregular ways causing vision to be blurry, distorted, warped, and haloed as opposed to crisp and clear. Because glasses and normal off-the-rack contact lenses cannot help to make the surface of the eye even and regular, for most keratoconus patients, they are not able to provide ideal vision. Additionally, lasik surgery is not an option for patients with this …
By: Clark Chang, OD, MS, FAAO
Keratoconus is a non-inflammatory, progressive corneal condition associated with corneal thinning, weakening, and steepening, resulting in corneal optical irregularities (cone shape) and poor vision. An incidence rate of 1:2000 has been reported with no known sexual or ethnic predilection. In addition, familial inheritance has been reported in 6-24% of cases and co-morbidities such as atopic disease and connective tissue diseases have also been reported in the literature. Thus, genetic predisposition, acute eye allergies, and eye rubbing (often as allergic response) have all been proposed as potential underlying causes of keratoconus development. However, no definite causative factor(s) have been proven.
As keratoconus progresses in severity, the increasingly irregular shape of the eye causes optical side effects known as higher order aberrations (think of static noise for TV signals). These aberrations are primarily responsible for the reduction in one’s visual functions. Corneal transplant has traditionally been utilized …
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