A word to patients with keratoconus

JUST DIAGNOSED

A WORD TO PATIENTS WITH KERATOCONUS

Being diagnosed with keratoconus can be daunting and overwhelming. This website was developed to provide comfort and support to patients like you afflicted with keratoconus, by increasing your awareness and understanding of this condition through patient education, scientific updates , counselling, and a forum for questions and consultation. We have created a Diary of a wide-ranging collection of clinical cases of real patients with keratoconus, among whom you will find similarities with and be able to relate to your own clinical situation. You will observe that despite variations in age, disease expression, severity and medical history, the stories of these patients share a common vein: the existence of chronic eye rubbing preceding the onset and diagnosis of keratoconus by several years.

Many of these patients have unhealthy sleeping postures, and the correlation between the more affected eye and the sleeping position is striking: sleeping on the stomach or side where one eye is more compressed by the pillow, mattress or forearm is the eye which is more (or even unilaterally) affected by keratoconus. What is encouraging here, is that every single one of these patients who paid attention to their (sometimes unconscious) eye rubbing habit and ceased to rub their eyes showed no progression of their keratoconus for months and years thereafter. None of them required corneal collagen cross-linking to stabilize the disease.

This website was created to highlight the important role of eye rubbing in the genesis of keratoconus. It is not meant to blame the victim. We have seen through years of clinical management of keratoconus patients the wonders the simple act of cessation of eye rubbing can do to their corneas, and are sharing their stories with you.

You too can play your part in stabilizing the keratoconus in your eyes.
The future is literally in your hands…