UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hey I was just looking for some advice. I have just been diagnosed with Keratoconus and I was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on the best options?

I got LASIK back in 2012 and I started to notice the vision in my right eye had began to detoriate over the last year and a half. My left eye vision is still absolutely fine and I don’t need any glasses or contacts for now as I am at driving standard so I’m happy with them. However I know that the left eye will begin to get worse. My optician said she’s going to refer me to a specialist and spoke about cross linking. She sent me away with a leaflet and it said prices start from £1995 per eye! I am going to be a student come September so I obviously can not afford this. Does anyone know if the NHS cover the cross linking? I’m based in Edinburgh and I can’t find anything online about the treatment on the nhs near me. I’m just pretty annoyed that I’ve spent thousands on laser eye surgery and now to be told I have to spend thousands on cross linking aswell.

Has anyone had cross linking and would recommend it? I feel as though because the Keratoconus is in early stages I’d be stupid not to get it?

I have no idea. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello Gillian and welcome,
The Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh does offer crosslinking on the NHS so do ask your GP or your optician to refer you there. And when you do see a corneal specialist, you might ask whether the Lasik treatment could have contributed to your developing keratoconus or corneal ectasia. These days clinics offering Lasik are normally very good at screening for thinner than usual corneas. In fact, people end up on this forum because they've only discovered that they have a very mild form of keratoconus when they are rejected for Lasik treatment. But there are sometimes cases where the screening doesn't pick up the fact that the cornea is already a bit thin or where the cornea appears to be normal. The idea of crosslinking is to stop any further progression, so it's definitely worth considering.
All the best.