Need advice/reassurance

[Rantimi Atijosan]

Hi my name is Rantimi.

I am new to this forum. I am 29 and have had Keratoconus for about 4 years but it was only formally diagnosed earlier on this year. My left eye is much worse but in the last 6 weeks my right has deteriorated. Which means I have to now use my lens as it will not compensate.

I am really nervous about my prospects, particularly as I am a trainee surgeon and am despairing at the thought of giving up.

I have been for the last few months trying to get used to contacts. But have to admit I was not that diligent as I was able to cope and was in denial.

I wonder if someone can tell me. I am trying rigid lenses and I am finding I can see better at a distance but close up is more blurred and I have to keep blinking and squeezing my eys to focus. Which as I am working in front of compunters a lot is driving me mad. Is this something others experienced and along with the constant blurry edges is it something that settles down.

Thank YOu

[GarethB]

I am 35 and have had KC for 18 years and I use the RGP lenses. My specialist said that the firstset of lenses might need adjustment due to the fact when they first put lenses in the eye produces a lot of tears so when they test your eyes, the prescription migt be a tad off. This migt be what you are experiencing, I get it with my rigt lens but more when I am tierd. If you are fine wearing them, go back to the contact lens specialist and see if you can have them tweaked a little. If you are using a computer and this makes it worse, I have turned the brightness right down, antiglare screen on the monitor, changed the colours so they are comfortable for me and with office lighting I still need to wear tinted glasses to make things comfortable. I also have a 19inch monitor which the group recommneds. There is a student leaflet on the home page here which is very useful, both applicable to study and to work.

Although your KC has changed, it mighht settle again and not prove to be an issue, I have a degree in environmental microbiology and KC did not interfer. I still got the degree after a corneal graft. Whatever you do, do not give up.

I openyly tell my collegues what I have got, what assistance I need if I am not wearing my lenses. It is not something to be ashamed of and the last confrence summed it up nicely 'we are part time partially sighted'. You will learn to adapt, to extend my wear time, I wear one lens in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I only really wear both at weekends or if I am doing work where I need to see fine detail in the laboratory. The drugs I work with are quite potent!

Accept the condition and most obstacles can be overcome with perserverance, my sigt changed in March and I lived in denial until August. I now accept the change and my life is moving on again and I am settling back into work again.

We are having a celabratory meal tonight with work and I do not have enough lens wear time to see the whole lot, so this will be the first time they see me as a partially sighted person. I think they are more worried than me

Keep searching the site and you will see how others cope. We all have our own strategies, but with my lenses in I see things others take for granted. Perhaps during surgery you will see things which might be important, but other surgeons take for granted.

Hang in there.

Regards

Gareth

[Janet Manning]

Hi Rantimi,
Whatever you do don't give up on your ambition. I've seen dentists and surgeons wearing magnifying wearing headgear to work. Having experienced the process of being in denial and then coming to terms with a condition and moving on can only help you be a better doctor. Since having to give up a very pressured academic job following transplants, I have retrained as a homeopath and have found the experience I have been through very helpful in empathising with patients and helping them to move on.
We manage studying somehow. I had my 3rd year exams 4 weeks after all my stitches were removed, when I couldn't use my lenses. Without correction I can see the top letter on the chart with one eye and nothing with the other, so it was revision in short bursts and notes in thick black felt tip and inch high letters! I'm proud to say that I still did very well and passed everything.
Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.
Janet