Help!

[eileen hughes]

Ali

My son for the last couple of years has been constantly blinking his left eye, was always telling to stop it. He said that he couldn't help it. The doctor said when he was examining that his eyes were extremely dry and that could be the cause of his constant blinking. He is using the drops regularly and the blinking appears, for now, to have stopped. He has also told his friends that if he is rubbing his eyes, they have to tell him to stop! Think this is quite good progress for a child who doesn't like being told not to do something!

The only thing I can't get him to stop is constantly being on the PC! Although he always getting up and looking for food so I suppose his isn't always looking at the screen and at least he is having a break even if he is eating me out of house and home

[Ali Akay]

Hi Eileen
With two teenagers of my own I know exactly what you mean about him eating you out of the house! He sounds like a very sensible young man. All I can say is carry on with the drops,using them as often as he needs-I am assuming he is on Hypromellose.It may also be worth trying Systane drops,several patients with dry eyes report more benefit than Hypromellose.I also wonder if he may have something called "meibomian gland dysfunction".Dont worry it's nothing serious,simply means the small tear glands in the eyelids get blocked and this could make dry eye symptoms worse.Standard treatment is applying a hot compress to his lids for a few minutes twice a day and things usually improve after a couple of weeks.I know I mentioned cold compress before to ease itchy eyes which is useful for patients with itchy eyes from an allergy.If itchiness is purely result of dry eyes then hot compress is much more effective and worth a try.Does he have acne?If he has I'd definitely try hot compresses.
good luck

[PeterO]

Hi Eileen,
Not sure if i'm adding anything that the previous contributiors haven't already said, but I would just like to add my experience of living a normal life with KC. I was originally diagnosed at the age of 16, whch was some 25 years ago. Since then I have managed to complete university, drive, work normally, get married, be a parent, play sport, and travel without any major hinderance. I wear RGP lenses, with all the trials and tribulations they bring. Sure I have good and bad days, and my insistance at sitting at the front of all presentations at work is taken as the norm now - people even reserve me a seat. In short a diagnosis of KC is not a the prison sentence that it might initially be perceived as. Hope this helped

[Anne Klepacz]

Eileen - just to say that as well as the web forum, the KC Group has a postal mailing list for members and has a number of booklets available (Information booklet about KC, previous conference reports). So if you'd like any of these and would like to receive any info we produce in the future, do e-mail me. anneklepacz@aol.com
Anne