Help, what questions should I be asking?

[Jon House]

Just an update following my appointment.

Before I go on, thanks very much for the suggestions. I went in armed with my list of questions and I have to say, my optom's attitude was great and he took the time to explain things more clearly for me as I had gone to the trouble to prepare for the appointment.

So, my diagnosis:

visual acuity is 6/5.3 right eye which is good,
less than 6/60 left eye which is pretty bad.
The best I can attain with glasses is 6/18 which isn't great, so the optom. is trying to achieve as close to 6/9 with lenses as he can, but informs me that anything less than 6/12 isn't worth the hassle of lenses and at that point I'll have to consider other options;

k readings were 7.75 7.85 7.70 8.70 which makes me an unusual case apparently as my cone isn't particularly steep and falls between being too steep for a normal lens and not steep enough for the standard range of KC lenses.

So, I am informed that I am an interesting case in that I was diagnosed with KC aged 42 when most people are diagnosed in teens/early 20's, I have mild KC but a severe corneal astigmatism and because there isn't a history of eye tests for him to refer back to there is no measurement of how rapidly the condition has progressed. He isn't sure how badly the KC is affecting my vision in conjunction with the astigmatism,or whether they are linked or seperate conditions, but at least we now have a base measurement from which to monitor how the condition progresses.

We tried an RGP which was bloody uncomfortable, but did improve my vision to the third line on the Snellen, which was encouraging, however I'm not sure if I'll be able to tolerate the lens. But... he is trying to obtain a lens for me to try at my next appointment which may be a better fit so we'll
see.

So, there we are. Always knew I'd be interesting one day....................

[John Smith]

Hi Jon,

Wow, what a difference between your two eyes!

6-5.3 is pretty much perfect - in fact better than perfect!

Don't worry about RGPs too much - they hurt like hell at first, but you can get used to them soon enough.

[rosemary johnson]

That's indeed a big left/right difference.
But 6/12 not being worth bothering with lenses for????? - that's news to me. I think there must be plenty of us battling with lenses who'd love to have an undistorted 6.12 reliably.
Hope you get some lenses that do the trick soon.
Rosemary

[Jon House]

Rosemary, I didn't intend to demean anybody else's condition, apologies if I have, I was just reiterating what I was told. Perhaps the optom. has something else in mind if he can't achieve 6/12 or better with RGP.

Re: the difference in right/left visual acuity, in effect I have been living with monocular vision for some time now without realising, I have just become accustomed to it and my body has compensated.

I do suffer symptoms, eg going to pick something up with my left hand and missing it or dropping it, and I suffer terribly with glare and light sensitivity which is difficult as I work outside most of the time.

Having read through alot of info on this site I do have many of the classic KC symptoms, at this point in time I am very fortunate that I have good vision in my other eye which makes it bearable.

[GarethB]

Jon

I was told that with lenses I would be lucky to get driving standard in my right eye. However with lenses I get 6/5 which is better then perfect.

As was mentioned at the confrence in one person a range of different lenses make no difference in one patient, but sit distinctly differently on another.

All you can do is give it a go, you might be surprised.

[rosemary johnson]

Hi JOn
No offence taken! - I didn't mean to give the impression I thought *you* would be demeaning anyone.
ust expressing surprise at your ooptom!
Hope you're right, and there's something else up the sleeve if you don't get 6/12 or better.
There may well be - I've been in sclerals for somethng like 32 years now, so I guess I'm rather further down the road by now.
ROsemary
(feeling grey-haired and wrinkly, but probably nothing a good sleep wouldn't cure.....)