UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi. I was diagnosed with KC Hydrops recently in the left eye. What are the chances of my right eye being infected too? And how can I prevent it? Please help. Thanks.

To the best of my knowledge Hydrops is when the posterior membrane of the cornea suddenly splits and water from inside the eye cascades into the corneal stroma causing severe oedema, often with mini blisters which progress through the cornea to the epithelium at the front. There are lots of nerve endings in the epithelium: that is why it so painful.


This is beacuse KC has thinned the mebranes and I think is in the more advanced cases of KC, but can happen at any time I suppose.

Therefore if your other eye is unaffected by KC, I would think that eye should be fine.

There is a link to a hydrops article on the home page.

Hi

As Gareth indicated, you would more than likely only get Hydrops if the other eye has KC in the first place. Once the KC advanced, the various layers and membranes are stretched and eventually split....whereby water seeps in.......

J

That is a rough way to learn you have KC, or did you know before.

Hydrops really isn't an "infection" so much as it is a symptom of extremely advanced KC

Andrew

by the way, welcome to the forum.

hello and welcome conner

Hope you're feeling better soon - hopefully it should heal given a little time. And I'm open to correction here, but it could relieve some of the steepness of the cornea when it does.

I've had hydrops four times, and have survived the experiences so far.
I'd agree with the others: if your other eye hasn't developed KC, it's not going to get a hydrops - unless and until it does develop KC, that is.
[Errrm... 'm assuming you know that KC is a separate condition from the hydrops. you can have C for years and years and never have a hydrops.]

If your other eye does have KC - well, it ight hydrops, and it might not.
Your chances of it doing so in the next few weeks before the first one has cleared up must be small.... no-one really knows what causes a hydrops. so we don't know if the probabilities are independent, or if related, how.
It is very unusual to have a hydrops twice inthe same eye. I did, and am very unusual, I'm told.

Hope it clears up soon, and clears over well so you can see out of it again.

Incidentally, I disagree about hydrops being a sign of extreme KC. My first one happened when I was 18, and the KC was much less advanced than it is now. In fact, only the day before, I'd just read the bottom line on the Snellen chart in my new lenses - that's a pipe dream now, 23 years on.

Rosemary

PS: Conner asked how to prevent another hydrops:
No-one really knows what causes them, so it's a bit hard to say how to reduce the risk.
SOme people have said "Don't rub your eyes" but I don't know if that's a proven risk, or just a theory.
Other theories might suggest "Don't get stressed out", "eat a healthy balanced diet", "don't over-wear the contact lenses" but again, no-one really knows.
Rosemary

Rosemary

We do know why they are caused..the back membrane splits....and this occurs as the cornea steepens...and thus the backlayers are put under stress and eventually split...however you do make a very interesting point on how this relates (or doesnt) to extreme / advanced KC....I would suspect that this area is subject to the individual eye and how much stress it can cope with...

J

I have come to believe that eye rubbing is a symptom rather than a cause of KC

Andrew

jayuk wrote:Rosemary

We do know why they are caused..the back membrane splits....and this occurs as the cornea steepens...and thus the backlayers are put under stress and eventually split...however you do make a very interesting point on how this relates (or doesnt) to extreme / advanced KC....I would suspect that this area is subject to the individual eye and how much stress it can cope with...

J

Oh dear..... this sounds like a case of linguistic pedantry.
OK, we know what a hydrops *is* - it is the effect of the split inthe membrane, as you say.

No-one nows exactly why person X's membrane split and caused a hydrops on that particular day; nor y Person Y, whose eyes have just as thin a membrane and just as steep a cone, has never had a hydrops. Nor why I happen to have had four, the firt one at eighteen when far less advanced in steepness than now - and that eye has not gone again (yet!!) but the other eye has had three.
Why did it do it then? No-one knows.
That's what I meant!
Rosemary