What job do you do and how does keratoconus affect it?

[CrippsCorner]

Hello just sitting in work thinking about this! I'm a radiotherapy technician, I look after several linear accelerators and provide quality assurance checks... the main problem I've come across is the measurement of penumbras. Sometimes the outline can look different from my left eye, my right eye, or both together!

Not good when I have to be within 0.5mm of perfection... still, I'm hoping RGP's will tackle this. Mostly I'm at a computer, but also reading tiny circuit diagrams, which can be a problem. Luckily I've heard rumors of being able to apply for iPad's which will mean I'll be able to zoom in greatly on what I'm looking at.

Thankfully I'm in a lovely office with lots of natural lighting! Looking forward to the summer because of that

[longhoc]

Hi Cripps

I work in finance and Keratoconus does make life difficult -- spreadsheets full of rows and rows of figures can be a nightmare ! And like you, accuracy is needed but tricky to maintain -- it's easy to misread just one figure and get hopelessly wrong as a result.

What's harder for me though is travelling -- public transport is always difficult, the underground I'd say is the worst. I do get unnerved by unfamiliar surroundings. I'd say that's the most limiting aspect overall -- my job is easier if I can travel on occasions, but the impact of making a journey then arriving at somewhere where I don't know my way around means I'm mentally, erm, sub optimal shall we say, before I've even started.

I've reduced my hours and gone part time because, in my circumstances anyway, it's just not possible to do full time and having low vision plus some of the usual KC collateral damage problems like susceptibility to eye infections given the nature of the work I do. That, even in these days of supposed disability-awareness, is career-limiting. The same applies to an awful lot of part time workers I think, so this isn't a KC-specific concern. Which doesn't mean that, since my needing to do part time hours is caused by my KC, this isn't a KC-related impact on work. Only that being thought of as "not interested in your career" because you're part time isn't unique to those of us with KC who end up doing reduced hours.

In summary, as for the workplace and people with disabilities, I'd say we've come a fair way in recent years. But we've still got an awfully long way to go.

Cheers

Chris

[Grant]

I'm a manager for an IT consultancy and also spend too many hours staring at a screen. The things that impact my efficiency are stuff like not being able to see a powerpoint presentation unless sitting right at the front and the degraded vision at the end of a long day.

[James_Ldn]

I also work on computers all day and I've found it very difficult. I've had a lot of time off work, and like longhoc above I've also had to give up on the idea of doing my job full-time, at least for now.

I'm still battling on, trying all kinds of different lenses with the aim of eliminating the shadowing and blurring, but it's not easy.

What amazes me is given the impact that keratoconus has on people's lives (not to mention the cost it must have to the NHS / overall economy), it really isn't taken seriously enough. We still have too many young people with KC who don't get diagnosed early enough, and when they do get diagnosed, don't have the option of cross-linking either because they can't afford it or they don't have it recommended to them. It really is quite astonishing in 21st century Britain!

James.

[munster]

I'm a former computer programmer/systems analyst. I find staring at computers all day difficult. Its hard to read lines of code, with ghosting all around it.

I now drive armoured vans 3 days a week. That is very difficult in winter time when its dark early. All those light streaks from the damaged cornea cause reduced driving visibility. Sometimes down to 10 metres, which is very dangerous.

[jay87]

I work in financial services and also look at spreadsheets, MI reports, lots of figures.

I CTRL + quite often to zoom in on spreadsheets etc which helps, and am wearing RGPS now for 2.5 years.

They do dry out my eyes and i get the odd bad eye day, try and wear just glasses on my days off and plenty of lubrication to soothe my eyes, but the long days in RGPS staring at a screen do take their toll.

Some tips given by my optom

Take breaks and look at far to the distance rather than close up , making sure you make a full blink.

Increase humidity (was told to put a bowl of water by my desk, not sure how well that would go down, goldfish at work anyone?!) Maybe a portable desk humidifier could be cleared with facilities.

Eye drop your eyes if wearing RPS, then put eye drops in the RGPs, then onto your eye. The liquid layer is what causes you to well so your vision should be better with a nice thick liquid layer.

Mine isn't as advanced as some of you and i'm 26 so maybe I have more to come, hopefully not though!

Hope some of these help

Jake x

[Andrew MacLean]

I work for a large national charity. My job involves quite a bit of work at a VDU, but now that I have a flat screen this presents me with far fewer problems than the old CRT screen.
Driving has always been a problem. At the moment I need both contact lenses and glasses to drive; this is okay but the time I can wear my lenses is limited each day. It involves a bit of intelligent juggling to make sure that I am able to drive when I need to drive.
When I was registered blind it was, of course, not possible to drive at all but during those five years I was helped by equipment at my work station provided by my employer and JobCentre Plus. I did not have to take any time off work.

[CrippsCorner]

I wondered recently about wearing both contacts and glasses.

I'm new to RGP's and tried out night time driving for the first time the other day... that's a massive no no then!

I was wondering if glasses could stop the ridiculous fireworks glare from street lights etc. as I don't get this from glasses. Why do you wear both? Thanks.

[Andrew MacLean]

I think that the mixed economy of glasses and lenses makes it possible for me to see the same-size image through each eye. My glasses do have anti-glare coating and actually the mixed economy works well for me.

[CrippsCorner]

That's great thanks, do you think anti-glare helps with night time driving then?

Going back to the work thing, I had to adjust measuring lasers the other day. That was, interesting... seeing 5+ lines when you're trying to be within a tolerance of 1mm