UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi there
Our 20 year old son had bilateral corneal cross linking at the end of Nov 2021 in New Zealand. We move to UK next week and he needs a 3 month follow up appointment towards the end of February 2022.
His private eye specialist in NZ has given us copies of his pre- and 1 month post-procedure scans and is happy to liaise with UK specialist to provide any other info required.
What's the best way to find a KC specialist and organise an appointment for this? We'll be living near central Birmingham with family in the greater Midlands and Yorkshire area. Private or NHS would be fine by us.
He's a UK citizen but was born and lived in NZ up until now.
Thanks very much for your suggestions

Hi Clare,
The Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre http://bmec.swbh.nhs.uk/ is the main NHS hospital in Birmingham which sees most KC patients, although there are other hospitals with corneal specialists in the city. You'll need to register with a GP when you arrive and ask him/her to refer your son. But with the delays that Covid has brought, I doubt that you'd get an appt by the end of February, so your son may need to see a specialist privately for that first check and then maybe get into the NHS system for future monitoring. I think you'd already posted about investigating a couple of private hospitals in Birmingham when you were thinking about having the CXL done once you arrived in the UK. You need an ophthalmologist who specialises in cornea. Many of the NHS consultants also see patients privately.
I hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply Anne. I was thinking he might need to get this first appointment done privately while waiting for an NHS appointment. We'll get him registered with a GP stat and get the ball rolling