UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Just had some brilliant news...
I have been labouring under the impression that the Navy(my employer) would not supply with lenses for KC. The general policy in the RN is that glasses are supplied. You simply hand in your prescription and choose one of the super trendy styles and your specs arrive a few weeks later. (Actually some of the frames are trendy now but that wasn't intentional!) Anyway lenses are not supplied (or so I thought) because they are a cosmetic thing. However my Naval Doctor just confirmed that I can claim the money back for lenses and solutions!! I'm over the moon, KC is such an expensive condition!!!!!
Apparently we even have our own opthomologist!
Naturally, this information has been cleverly concealed but I discovered it in a strange and brilliant phone call to our medical admin officer which started with the usual "Hi, my name is Matt and I have this rare condition...etc etc" Followed by "Oh! So do I!"
So the very nice man on the end of the phone was able to show me how to recover my losses and get me set up to see the Navy Opthom. What a stroke of luck!
Shouldn't all employers do this? Afterall, if you cannot work with lenses....

It would be goof if all employers did that.

Mine do for prescription safety glasses, perhaps I should try this cor lenses and lens solutions.

No you are better off staying in the Navy, how easy is it for the rest of us to sign up?

We'd be great on night manouvers because we are used to finding our way unable to see

Gareth

night manouvres huh

That could be so much fun, navigating by the stars and the moon ..............but which one?

Hey there!

My brother in law gets his lenses free with the army but it is for vanity purposes! He does not have any condition in which he needs to wear lenses and he is not on the front line.

It would be lovely if all employers did this, I think that the NHS should be nicer to me!! LOL!!!

Matthew

Well done! You see the hand of Providence was there! And, how enlightened of the MoD to have put in place such a far sighted (pun not intended) policy.

All the best .

Andrew

My employer would simply change me from a support worker to a service user and get one of my former colleagues to guide me around They wouldnt pay for my lenses

Yeah! I like the idea of using a fully-sighted guide. When I recently went for a job as a marine pilot, the Coastguard said my eye-sight problem could be circumnavigated through the use of a qualified look-out to accompany me when piloting ships. A hilarious image! A lot cheaper to train the look out as a pilot, hence not likely tobe a successful scheme, I imagine!
Navigating by the stars....I am trained to do this and spent the first part of my career doing this. We did not have satellite navigation then so when you left Bishop Rock lighthouse behind you, you knew your next point of reference would be about 2 weeks away! So you had to use the sun, moon and stars. We used a sextant to do this, which has a split prism. You had to bring the image of the star down to the horizon to measure the altitude of the star. I cannot imagine doing this now as I can see 16 images in my left eye! I would obviously use my right eye but I suspect my measurements would be less than accurate!!
Anyway, I think you should all join the reserves and then claim for your lenses!

Matthew,

From time in the lifeboat service, getting a fix on the starts when the boat is pitching and rolling was hard enough. You never know seeing as we do and aiming for the middle we may have more luck

I would like to have another go, (its a been a while) to see whether the KC could be overcome. The key to overcoming the heaving horizon is to have a buddy who take sthe accurate time just as you get the horizon and the star lined up. Sun and moon sightings could be problem since you have to use the lower / upper limb of the body rather than the middle.
Of course you could do all the planning and plotting and get someone else to do the sights.

Thats awesome Matthew

Here in Australia our eye checks are covered by medicare, and some glasses are too. Lenses are not so we have to pay for them ourselves, for me it costs about $2,500 for my sclerals each time. Our private healthcare gives a good rebate on glasses, but not on lenses, the lens rebate is about $90, so somehow we are going to have to convince them that lenses are essential for KCers and not cosmetic.

Luckily I have probably the best Optometrist in Australia, people fly from all over the country and surrounding islands to see him, and he is fantastic at adjusting my lenses so they don't need changing too often.