Has pupil size anything to do with KC?

[space_cadet]

I know vague biology, and know the pupil size has something to do with light, but thats about all I know.

For as long as I can remmeber people have commented to me that my eyes look like I am stoned as my pupils are huge most of the time, often meaning the color of my eyes can't be seen, my pupils regularily are far larger than those of friends or family.

As I write this I can't fully see what I am typing as my eyes are too glazed over to focus properly.

Anyone able to assist on this?

Lea
xox

[Andrew MacLean]

Pupil size varies according to the light requirements of your eye; the larger your pupil the more light passes to the retina, the smaller your pupil the less light that passes. It is for this reason that we have reasonably good adaptation to twilight; when you see pictures on television that were taken in natural light at dusk, the scene always looks darker than when you look at it with your own eye.

I'm not sure that I have ever seen any research that links pupil size to keratoconus; but I do know that people with brown eyes tend to have larger pupils than people with blue: I think that this is because brown eyes are better adapted to bright light conditions.

I'd certainly be interested to know if anybody else has seen any research on this.

Andrew

[space_cadet]

My eyes change color dependant on my mood and overall health, most of the time tehy are a hazel color with orange flecks (no clue what teh orange flecks are) Sometimes they are very very green, otehrs a mid brown.

Lea
xox

[rosemary johnson]

I've never heard of LARGE pupils being linked to KC.
The theory is that, as we go into places with brighter light, the iris closes up to make the pupil smaller, to reduce the light getting in.
Or, if we feel the light is too bright - for example, people with bad hangovers who feel the light is painfully bright, have very small pupils. Allegedly.
(Not that I'd know about this, of course....!!!)
And, so the theory goes, when we are in dim light, the irises open to make the pupil bigger so more light gets in.
Many people with KC are sensitive to bright light - so in theory, ought to have SMALLER pupils than usual.
I've noticed before that when I have a contact lens in one eye only, the pupil in that eye is smaller (becasue I'm more sensitive to bright light when I have a lens in. SO my pupils are uneven sizes.
There are conditions that affect the pupil size change.
There are also some drugs that change the size of the pupils. Medications, I mean, not just the recreational variety. SOme are used deliberately for this purpose (eg. to let the eye hospital have a better view of one's retina, or to close the pupil up to keep too much light out during an eye operation.
I don't konw all the ones that may have this effect. Have you tried looking atth e"small print" of the leaflets that come with any meds you're taking?
The other thing I've heard of is that people with ME, otherwise called CFS, or whatever new name it has now, their eyes can have difficulty adjusting to changes in light levels - so someone with ME?CFS/whatever goes into a room with a different light level and their pupils go in and out and in and out .... as they take a while to adjust. Most people's eyes just change......
I've seen mine go in and out a few times with change in light, but din't thin I've got ME......
DOn't know about eyes changing colour - though I do seem to remember hearing that eye colour is actually something to do with light being scattered from tiny particles in the iris - much like the sky; it is blue overhead, and then red near the horizon at sunset because of the sunlight bending through more dust and smoke inthe atmosphere.
SO blue eyes ahve the smallest particles, and brown ones bigger particles..... and people tend to go from smaller to larger particles as they get older.
That's why (allegedly) so many babies have beautiful blue eyes, but they're not so blue once they grow up.
DOn't know if this makes sense, or if it relates to you....
Certainly sounds like something to ask the ophthalmologist next time you see him (? - or her?)
Rosemary

[space_cadet]

The medication I was on years ago had side effects about pupil size but non of my current cocktail does as far as I know. Nothing mentioned in the BNF (british national formular) thingy.

May have a good look thru the journal network Athens later as still got access on my uni account to it

Lea
xox

[GarethB]

Without lenses I notice a slight difference in pupil size between eyes and the hospital told me that is was due to the fact I was seeing the pupil through a distorted cornea so I wasn't seeng the true pupil size. It was as if the KC was making the cornea act as a magnifier making the pupil look larger and slightly off center.

Hope that makes sense, its not an easy thing to describe.

[space_cadet]

Everything is distorted by my eyes, just iritated me when I get accused of being 'stoned', so thought I would post to see if anyone else has similar issues. x

[Grifteruk]

I have had exactly the same problem as you and would regularly get turned away from nightclubs in my younger days, because I apparently looked like I had been taking something I shouldnt have (I hasten to add that I never did take anything !!).

It even got to the point where I would not drink any alcohol at all to stop that enlarging my pupils. They are always large but even one pint still sends them into overload and my eyes turn into black holes !

That has in turn affected my ability to fit lenses, with larger diamaters being required due to pupil size. Apparently pupils do get smaller with age but it does not bother me thesedays anyway.

Whether its linked to KC is not clear. However the problems with my pupil size did seem to arise very shortly after I was diagnosed.

[rsnr]

I can say from my personal experience, that the pupil of my right eye, where KC is significantly more progressed, is always bigger in low-light conditions than my left pupil. I worried about it in the beginning but my doctor told me that because the cornea is damaged, the brain needs more light to "make sense" of the image and hence the pupil is larger. On bright daylight however, both my pupils are of the same size.

Hope this helped.