UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

hi all has any1 gt any info as 2 wether KC is hereditory, cheers

Hi Micky and welcome to the forum.
Current thinking is that there is a genetic component to KC. But only around 1 in 10 people with KC have anyone else in the family with it. And even then, it can skip generations. So the chances of passing it on to your children are pretty low. There are genetic studies going on in various hospitals (see the home page for a study being done at Moorfields Eye Hospital) so maybe there'll be more information on this in the next few years.
Anne

KC is hereditary in my case unfortunately. My son has it. I think my natural mother may have had it too - I'm adopted but she is described in the information I've got as "needing strong glasses" - this would have been in the 1950's or so, not sure what options there were for KC then. I've had grafts in both eyes, I'm now able to wear glasses and live a completely normal life. My son who's 29 had a graft in his right eye last September. He's just completed his Prison officer training and is also playing football again. So on the down side I feel bad to have passed the KC on, but the successful treatment and care we've both had balances that out.

There is now much evidence to point to a genetic involvement in KC. However, genetics is not always a simple case of parent-child connection. Many conditions get passed on in non-obvious ways and there may be connections to other related conditions such as Ehlers-Danloss, where the collagen in the body is affected.

As Lisa indicates, keratoconus may actually be in a family line but not recognised as such, as detection of KC has only recently improved to the extent that quite mild conditions are now picked up.

Lynn