UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

As far as you know? i don't know of anyone in my family with KC or even any other eye problems at all except short sightedness so when I found it to be thought as a genetic thing I was surprised. I was also told that it could be due to a lot of eye rubbing. i think this is probably the case for me. From the ages of 17-22 I was a religious contact lens wearer, for many many hours a day, 7 days a week. Despite my eyes being red raw sometimes, and literally watering constantly, and my optician telling me it was bad for my eyes to wear them sometimes 18 hours a day every single day, I was very vain and hated wearing glasses so did it anyway. More fool me, what a gift hindsight is!!!!
For me, for these reasons, I think I was just an eye rubber. How about you?

Out of three brother the middle and youngst (me)have it. My brothers eldest son has it he is thirty. The other two sons are in their late teens watch this space . There was no mention of it before my generation.

this is a well established debate and the consensus seems to be running towards there being a genetic co-factor among the causes of keratoconus.

I am less sanguine of the significance of genetics. Even if every member of a family developed KC, it would seem to me that this could equally be caused by their all sharing the same environmental exposure.

Still, the research goes on.

Andrew

no-one else in my family (parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins) has KC, i am the only one who suffered with exzema (sp?) as a young child, asthma, allergies and hayfever mind you - still suffer now with all. I also rubbed my eye excessively when younger.
My niece (4 years old) has already started eye rubbing, and also suffers with allegies and exzema. My sister is trying to break the habit of eye rubbing in my niece now, as we know that KC can potentially be genetic and that eye rubbing has also been linked in some cases.

Both my sisters are extremely short sighted, one has a mild astigmatism as well - she was considering laser surgery until she learnt about her astigmatism.

There's no other known case of it in my family. Both my parents had very good eyesight until they hit their late 30's/early 40's.

My brother does has macular degeneration though. So my brother and I are the lucky ones in the family...

no history in my family
i was not an eye rubber nor did i suffer from allergies
i did have 2 eye surgeries to correct a childhood squint, so perhaps that trauma was a trigger (however i don't think they touched the cornea- both were muscle surgeries) i also only developed KC 12 years after the 2nd surgery???

i have been told that in South Africa KC is much more prevalent in certain race groups in the following order: WORST: Indian Males--> Indian females --> Black Males--> Black Females--> White Males ---> White Females
funnily i am from that last group....
this is why they believe it must have a inherited genetic cause (but that it is probably no the only cause)

Hi there!
No history of KC in the family, no allegies, no eye rubbing no apparent risk factor but still diagnosed with KC 1.5 yrs ago when I was 27!

Both myself and my oldest son has KC. I don't remember rubbing eyes when younger, but prob did, have asthma and hayfever. Jordan used to rub eyes excessively, bad hayfever and mild asthma.
The debate goes on

The evidence for a genetic influence is definitely there. However, one does have to remember that "genetic" does not necessarily mean that your direct family also have the condition. Genetic transmission is MUCH more complex than just straight parent to child. For example, certain genes can increase the likelihood of someone getting a condition and then environment or diet may then influence it. Other genes are recessive which means both parents have to be carriers (i.e have the gene but do not have the condition itself) for a child to actually get the condition. The incidence of KC is higher in cultures where there are a lot of marriages between cousins, which again implies genetic factors. Yet others with KC also have conditions such as Ehlers-Danloss, which is a condition where all the collagen in the body is weak, leading to very flexible joints... but not all people with KC have this condition.

Eye rubbing is implicated for many people but not all. KC is a complex condition with many sources and it has to be remembered that detection was not that good until fairly recently. It was unlikely to have been easily recognised a 100 years ago or more, people would have just been regarded as having poor vision.

There are no easy answers here - if there was, we would have a handle on it already!

Lynn