A READ

[sarkac]

http://www.revophth.com/content/i/1211/c/22833/

The talk on sleep position was frighteningly accurate!
i knew i had this habbit even before i knew i had KC ...
wondering if any one else does the same?

[longhoc]

Wow sarkac ! Thanks – what a truly fascinating read.

It asks – but unfortunately cannot definitively answer (but at least it starts asking...) what I’d always wondered myself. Namely, why – in cases of bilateral Keratoconus (let alone unilateral Keratoconus where the question is even more pertinent) what causes it to develop to differing degrees in each eye. Given that:

1) Genetic factors are the same
2) Environmental factors are the same
3) Susceptibility to allergens is the same
4) Propensity to eye rubbing can be inferred to be the same

... Keratoconus progression should be pretty much exactly the same in each eye. But it seldom is.

I’m a “side sleeper” with a definite “preferred side”. For the first time (just now actually, while reading the paper !) I stopped to think about sleeping patterns and how my Keratoconus exhibits progression. The bad eye is on the non-preferred side. I wonder just when I started avoiding sleeping on my "especially bad eye" side ? I can't remember when, but I have a hunch it was when I started to be aware that one eye was more problematic than the other. But I don’t put my hands anywhere near my eyes during (the very thought of it has always seemed not very comfortable) and I don’t wake up in that position (so discounting it being involuntary). Neither am I a pillow hugger... So I can’t personally identify with all of the considerations in the paper, only with some. I'm intrigued by what others think - and do.

Moreover, since my graft, guess what, I’m very – very – particular about not sleeping with any pressure on the grafted eye and will consciously shift position to avoid doing so if I wake to find that I’m pressing down on the eye in any way. I’m also far more diligent while awake of moving my eyeballs and letting them sit for more than a second or so in a “strained” position. I now move my head instead and let my eyes point as much as possible in the straight-ahead position. Before the graft, I’d end up with my eyeballs looking in some pretty extreme angles and just figured that, well, if they can physically move to that position, then they are designed to cope with it. Even if there was some discomfort, I rationalised that it was transitory and wouldn’t do any real lasting damage. Not any more...

So, I’m fairly convinced that once Keratoconus progresses to the “not trival” stages, one’s behaviour is an influence on it. The more drastic is the progression, then the more modifications to our propensity to stress our eyes and eye muscles we make. I can well believe that a positive feedback loop gets created in many people with Keratoconus.

Left unanswered though is the matter of any empirical analysis and -- for want of a better word, "proof". But as the writer says, it's not like any of this has really been asked before.

Will re-read the paper a few more times. There’s probably stuff in there that I missed first time around... Thanks again sarkac.

Cheers

Chris

[sarkac]

Its all very mysterious , u know I feel like i almost get an answer, but then the burden of proof comes along..
something has to be causing this!!! why why !! dont we knowww .. haha

but the sleep pattern really fascinated me... as I was very consciously aware that I do that even before I found about K. I used to sleep with my left eye pressed onto my arm almost
as if i was trying to flatten it out.
But this article also highlight the itching pattern, knuckles and pointed stuff that i could relate to, its almost like the person knew how a K'er fe
surely worth reading twice..

[matty04]

Very good read, i have always been aware that eye rubbing was related in some way to having KC but that there was no solid evidence of exactly how this came about.

The eye rubbing evidence is amazing...is it me being written about? i used to love rubbing my eyes it felt so good, now i just can't do it as i am so aware of my grafts and the potential for damaging them

[sarkac]

yeah u r right , wish we could have a eye rubbing prevention help n support group