Please have your eyesight checked regularly!

[Lynn White]

John...

I was just thinking I need to do a sticky or FAQ about this!

Just to answer people immediately....

Ophthalmologists are doctors who spedcialise in eyes. Although they can theoretically prescribe spectacles - its not their best forte... tghey are best at diagnsoing eye probs, treating them and operating.

Optometrists used to be called opticians. A few years back,. the Govnt changed our "protected name" from optician to optometrist to be in line with the rest of the world. So optometrist now means someone who can examine your eyes. detect disease and prescribe glasses.

Optician means usually a dispensing optician who can make up glasses but not test eyes. Confusingly, these dispensing opticans can take an extra diploma and fit contact lenses but still not be able to test eyes...

The moral here is "If in doubt ... ASK!"

Lynn

[Sweet]

Hehe well i did get most of it right!!!

[GarethB]

Careful Sweet!

No one likes a smart a**e

[Sweet]

OI you!!!! Hehe i just had to prove that i do listen sometimes!!!!

[GarethB]

good to see john filter works, I will have to use numbers or say bottom instead

[Lia Williams]

My this has been a busy post today!

Lynn thank you for your posts, I agree that it would be a very good idea to have a FAQ for:

'If I'm referred to a hospital for contact lens - do I still need eye tests?'.

In my case although I've been attending MEH for years, apart from my initial appointment, I've only been seen by optometrists. Who have fortunately been able to prescribe comfortable lens with good vision. I have seen high street optometrists a few times just to have an eye test.

Lia

[Ali Akay]

just because we have KC, it doesn't mean that we're immune to other eye conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, retinal problems.

Anne has summed up the need for periodic examination of the health of the eyes beautifully. In an ideal world it would be better if this could be done in the clinic, but often lack of time is a problem. One word of caution about glaucoma though. It's a well known fact that instruments for measuring eye pressure (tonometers) often give a false reading with KC. The reason for this is that the instruments are calibrated for normal thickness corneas, and as keratoconic corneas are thinner than normal, the reading is usually lower than the true reading. Hence, if a community optometrist is measuring your pressures he/she needs to be aware of this. In theory he/she should know, but if not dealing with KC ers on a regular basis it could be overlooked, and it may be worth patients mentioning this to their optoms! Especially important with afro-carribean population who have higher risk of glaucoma (and high incidence of KC!). The commonly used "air puff" type tonometers often give error messages due to corneal distortion, and the measurement may need to be repeated with a conventional "contact" tonometer.

[GarethB]

Ali raises a point made at the last Birmingham group meeting.

The gentleman who gave the presentation on Intacs is working with the makers of eye pressure devices to develop one specifically for KC to give a true reading.

[Pat A]

Ali - thanks for that warning. Are there any symptoms of glaucoma? Reason is that glaucoma is in my family although immediate parents didn't have it - and as it now seems I've had undiagnosed KC for many years, (probably 20+) should I now ask my optom to do a new test in the light of my diagnosis?

[Ali Akay]

Pat,
Unfortunately there are no symptoms of glaucoma until one reaches a fairly advanced stage. Glaucoma screening should comprise 3 things- visual examination of the optic nerve, visual fields (peripheral vision test) and pressures. With KC it's usually a lot easier to have a good view of the retina through contact lenses, hence a good routine is to examine the back of the eyes and carry out a visual field test with the contacts in, then remove them for pressure test. In non-Kc population, pressure below 21 is usually deemed normal, but this would be too high for a keratoconic who would typicaly have pressures around 10. The important thing really is how pressure is changing over time, and co-existence of other risk factors eg family history. The last thing I want is causing any unnecessary anxiety and I need to make it quite clear KC DOES NOT increase your risk of getting glaucoma!