im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

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leonel1213
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Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
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im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby leonel1213 » Tue 28 Jun 2011 4:49 am

i have a very bad case of keratocuns and im only 17 i had is since i was 12 well diagnosed at 12 but who cares.I lost all my vision in my left eye but i can kinda see. we i see dubble, blury vision, light hurts my eyes not just the left one , i see halos and i can't see when i look left . I want to know what kind of treatment there is for someone my age and will i posiblly might need a kornia transplant ? someone help



ps. my right eye is forming into a cone to but its forming two cones insted of just 1 and that kinda scars me because of how bad my vision got with just one cone in one how worse is my other eye going to get !?

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Andrew MacLean
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Re: im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby Andrew MacLean » Tue 28 Jun 2011 6:29 am

Ouch! That is a tough decision to have to make at 17, but I do know of others who have faced the same questions and who have had a cornea transplant while still in their teens and who have gone on to confront the world with good vision.

The standard advice is that transplants are the treatment of last resort; I waited until I was legally blind in both eyes before agreeing to have my first transplant. I now have transplanted corneas in each eye, and see well enough to drive, with my vision corrected by lenses and glasses.

Be of good cheer. Ask about the range of lenses suited to people with keratoconus. try as many as seems right; one of them may work. In the end, if you need transplant surgery, go into it with confidence and follow the advice given by your ophthalmologist.

Andrew
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leonel1213
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Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
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Re: im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby leonel1213 » Tue 28 Jun 2011 7:44 pm

what about my right eye it is forming two cones not just one ?

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Andrew MacLean
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Re: im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby Andrew MacLean » Wed 29 Jun 2011 6:22 am

That is unusual, but not unknown. Certainly it would make fitting a lens more complicated, and it may be that, for this reason alone, some other approach will be necessary either instead of or along with contact lenses.

I don't want to bombard you with questions, but you do need to be equipped with questions that you want to raise with your optometrist and your ophthalmologist.

The optometrist is the optician whom you consult about contact lenses. Perhaps you should ask him or her about the range of contact lenses now available for people with keratoconus, and the range of different contact lens materials. Ask if it is possible to get a better fit, or better corrected vision, by changing to a different configuration of materials and lens style.

The ophthalmologist is the eye doctor whom you consult about medical or surgical options for keratoconus. As I said above the transplant is the final solution. The benefit of this surgery is that it removes your own cornea and replaces it with a healthy one from a donor. I have had this procedure in both eyes, and now see very well indeed.

There are, however, other surgical options, and the most common of these is intacs. This involves the insertion of one or two little plastic crescents into the cornea, tightening the front edge to enable a better fit for contact lenses.

Intra-ocular lenses (lenses fitted inside the eye) can also be used in some cases. Ask your surgeon. Let him or her know that you are interested and that you want to know. Ophthalmologists like it when their patients take an interest, and don't mind in the least bit if you ask them questions. Never think that any question is too foolish to ask.

Every good wish

Andrew
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saima123
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Re: im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby saima123 » Fri 10 Feb 2012 1:14 am

hi
I know exactly how you are feeling feeling i started having vision problems when I was about 14 9couldn't see the back of the broad from the back of the classroom) never thought much of it but after turning 16/17 it started to progress. so I went to see the optician who sent referral to my GP (wasted a year here as referral letter was never sent by optician/found by GP). By the time I was referred to my local hospital my condition was pretty advanced. so normal glass's, soft lenses out the window. Straight in with with rigid lenses but the consultant found it very difficult to fit it because my cornea was already so pointed.I mean i would put the lens and they would fall out after 10 mins or so. After this I was referred to Southampton general hospital , which has has a amazing a eye unit department, the consultant s there also tried fitting the rigid lenses but it was unsuccessful.I couldn't attempt crossing linking or anything else so last may/june after talking through properly with my GP and consultant Mr Anderson we decided I wanted to go ahead with a graft. i was really desperate to do something as it starting to make me feel depressed and I had lost my self confidence as I just wasn't sure of anything. I mean my sight was so blurred and bad I was unsure of myself I didn't trust my self. so i had my cornea graft on 15 September 2011 a month after my twentieth birthday . so no nearly post op 5 months and my vision has improved soooo much i can't believe it .i used to suint before to see things a bit more clearly now now now my vision is so much more sharper in focus all round is so much better. The graft is holding up really well and the only problem I am encountering is increased eye pressure, but taking medication for that for hopefully that will settle soon too.
i think you you seek the best medical advise and go for it because you have a better chance of fighting it when your young. i went through i same as you and the results are amazing :D i was prepared to go private if the NHS weren't going to provide the graft for me but with my advanced case which seems similar to yours i think it's possible for you to ask your doctor to see what can be done.


all the best
saima

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Anne Klepacz
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Re: im only 17 and i need answers !!! place help

Postby Anne Klepacz » Fri 10 Feb 2012 11:47 am

Welcome to the forum Saima, and thank you for sharing your experience. And very best wishes for continued good progress with the graft.
Anne


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