Posted by josen | Posted in Salud | Posted on 03-08-2010
Tags: contact lenses, disease, eye, keratoconus, legally blind, vision correction
Keratoconus is an eye disease that affects the front portion of the eyes “the cornea” the clear part in front of the eyes. After time passes the Keratoconus disease causes the normal pressure of the eye to move forward thinning the cornea creating a cone-shaped eye. It is rare that this condition would leave a person completely blind, but can really impair the vision significantly. According to experts 20% of people suffering from eye disease Keratoconus needed a cornea transplant.
No one knows how this disease started or what cause it, but there is evidence that suggests keratocous could be genetic and worsen by environmental factors. It’s completely normal for a person to have Keratoconus in both eyes, but it progresses differently in each eye. The eye disease Keratoconus usually begins at youth ages, and is slowly gets worse until it begins to stabilize between the ages of 30-40 years old.
Keratocous disease affects thousands of people in the world no mater color or race.
Most cases are resolved by placing rigid contact lenses to help correct the defect in the cornea and improve vision incredibly. The corrective lens should be the perfect size for each person. These lenses are ordered and personally created for each patient. The lens should be checked by a specialist in cornea constantly to prevent a change in the cornea and change the area or space of the eye lens and preventing scarring in the eye which would worsen the eye disease.
There are lenses for Keratoconus created from rigid contact lenses, corneal rings that straighten the cornea. The cornea specialist prescribed my wife a rigid lenses but soft around to make her feel more comfortable when wearing them. As a last option is surgery of the cornea, is a cornea transplant. This only takes about 2 hours to be finished and take about 12 months to heal but they say that it gives very good results and they put a healthy cornea that does not have any scars.
Most insurance cover from the lens to transplant, before it was a problem because it was not a common eye disease, but today it is and every day more people are diagnosed with the keratoconus disease companies are creating new lenses and techniques to allow you to see and sometimes better than before.
My wife’s right eye was 20/600; she is legally blind and could not see more than 1 foot away. With a corrective lens without magnification achieved 20/30. She will soon have a cornea transplant in a very short time and hope she can see well from both of her eyes. She is blind since she was a child and this was the best life can become to her.
Those who suffer from Keratoconus I urge you to visit a specialist in corneas as is a surgeon who specializes in Keratoconus or cataracts. Consult with them and they can help, but you do not have to suffer with this eye disease anymore as help is already available.
