What Is Keratoconus?

Mr Glenn Carp – “Keratoconus is a genetic condition.  It is found in approximately 1 in 1000 people in the general population, but it is found in different intensities.  Many people will have evidence of keratoconus once they have been scanned with certain corneal scans, which can pick up this condition, but are often not even aware that they have it.  Essentially, it is a genetic weakened area within the cornea, which over time progressively thins and becomes unstable and tends to bulge forward within the cornea.  So whereby most of us have nice spherical corneas, what keratoconic patients develop is a cone shaped cornea, which therefore becomes very irregular in terms of the surface shape and it is the irregularity which is very difficult to correct with conventional glasses.  Glasses and toric contact lenses are able to treat and correct for short-sightedness, long-sightedness and astigmatism if it is a regular astigmatism or regular curvature.  If it is a cone shaped, things become very irregular and that in itself means that with those conventional methods we are unable to achieve very clear vision.”

Keratoconus Explained Further…

In Keratoconus astigmatism, a serious form of astigmatism, the cornea progressively thins towards its edges causing a cone-like bulge to develop and resulting in significant astigmatic impairment. In the early stages it is possible to treat keratoconus with glasses or contact lenses, however, as the keratoconic disorder progresses and the cornea continues to thin and change shape, this solution becomes less and less satisfactory.

Mr Glenn Carp describes keratoconus.

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