Important Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Keratoconus

If you think you may have keratoconus or if you have been diagnosed with keratoconus, it is essential to book an appointment and to have consistent follow up appointments with your optometrist who will provide constant support and professional care. Below are useful questions and topics to discuss with your optometrist in order to maintain the best control of your eye health.

Important Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Keratoconus Optometrist
Table of Contents

What Kinds of Questions Should I Ask My Optometrist?

So you've been diagnosed with keratoconus. Now what? Understandably, you probably have many concerns.

The following section will help you prepare the kinds of questions that will enable you to understand your condition. (We have provided succinct general answers, with the understanding that your doctor will elaborate.)

Please note: No online section should be used (no matter the merits) as a substitute for professional advice from a trained optometrist or as a diagnostic guide to identifying diseases or eye conditions. This is merely a guideline to help you out. 

There are many advanced medical options today which have helped many people achieve improved vision and allowed them to continue to enjoy life. These include corneal transplants, cross-linking, or the aid of specialized prescription lenses.

Common Questions

There is no cure, but there are many available options to stop the progression and improve vision.
No! With proper treatment you will be fine. Cases of blindness are virtually non-existent. with proper medical attention, you can maintain and improve your eyesight.
While no diagnosis can be made without professional testing from an optometrist, common signs include impaired vision/night vision, either in the form of blurred or double vision or seeing streaks when looking at light. In rare cases, swelling can lead to cracks which may require prescription medical drops prescribed by an optometrist to facilitate healing.
This is a condition where the cornea becomes thin and brittle and bulges out into a cone shape, which prevents light from reaching the retina, leading to impaired vision. A normal cornea has a spherical shape.
Possible causes for the onset of this condition include a genetic component, comorbidity with other health conditions, and trauma-induced "eye-rubbing", often with the hard knuckles of the hand
In addition to eye testing for the overall strength of vision, ocular health, and to detect 33.3345eye disease, the optometrist will probably inquire about your family history. Additional tests include those which measure the curvature of the cornea and mapping technology.
Your optometrist will explain all available options and help decide upon a course of treatment based upon the severity. Possible options include prescription scleral contact lenses, cross-linking, further alterations in eye shape, and in very severe cases,  corneal transplants may improve eyesight. Generally speaking, soft contact lenses are only appropriate in mild cases.
Your optometrist can explain the process in greater detail. Briefly put, it involves a unique procedure combining riboflavin drops to strengthen collagen fibers with ultraviolet light to prevent the condition from worsening. This procedure may not be an option for advanced cases.
This will vary. Some people do. Speak with your doctor periodically to apprise him of your condition and to schedule follow-up appointments. Sometimes scleral contact lenses are necessary after a cornea transplant because of scar tissue build-up. These contact lenses also have the benefit of protecting the corneal surface.
Should this surgical procedure be necessary, an optometrist can explain in greater detail how this works. In short, in this procedure the eye is saturated with riboflavin to prevent further progression of the disorder. In other words, to stop the progression of keratoconus. While this has proven very effective it may not be an option with advanced cases..
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Summary

We hope that this section helps. There are many effective treatments today to treat and prevent the progression of keratoconus. Contact us to find out more and to schedule an eye exam.

Visit a Specialty Contacts vision clinic at a Specialty Vision practice near you:
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