Roughly 20 years ago, I turned 20, and was beginning to notice that I was struggling to read things. Perhaps I was looking at a computer screen for too many hours a day or something.
So I booked myself in to see an Optometrist – One of the big chains. They had to be the best, right?
He fitted me with some glasses, things were a little clearer, and all was sweet.
For the next couple of years, my vision would become worse, and I’d periodically visit the same store, and an optometrist would adjust my prescription. Until one visit a few years later, when the optometrist said, “Sorry, I can’t get your vision any better”.
When you can’t read street signs while driving, and you have a desk job where you can barely read the screen, these words aren’t exactly comforting.
With a sense of mild panic setting in, I went back to squinting through my glasses for another few months until I was really struggling.
I decided to get another opinion. I worked with some well-connected people in a regional centre at this time, so used them to help me find a more experienced optometrist.
He agreed that glasses were no longer going to work for me, but informed me that I had a condition called Keratoconus. He talked me through what it is, and got me into my first pair of contact lenses. I couldn’t believe the detail and clarity! I had clear vision back again! But with this relief came a daunting feeling about my future as I embarked on my Keratoconus journey.
So 20 year-old me, pay attention! (That goes for anyone else in their 20s reading this in 2018 too)
My 10 lessons about Keratoconus for you are:
1. Many Optometrists aren’t highly experienced in Keratoconus. Make sure you ask around, and find one you feel comfortable with, who takes time to answer all your questions.
2. Always invest in your eyes. Ensure you have money saved for a new pair of Contacts every 6 to 12 months. As more protein builds up on your lenses, they’ll feel increasingly uncomfortable. They’ll also make it harder to see, and they’ll probably fall out more often. Don’t expect too much from your Private Health Extras either when claiming on your contacts. Some lenses are $700 a pair, some are $1200, but even the top covers will only refund around $300 a year. Do make sure your hospital cover includes major eye surgery though. You may not ever need a graft, but you’ll thank yourself if you do.
3. RGP Lenses are uncomfortable (these were fairly standard back in the late 90s/early 2000s), but lens technology will vastly improve over time, and there’ll be more comfortable options.
4. Your Keratoconus most likely won’t always keep getting worse. As with most people, my condition settled down in my mid-30s (and these days, they do corneal cross-linking to help stop it regressing even sooner)
5. You will lose contact lenses. They are expensive. You’ll learn quickly that you need to be careful. Wear goggles swimming, take eye drops if you’re going out drinking, and someday, when phones have torches, they’ll become your best friend when you’re trying to find a dropped lens on the floor.
6. Find a good daily lens cleaner and use it religiously. As your lenses get older, use it morning and night for more comfy wear. America and Europe have some better lens cleaners, so try them out and stock up when you’re there. (or wait for online shopping to become a thing!)
7. Take an old pair of contacts on holidays. If you lose a lens, at least you’ll have a fall-back. Finding an optometrist who knows about Keratoconus in another language is near impossible, and even if you can order lenses, they’ll probably take weeks to arrive.
8. You’ll find yourself in situations without lens solution. Never use saliva or put in a dry lens. It will probably rip a layer off your cornea, and I can confirm that it is several thousand times more painful than it sounds.
9. You will quickly become immune to any queasiness about touching your eye-ball, you’ll become a pro at inserting contact lenses, and your new party trick will be cutting up onions without shedding a tear!
10. Most importantly, use the resources provided by Keratoconus Australia, and try to attend one of their meetings. You’ll learn so much about your condition, how to deal with it, get to talk to others who have learnt to live with it, and find out about the very latest info on lenses, Corneal Cross-linking, and other advances that you can talk to your optometrist about. You’ll also discover that you’re not alone, and you most certainly can still live a great life with Keratoconus with a few tweaks to your lifestyle, and some character-building adventures along the way.
Good luck on your journey!
World of Rowwdy 