World Keratoconus Awareness Day

Every year, the 10th of November is observed as the ‘World Keratoconus Awareness Day’. This day aims at creating awareness about its impact on people who are suffering from it and their family and friends. It is essential to educate people about all the symptoms and causes of it. Several health care units and hospitals engage in creating awareness through education seminars, screening programs, and webinars. The focus also lies in scientific research done to bring out better treatment for the disease. Of all the things, it is essential to support anyone who is dealing with Keratoconus.

About Keratoconus

The word comes from two Greek words – kerato meaning cornea, and konus which means cone. It is a condition wherein the cornea’s shape gets distorted which eventually develops a cone-shaped bulge. This consequently results in decreased or distorted vision. Keratoconus is bilateral and asymmetric in nature. It means the disease affects both the eyes and one of the eyes is comparatively affected more. The issue starts from puberty itself and it is associated with allergies like asthma, hay fever, and eczema. With allergies, people have a tendency to rub their eyes excessively. It is strongly suggested by doctors not to rub eyes as it may aggravate the disease. Some of the other symptoms of keratoconus include:

1. Reduced vision
2. Frequent changing power of prescribed glasses
3. Double vision
4. High cylindrical number
5. Finding halos and shadows around objects

Someone who has not been diagnosed with keratoconus may complain of multiple images and may have had faced refractive correction changes with negligible improvement in visual acuity. There are possibilities that patients may face issues like light intolerance, foreign body sensation, and photophobia. Keratoconus is a rare disease and as per the National Keratoconus Foundation, Keratoconus occurs in about 1 person out of every 2,000 people amongst the general population. It has been observed that due to a lack of awareness and misdiagnosis, people become blind in the long run. This throws light on the fact, how good treatment is crucial for people who are suffering from it. The ‘World Keratoconus Awareness Day’ focuses on increasing awareness, encouraging research for the treatment and discovering better treatment options. With a day dedicated to keratoconus, one may see several campaigns across social media. A lot of people even come on different social media platforms to share their stories, their battles and how they have come over it. It immensely helps other people in society to learn about it and how it impacts people suffering from it.

Efforts by Centre For Sight for the Keratoconus Patients

CFS centers have the latest and state-of-the-art corneal topography systems (Pentacam, Orbscan). These systems help in determining and monitoring keratoconus. At CFS, there are other modern-day Keratoconus treatment modalities like:

• Corneal collagen crosslinking
• Intrastromal ring segments
• Implantable Collamer Lenses (ICL)
• Corneal transplantation

Keratoconus can be treated when you have the right doctor to guide you and help you sail smoothly through the journey of recovery. If you or any of your loved ones are dealing with this problem, it is time to get the right treatment. Talk about it today.