Love the Way You See Even With Keratoconus

• Do you have keratoconus or another corneal condition that is greatly impacting your vision?
• Have you been bounced from eye doctor to doctor, unable to find the right solution?
• Did your doctor tell you that you must have surgery, like INTACS, corneal crosslinking, or a corneal transplant?
• Are you worried you won’t pass your DMV test or are unsafe to drive safely especially at night time?
• Does keratoconus make you feel down and depressed because it’s  affected your ability to live life to the fullest?

If ANY of the above applies to you, then you’ve come to the right place. We see many patients with keratoconus who have started to give up hope, or were told that their only option was a corneal transplant when it just is not true with modern day technology. We see patients that have had INTACS yet still do not see clearly. Corneal transplant surgery is the last option (not the first!) when dealing with keratoconus.

What is Keratoconus?

Keratoconus, which literally means “cone-shaped cornea,” is the most common corneal dystrophy in the US, affecting 1 in every 500 people. This noninflammatory, progressive thinning of the cornea causes the front part of the eye to bulge outwards, resulting in a pointed shape like the end of a football. There is no known significant geographic, cultural, or social pattern to the prevalence of keratoconus; it occurs all over the world and affects all races and genders equally. It is very similar to pellucid marginal degeneration.

Those with keratoconus usually start in their late teens or early twenties. It usually progresses for 20 years until it finally stabilizes. Meanwhile, one’s vision will progressively get worse and worse, leading to extreme myopia, halos at night, and glare and blurred vision.

Symptoms of Keratoconus

The earliest symptoms of keratoconus include slight blurring, distortion, and increased sensitivity to light due to the abnormal shape of the cornea. It can lead to extreme nearsightedness, or myopia, and astigmatism. Double vision in one eye and “ghost” images, or the appearance of several images when looking at an object, may also occur. In more severe cases, the protruding shape of the cornea can even cause a tiny crack to develop and the cornea to swell. Patients with keratoconus also may feel a very itchy sensation but should avoid rubbing their eyes at all costs since this can exacerbate the condition.

Unfortunately, keratoconus may be mistaken for other eye conditions such as cataracts or even a mere change in prescription, so it is important to get your eyes checked! An eye professional can detect changes in your cornea that may not be so obvious by just looking in the mirror. The main sign that an optometrist will sees is an abnormally high curve or steepening of your cornea. One of the diagnostic tools your optometrist will use is a corneal topographer. This will measure the curvature of your cornea.

Why Do Keratoconus patients suffer?

Initially, glasses or soft contact lenses may be sufficient to correct for mild myopia and astigmatism in patients with Keratoconus. However, as the cornea continues to thin, patients will usually need special contact lenses to get their best vision because glasses won’t work well enough anymore. This is due to uncorrected higher order aberrations caused by the irregular shape of the cornea. To put it simply, there are aberrations from light that are unable to be corrected with glasses because the surface of the eye is so uneven.

In the past, the go to solution for keratoconus was rigid gas permeable (hard) contact lenses. However, many patients with rigid gas permeable lenses reported a lot of irritation and discomfort with the lenses. These patients usually suffer for many years, and were told that if rigid gas permeable lenses then didn’t work, the next recommendation was a corneal transplant (a very severe surgery).

Non-surgical treatments for keratoconus

Here at Insight Vision Center Optometry, with the appropriate treatment we are able to restore patients with keratoconus often to 20/20 vision! Our doctors focus on non-surgical treatment options for keratoconus. We have treated countless patients who were told they needed a corneal transplant but just needed the properly fit specialty contact lens. In fact, we often see patients who have already had eye surgery who still have vision issues. After treating them with the proper contact lens we’ve had tremendous success.

We have restored vision in patients with keratoconus who:

• Are entirely new to keratoconus
• Have tried other gas permeable lenses and failed
• Have had INTACS or other types of surgery but still can’t see clearly

We have 4 types of specialty contact lenses:

Scleral Contact Lenses
This is currently the most popular and successful method of treating keratoconus. Scleral contact lenses are larger than your traditional gas permeable lenses. They do not touch the cornea at all, which causes less rubbing on the cornea and thus are very comfortable to wear. Scleral lenses rest on the white part of the eye called the scleral. The lenses are filled with sterile saline solution before applying them to the eye. This bathes the eye with liquid and can help tremendously with chronic dry eye as well.

Rigid Gas Permeable (Hard) Contact Lenses
This involves a small hard contact lens that is placed directly onto the cornea. It is gas permeable which means that oxygen can flow freely through the material as well. These lenses are the smallest in size of all the specialty contact lenses.

Custom Soft Contact Lenses
For some patients we design a soft contact lens that is more durable than the traditional disposable contact lenses in order to treat high prescriptions associated with keratoconus.

Piggyback Contact Lenses
Some patients cannot tolerate a gas permeable (hard) contact lens on their eye. In this scenario we consider adding a soft contact lens to the eye and then placing a gas permeable lens over the soft lens. This makes it more comfortable for the patient by using the soft contact lens as a soft barrier for the gas permeable (hard) lens.

Surgical Treatment options for Keratoconus

At Insight Vision Center Optometry we are proactive in treating keratoconus and halting its progression so that our patients are able to maintain clear vision life long.

In these cases, we often recommend an FDA approved procedure called corneal crosslinking. Our doctors comanage with the best corneal surgeons and will discuss if pursuing corneal crosslinking is appropriate for you. We will also discuss other options such as INTACS or corneal transplant surgery and what are the pros and cons to each option.

What Keratoconus Treatment is Best for YOU?

Our doctors LOVE to speak directly to you before you come in for an evaluation. This helps us to understand your history and gives us an opportunity to review your case before you even come into the office for our evaluation. This phone conversation is free and will help us learn more about your case and what can possibly be done to treat your condition.

The Life of a Patient with Keratoconus

Here is the personal story of Jessica.

“My name is Jessica and when I was a kid up until my teenage years my vision was fine. I didn’t know I had any problems and no one else in my family as far as I knew had keratoconus.
In 2005 I went to my local optometrist and they tried giving me a pair of glasses when I first noticed my vision wasn’t good. I was having glare problems at night, and everything I saw had a ghosty or sort of shadowy outline haze to it. Even with glasses I couldn’t see that well and I was referred out. The specialist told me I had keratoconus and since then it’s become a big part of my life. I was fit with hard contacts but they never felt right and would pop out of my eyes. I gave up on them after 2 years because my eyes would get red and felt itchy when I wore the lenses. They told me eventually I would need a corneal transplant. I was pretty scared about getting a transplant… I was in my 20’s and started to worry if I would go blind because of keratoconus.

In 2015, my vision was getting really bad. I was driving around a lot for work and social events but I would get double vision and driving at night time was nearly impossible. Headlights on the road would look streaky and elongated. I was miserable and semi-depressed because I was having a hard time working as well. I probably looked mad all the time too because I was squinting nonstop at the computer screen when working. I didn’t tell many people about it and suffered silently.exper

I did some research online and went to Insight Vision Center Optometry whom I heard worked a lot with patients with keratoconus. Dr. Mai was excited and had a lot of energy, but I was a little nervous. He told me good news, that because my cornea didn’t have any severe scarring that my outlook was pretty good. I appreciated hearing that because even though my other docs were nice, they were not excited or positive about what they could do but sort of felt sorry for me.

He took measurements and ordered scleral contact lenses for me. 10 days later I got them and was BLOWN away. Everything was so clear, even better than my small gas permeable lenses. The lens felt really comfortable, almost like I was wearing nothing at all.

He measured my vision at 20/20 in both eyes. I was floored. I feel like I’ve never seen that clearly in the last 10 years of my life. I can wear my scleral lenses all day long and can now drive at night much easier. I feel like my life has really opened up. I’m so grateful.”

Scleral contact lenses can improve vision for those with keratoconus. Dr. Thanh Mai with one of his many happy patients who now have excellent vision! He hasn’t seen this clearly in over 20 years!

Keratoconus successfully treated to 20/20 vision! We love to help our patients live life to the fullest.

Talk to Us Today and Learn More About Keratoconus Treatment

Our goal is to provide patients with access to excellent eye care. Get started by calling (714) 486-3315.

We encourage you to schedule a Keratoconus consultation to help determine the best course of action for your vision needs or complete our contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

We would also love if you can visit us at our Orange County office for keratoconus treatment. We are located in Costa Mesa but service all surrounding areas and would love to be your keratoconus doctor in Santa Ana, Irvine, Tustin, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Orange, or Placentia.