Keratoconus Philippines

Many patients are asking if they can still do weight lifting since they have keratoconus.   During weight lifting, in order to carry tons of weight, a powerlifter may utilise a breathing pattern which involves  Valsalva manoeuvre.  According to wikipedia, t he V alsalva  manoeuvre  is performed by moderately forceful attempted exhalation against closed airway,  usually done by closing one's mouth, pinching one's nose shut while pressing out as if blowing up a balloon. Other situations where Valsava manoeuvre is done are during  diving, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, air travel and sometimes even going to the restroom doing your number 1.   According to Findley, Keating and Toscano (2003), the Valsalva manoeuvre is commonly used in powerlifting  to stabilise the trunk during activities such as squat, deadlift, and bench press.    So what happens to the cornea when Valsalva manoeuvre i...

When you asked keratoconus patients, almost all would say that they indeed had a history of eye rubbing.  I always tell patients that the eyeball is similar to a bread, when you try to use your hand to squeeze the bread, some portion will be dented.  Similar to it, the cornea, when rubbed may be dented in one area.  The difference in the curvature produced by eye rubbing can lead to astigmatism.  Eye rubbing can produce surface irregularity on the cornea and triggers keratoconus in some susceptible patients.   Why do patients rub their eyes?  Eyes can be itchy due to allergies.  When allergies are found, it is important to rule out the cause and manage it well. Anti-histamine medicines can be taken, but if the allergy is only found on the eye,  then anti-histamine drops can be used to control the itchiness.   Sometimes, mechanical issues such as eyelashes growing inwards (photo above), which poke the cornea can cause the eye to be ir...

Bubbles in scleral lenses can be bothersome.  A large bubble may interfere with your vision and you will feel the lens will move more.  This happens when you insert your lens incorrectly such as when you had not filled the lens bowl completely, you moved your eye away from the lens when the lens was about to touch your cornea or your eyelid may have moved the lens down upon insertion allowing bubbles to enter the lens.  All you have to do is to reinsert the lens again. If you were having difficulty to avoid very small bubbles in the lens, then you can try to put 2 drops of Celluvisc drops in the lens bowl then fill the remaining space with non-preserved, non-buffered saline.  This will hopefully help prevent air to enter.  Happy wearing!

November 10 is WORLDKC Day!  I tell my keratoconus patients about it and they were all surprised that there is such a day.  It is not actually a celebration that they have keratoconus, but it is  a good time to raise awareness about this disease.   Keratoconus is a condition where the cornea becomes thinner progressively over time.  Although the real cause is unknown, it is often associated with atopic diseases, history of eye rubbing and may sometimes have a genetic role.  Symptoms of keratoconus includes blurring of vision, light sensitivity, ghosting of vision and frequent need to change the prescription.  When the central cornea is affected, patient will not be able to achieve 20/20 vision.   The younger the patient is diagnosed, the more severe the keratoconus usually is.  There is a higher percentage of incidence in Asians with both genders being affected equally.  The incidence was estimated to be 1 in 2000, b...

One of the most common signs of keratoconus is frequent change of eyeglasses.   It is common to find the need to change your glasses due to constant increase of prescription.   You may find that in a year, you need to have your lenses changed at least twice, and in most cases, you are always not satisfied with the vision your new glasses give you.   Your nearsightedness keeps on increasing and you do not know what to do.   In early stages, keratoconus can mask itself as just a simple error of refraction specifically nearsightedness and astigmatism.  A characteristic of a keratoconus cone is having a steep cornea, and this will cause the light to converge in front of the retina, causing nearsightedness.  And because the changes on the cornea can be uneven, irregular astigmatism is being created.   In mild cases, patients can still achieve a 20/20 vision while wearing their glasses and eventually as the disease progresses, vision is not correc...

I have keratoconus patients as young as 8 and as old as 50.  And one of the questions that they usually ask is when will their keratoconus stop progressing?  It has been found that kids usually progress faster and leads to more advanced cases, while for those that were diagnosed in their 20's would not progress as fast compared to the kids.  The protocol would still be to have collagen cross linking if the cornea is still thick enough for the procedure.  With collagen cross linking, riboflavin drops in combination with UV rays strengthen the collagen fibrils of the cornea, enabling the resistance of the cornea to get thinner and protrude.  A study also showed that the as one ages, there is a natural process of cross linking, and thus it was concluded that around the 4th decade of life, keratoconus would be stable already.    That is good news I guess, getting older has its perks, but if you have keratoconus and has reached the age of 40,  you are ...

Scleral Lens With Deposits Does this look familiar?  Scleral lenses, similar to other types of lenses are also prone to deposits.  This is specially true as the lens does not move much and causes tears to be stagnant behind the lens for a few hours.  How to clean this lens?  Digitally rubbing the lens with a strong gas permeable solution and cleaner will help.  Using AOSept Plus or Clear Care Solution can also aid in everyday cleaning (Note:  6 hours minimum soaking time).  Using Progent every 2 weeks will also help clear out stubborn deposits (Special instructions apply).  We also encourage patients to use q-tips soaked with saline or gas permeable solution to clean both surfaces every Sunday.  This is to be done lightly as not to remove any plasma coating on the lens.   Doing these extra cleaning steps will do wonders for your comfortable scleral lens wear.  Scleral lenses do a fantastic job i...