Thank you to whoever referred this special keratoconus patient to our office!
We had the pleasure of seeing a 24 year old hispanic male today for a specialty lens consultation. He called the office and could not remember his referring doctor or clinic and he did not know what eye condition he had.
He mentioned his eye was shaped like a football, so we went ahead to schedule him for a consult. Upon case history he mentioned he had very blurry vision for many years and does not wear any glasses or contacts. His medical history was negative for any conditions.
His topography showed severe keratoconus in each eye as well as scleral toricity on the sMap images. He can only see count fingers in the right eye and 20/100 "distorted and blurry" in the left eye. Upon slit lamp exam he did have some evidence of prior hydrops in both eyes.
Hydrops is a condition where the endothelial layer of the cornea thins and breaks. When this happens, water from the inside of the eye enters the cornea resulting in very poor vision, eye pain, watery eyes, and sensitivity to light.
We educated the patient on his condition (keratoconus) and explained the different treatment options. An obvious option for him would be a corneal transplant. When we see patients with hydrops, they almost always need a corneal transplant in order to see their best.
He was not personally ready for a transplant and wanted to check his vision through a scleral lens. We fit him into scleral lenses and checked his vision.
He could see 20/60 in each eye and reported the double vision, distortion and shadowing was much improved. I explained the pros and cons of a corneal transplant vs a scleral lens fit.
He decided to proceed with the scleral lens fit for now. We referred him to a local ophthalmologist for corneal transplant evaluation as well.
Thanks again to the doctor who sent him to our clinic! He was very happy with the improvement in his vision.
