Ophthalmic Procedures

Keratoconus

Keratoconus is a degenerative corneal disease that is usually hereditary and generally occurs while a person is in their late teens to thirties. Keratoconus causes a thinning and cone-shaped protrusion of the central cornea, resulting in poor vision. Keratoconus can also make the patient more vulnerable to infections and perforations of the cornea. If not treated blindness may eventually result.

At TriCounty Eye Institute, we perform a number of diagnostic tests to rule out any signs of keratoconus for our patients considering refractive surgery.

Because keratoconus leaves the cornea irregular and cone shaped, glasses quite often do not adequately correct the vision in patients with keratoconus. The majority of keratoconus patients see their best with rigid contact lenses since these lenses provide a smoother allowing the light rays to be projected clearly to the retina.

Heredity has not been clearly established. As a general rule, chances of a blood relative developing clinical keratoconus are less than 10%.Generally young patients with keratoconus are more likely to progress to the point where they may ultimately require some form of surgical intervention.
Many patients are initially unaware they have keratoconus and see their eye doctor because of increasing changes in their corrective lens prescription. In many instances even a good refraction yields poor vision. Keratoconus is most often diagnosed by a cornea specialist, like Dr. Mark Schneider during his refractive surgery evaluation.

 Keratoconus may occur in one eye only initially but most commonly affects both eyes. Both males and females are equally affected and there is no ethnic predilection.