photo by David Ball
I’ve been so busy at work lately that I’ve not been able to breathe…. but when I saw this article, I just had to share it with my readers especially since I work in this industry (user interface.) I’m sure the low vision audience already knows this – but the others may find it very informative.
“… I started using a screen reader to see (I suppose I should say “experience”) how a blind user navigates a website..”
Read the entire post here.
Quick post to let you know that I just made a new page which covers the chronology from my first Dr. appt to one year after the surgery. Same posts, but in chronological order.
http://corneanews.com/about-kerataconus/chronology/
My daughter is totally into Anime and Manga characters, so I’m going to pass this through to my readers… Please share this with those you know with tweens or teens.
Postscript: Apparently these lenses are now making their way into the child pageant circuit. Unbelievable!!!
FDA issues warning about decorative contact lenses
Silver Spring, MD – People who use decorative contact lenses as part of their Halloween costumes should consider risks such as an eye infection, cornea damage, vision loss and blindness, according to a consumer update released Oct. 12 by the Food and Drug Administration.
Classified as medical devices, decorative lenses must be specially designed and fitted to a patient’s eyes and are not “one size fits all,” according to FDA. The agency warns consumers to be wary of vendors that do not require a prescription or provide thorough instruction for the lenses.
FDA recommends the following for people wearing decorative lenses this Halloween season:
National Public Radio gives Keratoconus some much-needed publicity today in the US. Sadly, they didn’t mention some of the most important points of the disease, such as DALK vs. PK, advances in contact lenses, or encouragement of organ donation. Still, it’s great to have such a big increase in awareness.
This is what my corneal topography looked like after 2 sutures removed, and led to the removal of two more.
I saw on the web today that Cornea Day in San Diego happened yesterday. Edward J. Holland, MD and W. Barry Lee, MD did a panel on surgical techniques. Dr. Holland had told me that he planned to do this, specifically that there was a section about how more corneal surgeons need to master the DALK/Big Bubble technique in order to leverage its advantages.
“Despite the technically challenging aspects of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty, the big-bubble technique can and should be mastered, a presenter said here. “Corneal surgeons must add DALK to their surgical scope,” W. Barry Lee, MD, FACS, said during a presentation at Cornea Day, which preceded the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting. “Get familiar with the big-bubble DALK steps.” Dr. Lee discussed Anwar’s big-bubble DALK technique, stating that the main goal is to place an air injection posteriorly into the stroma to provide contrast between residual stroma and Descemet’s membrane. The surgeon should create a paracentesis to release pressure and inject a small air bubble to confirm the successful placement of the big bubble, according to Dr. Lee.”
I hope to ask Dr. Holland how the event went – and perhaps even get a copy of the transcript.
Check out all the contact lenses I’ve tried in my journey with keratoconus. This is probably 1/3 the actual count.
There are some who would rather not see healing eye photos, but still want to read the blog, so I have placed the day-5-healing-eye photo behind this cute fuzzy kitten.
The photo shows my eye, and the medical contact lens on it, still red from the surgery. Compared to a perfect eye it looks rough, but it is healing and getting better daily!
Click kitten to see my healing eye on Day 5
Key to photo:
1) Waviness… it appears that the front of my eye is all wavy, but it is not. This is a result of the “band-aid” contact lens. It’s annoying because it affects my vision, but important as it’s aiding the healing of my epithelium.
2) Beautiful little sutures. 1/20th the size of human hair. I do not have a continuous stitch.
3) The edge of the bandage contact lens – very hard to see. This is a soft lens around the size of a quarter dollar.
I did a bit of searching for good examples of how life looks when you have Keratoconus… Here are the images I found. Some images weren’t credited… so if you are the creator/artist/photographer and I have used an image you would like removed, please make contact with me.
Example 1 (click to zoom)
Example 2: Click to zoom
Example 3 - Click to Zoom (From Brian Williams' Excellent Diary - see blogroll)
Example 4 - click to zoom (Ghosting)
Well, I set out today to take a good quality picture of my cone, and managed to do it (after 20-30 tries) with my iPhone4. It’s not easy getting the alignment right.
Alas… you now see the culprit. A ugly, lumpy cornea with a bulge at the bottom. If you zoom these, the cone is really obvious.
 Keratoconus - Cone from side |
 Semi Scleral Lens Covering Keratoconic Cornea |
 Keratoconus - Cone from side |
 Semi Scleral Lens Covering Keratoconic Cornea - Arrows show perimeter. |
Read my 1-year diary from the beginning.
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