Diagnosis

Hi my name is Vicky, at the time of writing I am 29 years old and i have Keratoconus – shortened to KC- I was diagnosed at 17 and at the time I had no idea what KC was and the impact it would have on my life.
I guess it must of started when I first started Junior School at age 7. I’d find it hard to see the blackboard in class and I had a lot of headaches so my mum took me to an optician who told her that there was nothing wrong with me.
So I struggled on my eyesight slowly getting worse until towards the end of Juniors when I was told that I needed glasses but only for reading and writing but as I was young I didn’t think about the repercussions of wearing them all the time. Eventually my eyes got so used to it that I was told I had to wear them all the time. It was at this point I was told I was short sighted.
I moved to Birmingham when I was 14 and in terms of whether or not it helped me I must say that it most definitely did. I was happier in myself and I did better in school, I even got a progress prize in my first year at my new school. My eyesight was however getting worse, although at this point the deterioration was slow enough not to be too worried about it. I still enjoyed doing hobbies such as writing song lyrics and cross stitching, I even stitched a picture for my Grandma (which she still has to this day).

Eventually I left school and started working at a day nursery which I loved as I was working with kids. It was while working here that I found that although I was going for regular check ups (and my prescription had changed every time) within a week of having new glasses I was finding it hard to see again, but rather than being a nuisance I’d just struggle on until my next appointment.
It was at one of my regular appointments that I was told I had Keratoconus.

At this point I had no idea what Keratoconus was and the explanation I was given was that my eyeball was no longer round but it was rugby ball shaped (I now know that this is not the case) and as I was young and naive I took this as gospel and thought nothing more about it.

To be continued