I was diagnosed with Keratoconus in early 2012. I had gone for a routine check up at the opticians; I’d had some difficulties with my eyesight shortly before the appointment but nothing what I would have considered to be out of the ordinary. It had been two years since my last visit and I was simply keen to get an updated prescription.

I knew something was up when in the initial screening tests, one of them didn’t work. The assistant couldn’t get a reading and needed the optician to come out and check. For those who are veterans of the eye test, it’s the one where you stare at a balloon in a distance and it goes in and out of focus. I believe this is an autorefractor, although I could be mistaken. The optician couldn’t get a reading either, for the record.

The rest of the eyesight test went…