Hi, I'm Mohamed and I'm 25 years old. I work as a neurologist. I was diagnosed with keratoconus about 4 years ago-I was in the med school- I could manage it with glasses for 1 year then the condition progressed and rgp lenses were recommended and managed to do just fine with them -with a few inevitable complications- for almost 2 years but still the condition was progressive and I had to do epi-on corneal crosslinking last February hoping the progression to stop and even the vision to improve, but I was wrong as it turned out and the CXL l did no good to me.
The progression continued despite the CXL and I had to go back to the RGP lenses with a small difference this time , I couldn't tolerate them any more, I tried other lenses but still no difference. So I moved back to glasses with all the limitations regarding the visual acuity (6/24 bilateral) the haze and glares which became disabling regarding my career.
I checked with more physicians and they agreed that the next proper step would be DALK as my KC is advanced and that the corneal rings wouldn't be an effective or applicable solution considering my KC stage and my job.
I'm very reluctant when it comes to surgery and I can only see the complications that would happen (vascularization, rejection, opacification) so I don't want to do it and at the same time I can't go on with my career and my life like this.
I'm considering making a career shift and wait for my vision to decline in its natural course.
I don't see this ending well for me whatever the decision I make.
UPDATE 1: I decided to go after the possibility of keratoplasty but I was rejected by the committee responsible for assessing KC patients and advised me to do the rings instead. So I will be having the rings in both my eyes by the beginning of the next month.
UPDATE 2: I had my corneal rings surgery yesterday on both of my eyes. I have follow up appointment tomorrow to assess the response and hopefully get a new glasses prescription that will help me see clearly again.
By Mohamed