Dear 16-year-old Chrissy,
So you've just stumbled out of the doctor's office feeling very uncertain and stepping into the unknown.
You always knew something was wrong with your eyes, didn't you?
Remember how you would memorize the eye chart in the medical room at school so you wouldn't have to wear glasses?
It finally became apparent you couldn't carry on didn't it?
You had to change glasses every few weeks and then that stupid doctor who said you may have a brain tumor because your eyesight deteriorated so rapidly.
It's actually a relief to know what's wrong isn't it Chrissy?
So now you know your dodgy eyes, are due to something called Keratoconus, I'll tell you what will happen….
1. You will NOT go blind
2. In a few weeks you'll get your first contact lenses, and you'll faint for the first (and hopefully the last!) time in your life, the clarity and brightness of of the world was too much for your poor brain to deal with.
The lenses will be uncomfortable for the first week or so and getting them in and out will be a time consuming, frustrating battle.
And that's it really.
After a month you won't even know you're wearing lenses, popping them in and out takes seconds in your daily routine.
Having Keratoconus WILL NOT stop you from doing anything, you'll learn to drive, go to university, work in your chosen career and lead an absolutely normal life except for those few lens popping seconds in the morning and those few lens popping seconds at night.
Just a few bits of advice…
Always go to a hospital for your annual checkup. High street opticians are fine, but probably see one person with Keratoconus in their lifetime (we're an exclusive bunch!) whereas optometrists in hospitals see loads of us every week.
Buy the best sunglasses you can afford, always have them with you and don't be shy wearing them.
Oh and one final thing, look after your teeth. They'll give you far much more pain, worry and expense than your eyes.
By 48 year old Chrissy xx
Freaked out and screamed at this mutant spider. But then I remembered I didn't have my contact lenses in #keratoconus pic.twitter.com/TslEFp9s20— Christina Wallis (@xtinewallis) September 30, 2014
Write a letter to yourself on the day of keratoconus diagnosis.
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