My story begins in September of 1999. I had noticed a dramatic decline in  the ability to see out of my left eye. Almost every morning I thought I had put the wrong contact in my left eye and ended up switching back and forth a few times until I was certain that although it was bad it was the correct contact. 

I hadn't been to the eye doctor since 92-3 so I made an appointment and went in. the result was not just a new contact  with a different prescription but a new word describing the problem. Before this eye appointment I knew that I had astigmatism and nearsightedness but now I also had KERATOCONUS. 

Unlike the other 2 problems Keratoconus cannot be corrected for with glasses because your Cornea is so irregular that glasses cannot conform to the shape. contacts are somewhat limited as well. early on as I had found soft contacts can conform better to the funny shape your cornea is becoming. later on however hard contacts or a piggyback of hard over soft may be the only way to fit it. 

Starting in April of 2001 I decided that I would try and get the problem corrected since I was mostly unable to really see anything out of my left eye. during our open enrollment I setup a Flex acct through work so I would not have to pay taxes on the dollars I spent on my many eye doctor appointments. My eye doctor tried all of the methods above hard contacts, hard over soft, soft contacts with special hard reinforcements and had no luck.  she went on maternity leave the end of October.  

I started emailing people who had published articles about treating Keratoconus that I found on the web. Most of them responded but their suggestion was to travel to where they were to be examined, in several cases that would have meant traveling to Switzerland or Russia. 

I finally emailed Dr Vance Thompson from Ophthalmology Limited here in Sioux Falls.  He said to make an appointment so I could be evaluated for a treatment in which little plastic bowlike devices are implanted to flatten out the cornea. My appointment was set for November 26th. 

When I went in for the appointment I had a several tests run you will find links to them on the left. these tests showed that my cornea was so eroded and bulging that it was almost off of the machines range. This meant that the implants were out of the question. 

The only option became corneal transplants and if I was interested they could let me meet with the surgeon for evaluation. After he looked at my charts and looked at my eyes he said if I wanted we should get me put on the waiting list for a donor cornea. I accepted and now in under a month I have already had the surgery done.

If you want to contact me I can be reached by email and chat