Change in your child’s eyeglass power may signal worse defects

By Elizabeth Mwai

If your child is constantly changing the power of their eyeglasses, there could be a serious eye problem in the offing.

About 300,000 children suffer from Keratoconous — a degenerative disorder of the eye characterised by thinning and bulging of the cornea hence the changing of the power of the lenses.

Children between six and 20 years are most susceptible to the illness, whose symptoms include squinting, blood shot eyes and constant rubbing

The Laser Eye Centre Medical Ltd Director Mukesh Joshi says if the condition is arrested early it is possible to stop eyesight loss through a procedure known as cross linking. But if late corneal transplant is the only reprieve.

"Unfortunately the condition is not being diagnosed because of lack of proper equipment," says Dr Joshi.

The eye specialist explains that the illness causes the cornea to thin out, perforate and whiten resulting in blurred vision. A normal cornea is shaped like a watch glass, but the disease causes it to thin and bulge becoming cone shaped. A cone shaped cornea cannot perform its main function of focusing light rays entering the eye onto the retina.

Joshi explains that the use of the normal tools cannot diagnose Keratoconous in the early stages.

The disease causes substantial distortion of vision, with multiple images, streaking and sensitivity to light all often reported by the patient.

It is diagnosed in the patient’s adolescent years and attains its most severe state in the twenties and thirties.

Contact lenses

Topolyzer, the latest diagnosis tool is locally only available at Laser Eye Centre Ltd. In a topography examination images give an accurate shape of the cornea. Joshi says corneal grafting or transplant is another option as the diseased cornea is removed and replaced with a donor cornea. But the procedure has a slow healing period and there is always the risk of rejection.

He says the latest treatment is cross-linking, a mini invasive procedure that strengthens the corneal structure by using vitamin B12 and special ultra violet light.

"If Keratoconus is diagnosed cross-linking can be done at one fifth of the cost of a corneal transplant," says Josh. An assessment costs about Sh5, 000.