Seeing clearly is not as easy as it sounds. My son was a normal kid who liked football, books, and movies. He never had any problems with his eyes or his grades.
But last year, everything changed. He started to squint a lot, especially when he was looking at far things. He said that his eyes were dry and itchy all the time. He also had headaches and tired eyes. I thought he might need glasses, so I took him to an eye doctor.
The doctor looked at his eyes and told me that he had something called keratoconus. She said that it was a disease that makes the cornea, the clear part of the eye, thin and stick out like a cone. This messes up the light that comes into the eye and makes vision blurry and weird.
She said that keratoconus can happen in one or both eyes, and that it usually starts when you are a teenager. She said that there was no way to fix keratoconus, but there were ways to slow it down and make vision better. She said that my son needed to have an eye surgery called corneal crosslinking as soon as possible, because keratoconus can get worse faster in young people.
Corneal crosslinking is a surgery that makes the cornea stronger by putting a special drop in the eye and then shining a UV light on it. This makes new connections between the fibers in the cornea, making it more stiff and stable. The surgery can stop keratoconus from getting worse and lower the chance of needing a new cornea in the future.
I was scared and worried about my son. I didn't know how he would handle having surgery on his eyes. I didn't know how it would affect his life and his dreams. I searched online and learned more about keratoconus and its treatments. I also joined some online groups and talked to other parents who had kids with keratoconus. They told me their stories and helped me out.
I decided to do the surgery for my son. He was brave and positive. He said that he wanted to see better and not let keratoconus stop him from doing what he loved. He had the surgery on his left eye, which was worse than his right eye. The surgery took about an hour, and he had to wear a bandage lens for a few days after the surgery. He also had to use some eye drops for several weeks.
He went back to the doctor for check-ups and tests. The doctor said that the surgery worked well and that his cornea was stable and stronger than before. He said that my son could now wear hybrid lenses in his left eye to improve his vision. Hybrid lenses are special lenses that have a hard center and a soft edge. They give better vision quality and comfort than regular soft or hard lenses for people with keratoconus.
He went back to his normal life and stuff. But getting used to contact lenses was not easy either. He had to learn how to put them on and take them off every day without hurting his eyes or dropping them. He has to clean them regularly with special solutions and store them in cases overnight. He has to follow the doctor's instructions on how long he could wear them each day and when he needed to replace them with new ones.
He has to carry some eye drops, glasses, and sunglasses with him wherever he went, just in case something happened to his lenses or his eyes needed a break from them. He also has to be careful not to rub his eyes or touch his lenses with dirty hands or water. He has to avoid swimming or showering with his lenses on, as they could get infected or damaged by the water.
He had to deal with some comments and questions from other people about his lenses. Some people are curious and want to know more about them. Some people were rude and made fun of him for having weird eyes or needing lenses. Some people were ignorant and thought that he was wearing them for fashion. He has to explain to them that he has keratoconus and that he needed lenses to see better.
I am proud of my son for being so strong and awesome. I am thankful for the doctors who helped him see better. I am hopeful for the future of keratoconus research and treatment. I am glad that we are not alone in this journey.
Antonia Birkusova