Hello everyone. Sorry I have not written a blog for a while it has been really busy here at SeeAbility. This blog is all about how I look after my eyes and why it's really important!

Keratoconus

I have a condition called Keratoconus where the cornea is like a rugby ball and not naturally curved. I have had lots of surgery to correct my eyes.

My keratoconus was first diagnosed when I was 7 years old. I have had two eye operations to stop me losing my sight.

Lots of people with learning disabilities have keratoconus. It is really important that people have regular eye tests to make sure their eyes are healthy. SeeAbility has information about keratoconus in an easy read factsheet.

And information about treatments for keratoconus.

Daily life with eye drops

People who I work with will not know how much preparation it takes me before I get to work in the morning and last thing at night.

I have four different eyes drops which are FML, Opatonol, Dorzolamide/Timolol and Celluvisc.

The labels of my eye drops are not easy to read so I have to look at the packaging to recognise each eye drops.

It has not been easy to understand what they are for so I needed a lot of support to understand what each eye drop is used for.

When I had to first use eye drops I was living at home with mum so I really had to teach myself with the support of mum to use the eye drops and now I do my eye drops myself.

The eye drops have to be taken at least ten minutes apart in the morning and at night.

Before I start my working day that’s 40 minutes in the morning already gone and then the same at night.

It's really important I take these eye drops because they stop me rubbing my eyes and keeps the pressure down in my eyes. The drops also stop my cornea graft rejecting.

In order to keep my eyes free from infection I have to wash my hands every time I touch my eye or put an eye drop in my eye.

SeeAbility has an easy read factsheet about eye drops.

Contact lenses

For many people with learning disabilities, they may not be able to cope with contact lenses so you need good support to use them properly.

I have to put my contact lenses in my eyes every morning and take them out every night so I will tell you about my routine for this.

1. I wash my hands before I touch my contact lenses to make sure there is no dirt or germs on my hands.
2. Then I check the contact lenses for any tears or dirt on them but I normally use the special solution anyway to make sure its clean.
3. I will then put the contact lenses in my eye and check its comfortable.
4. Then I wash my hands again.
5. When I come home I take my contact lenses out by washing my hands before I touch my eye so they are clean and infection free.
6. I take the lenses out.
7. I clean the lenses in special solution check for any damage or tears.
8. I put a special solution into my sterile contact lenses case and place the lenses in there.
9. Then I wash my hands again.

And finally, if I don’t look after my eyes by doing all of my eye drops, putting my contact lenses in, and attending my regular hospital appointments, I would not be able to do my job that I am doing now at SeeAbility and would be sitting at home eating pringles up close to the tv screen playing my Wii!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Until next time,
Scott.