Keratoconus and Mental Health

It is world Keratoconus day! November 10th. The purpose of Keratoconus Day is to raise awareness and so people can see (pun intended) what it is all about. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Keratoconus (ker-uh-toe-KOH-nus) is an eye condition in which your cornea — the clear, dome-shaped front of your eye — gets thinner and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape.” In other words, the eye is not shaped like it's supposed to be. However, the actual cause of it is still unknown. Hopkins Medicine (2021)  states that 1 in 2,000 individuals have Keratoconus. Keratoconus can not be cured or reversed, but fear not, there are solutions!  Rigid Contacts (corrective lense that are Rigid or Scleral)  and cross-linking (only for extreme cases, a type of surgery which corrects and thins the cone shape) have made it so people with Keratoconus can continue with their daily lives. It's important to note that cross-linking does not cure Keratoconus, it lessens its evolution.

 Going through daily life with keratoconus does not come without challenges, especially with Mental Wellness. According to the National Keratoconus Foundation (2023), many people with Keratoconus have symptoms of Anxiety and/or depression. The level of severity depends on the person, and many people with keratoconus have general daily challenges and anxiety or depression. Oftentimes, poor vision has an influence on mental health but is not the only factor creating anxiety or depression. According to the CDC, vision loss is linked with Loneliness. Feeling isolated and having an increase of worry.  While it does sound grim, there is Good News! Research from the Collaborative Evaluation of Keratoconus (2007) suggests that people with Keratoconus became more accepting of it as the year went by. Meaning there is a positive increase in mental health with time. If you or anyone you know is having challenges or experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, remember it is important to find resources and find the most effective psychotherapy for you.

Why is Hubbis Fabian LMFT a good Psychotherapist for you? Hubbis Fabian LMFT from Path Of Compassion Marriage and Family Therapy had a diagnosis of Keratoconus at the age of 24. Some of her challenges with Keratoconus are double vision, driving at night, reading, school, being drained from wearing contacts during work hours and dealing with the daily blurriness and fog. She also struggled with mental health, she experienced depression while experiencing grief of the diagnosis and daily everyday anxiety.  She states, “Getting the contacts was the greatest blessing I had received, I was able to see for the first time the freckles on my kiddo's faces, and my mental wellness improved greatly. After I was able to manage my mental health, I was able to pursue a professional career.”

All this is to say that having Keratoconus is a challenge and should never be dismissed. With World Keratoconus Day, we hope to share and enlighten what people with Keratoconus go through. Give yourself or someone you know with Keratoconus a big, reassuring, empathic hug for another year of Keratoconus. 

 Written By: Hubbis Fabian LMFT and Blaze Gonzalez.

Sources: 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, September 27). Vision loss and Mental Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/resources/features/vision-loss-mental-health.html#:~:text=Loss%20of%20vision%20has%20been,loss%20reported%20anxiety%20or%20depression 

Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2021, August 8). Keratoconus. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/keratoconus#:~:text=Keratoconus%20is%20an%20eye%20disease,progressing%20into%20the%20mid%2D30s 

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2023, April 5). Keratoconus. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/keratoconus/symptoms-causes/syc-20351352#:~:text=Keratoconus%20(ker%2Duh%2Dtoe,Keratoconus%20usually%20affects%20both%20eyes 

National Keratoconus Foundation. (2023, August 10). World KC Day. NKCF.org. https://nkcf.org/world-kc-day/ 

Wagner, H., Barr, J. T., & Zadnik, K. (2007). Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study: methods and findings to date. Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association, 30(4), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2007.03.001