Skip to content

Summer 2017/18 iNews: Annual Report, Research, Crosslinking Videos and more

Happy and healthy New Year from the Keratoconus Australia team. We wish you a safe holiday season and all the best with managing your keratoconus in the coming year. We will be back soon to assist you in every way possible

You can assist our work by donating to the Association straight from your beach towel or pool lounge here.

Our office will open again in early February

Corneal crosslinking has become the standard treatment for patients with progressive keratoconus. But what “real world” evidence is there on the safety and efficacy of the various types of crosslinking treatments being offered to patients today? Very little, is the simple answer.

With the support of Keratoconus Australia, the Save Sight Institute recently launched the world’s first Crosslinking Registry to track outcomes of crosslinking performed on keratoconus patients in Australia. Crosslinking is the only treatment which offers a hope of slowing or halting progression in keratoconus.

Professor Stephanie Watson, who heads the Australian Crosslinking Registry project, recently presented two fascinating seminars in Melbourne and Sydney outlining the early results from the Registry. She also explained why it is important that all crosslinking patients become involved in the Registry project and that they ensure their corneal surgeons are reporting their progress to the Registry.

The full video of her presentation at the Keratoconus Australia seminar held in Melbourne in late October 2017 can be viewed here

Professor Watson presented a similar talk to the Kera Club in early November 2017. The Kera Club is a joint Keratoconus Australia- Save Sight Institute initiative to support people with keratoconus in NSW.

Patients attending her Sydney talk also heard from optometrists Margaret Lam and Mark Koszek who shared their extensive experience in contact lens fitting for keratoconus patients.

The video of the Sydney KeraClub can be found here

Keratoconus Australia Inc held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 6 pm at Suite 1302, Level 13, 9 Yarra St, South Yarra VIC 3141.

Agenda

  • Adoption of minutes of the AGM 2016
  • Committee report on the Association’s activities in 2016-17

  • Financial accounts for the year ending June 30 2017

  • Election of officebearers

All agenda items were adopted by the meeting and committee members were reelected. Rod Swift also joined the committee.

The Association’s Annual Report 2017 can now be downloaded (in pdf format)


Keratoconus Australia is looking for people with keratoconus or families of children with keratoconus to tell their stories of how they manage their day to day activities. These stories can provide enormous assistance to others by providing advice, tips and reassurance that they are not alone in managing vision loss caused by keratoconus.

We will publish your stories in a Living with Keratoconus section on our new website and other social media forums.

They can be about anything: how you found a lost contact lens, crossing the road or climbing a mountain, scary surgery, managing at work or in class, playing sport, funny stories, sad stories.

The best posts will be offered to Vision 2020 Australia for publication on their own blog which is circulated to eye care organisations around Australia.

This a great opportunity to share your stories and experiences with others and help support the keratoconus community.

By publicising keratoconus and its impact on people, it also helps us all raise awareness within the wider community of the challenges faced by people with keratoconus. And why we bloody well need contact lenses, not glasses!

Victoria
Put it in your diary: The University of Melbourne’s Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences will be running its student optometrist contact lens training clinics on the following dates in 2018:

  • Monday 19 March, 9am-1pm (Keratoconus fitting: 2 x 2 hr sessions) – venue: Alice Hoy Level 3
  • Monday 16 April, 9am-1pm (Post-graft fitting: 2 x 2 hr sessions) – venue: Alice Hoy Level 3

These clinics are an important step in raising the basic level of student understanding of how to fit complex contact lenses for keratoconus patients.

Four volunteers with keratoconus are required for keratoconus clinics being held on Monday March 19 from 9 am to 1 pm.

Four volunteers with corneal transplants are required for post-graft clinics being held on Monday April 16 from 9 am to 1 pm. 

Each volunteer will be required for about two hours.

You do not need to be currently wearing contact lenses to participate in these clinics. You need only to have keratoconus to attend the March 19th clinic or a corneal transplant to attend the April 16th clinic.

All contact lens fittings will conducted under the expert guidance of Doctor Laura Downie and Associate Professor Richard Vojlay.

If you can attend one of these clinics, please contact Dr Laura Downie directly by email at ldownie@unimelb.edu.au for further details.

Research

The School of Optometry and Vision Science at University of NSW has kindly provided Keratoconus Australia with a summary of results from their recent study of Regional Thickness Changes within the Cornea in Keratoconus. The Association assisted in the recruitment of volunteers for the study and again thanks members who offered their time for this study, conducted in collaboration with Save Sight Institute.

The pdf of these results can be downloaded here.


New Keratoconus Australia channel on You Tube

More videos from the Keratoconus Australia library will be made available very soon. Subscribe to the channel for notifications.