7/29/2019 Characteristics of 244 Patients With Kc Seen in an Optometric Contact Lens Practice_Clinical &Experimental Optom

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RESEARCH PAPER

Characteristics of 244 patients with keratoconus seen in

an optometric contact lens practice

Clin Exp Optom2012 DOI:10.1111/cxo.12005

Einat Shneor* BOptom PhDMichel Millodot OD PhDSharon Blumberg* BOptom MOptomIlya Ortenberg* BOptom MOptomShmuel Behrman BSc

Ariela Gordon-Shaag* PhD

* Department of Optometry, Hadassah Academic

College, Jerusalem, Israel

School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, CardiffUniversity, Cardiff, United Kingdom Microlens, Tel Aviv, Israel

E-mail: eshneor@hotmail.com

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of keratoconicpatients seen in a specialised contact lens practice from a general population with a highprevalence of the disease.Methods: Patients attending a contact lens practice for management of keratoconus wereasked to complete a questionnaire. Data were collected on demographic characteristics,general health, family history, eye rubbing, allergy, asthma, eczema, education level, historyof keratoplasty and smoking.Results: Two hundred and forty-four patients completed the questionnaire. There was amale bias (54.5 per cent). The majority of the patients (78.7 per cent) wore contact lenses,

of whom 67.7 per cent wore hard, 13 per cent soft and 4.2 per cent scleral contact lenses.Some of thepatients(21.3per cent) hadundergone corneal graft surgery.Eighteen percenthadan associated systemic disease, the most common of which was type 2 diabetes, althoughthis disease was less prevalent, but not significantly, in the keratoconic sample than in thegeneral population (p = 0.19). The prevalence of eye rubbing (65.6 per cent) was similar toother studies. Compared to the general population, asthma (13.2 per cent) was slightly, but

not significantly, less prevalent (p = 0.17), eczema (6.6 per cent) was significantly less (p