I have keratoconus in both eyes and have had epithelium off advanced callogen cross linking on the one and now wear a hard contact lens on that eye and have had a DALK corneal transplant on the other 5 months ago.
You need to go see a specialist. You need to have scans done to check the shape and thickness of your cornea and then have them done periodically to track progression.
The specialist will advise the best treatment for your specific eyes.
Initial scans and consultation were about R1200 and with discussion of my options took 45min.
My left eye was just good enough to pass a drivers licence test. I had cross linking done and it stabilised. The procedure was around R7000 and took less than an hour from start to finish. Very few medical aids pay for this procedure. It was under local anaesthetic and painless, but 2 hours later the pain was intense, but manageable. The pain went away 2 days later and it was scratchy for a week.
4 months after cross linking I got a hard contact lens fitted. It was 2 visits and around R2400 in total. With the lense fitted I have 6/3 vision in that eye. It takes a little getting used to in the beginning, but now I often forget I'm wearing it. The lense must be taken out every evening and cleaned and stored for the next day. The lense doesn't have to be replaced until the prescription needs to be changed. No swimming or showering with the lens in though.
My right eyes vision deteriated very quickly, in a matter of months. At its worst I couldn't see the biggest letter in the eye chart. My cornea was to thin to be saved and cornea transplant was the only solution. I checked in at the hospital at 8am and was released at 12pm. It was general anaesthetic. 16 tiny stiches hold my donar cornea in place. Recovery was less painful than the cross linking but a little longer. After 2weeks the pain was completely gone. I had to sleep with an eye patch at night for a month so that I didn't rub it in my sleep. The operation cost R75k in total of which the medical aid covered most, but they all only pay for locally sourced organs, but most corneas are sourced in USA. So they only covered R12k of the R24k cost of the donar tissue. There was R2k additional anaesthetist fees which they didn't cover aswell. 5 months later now my vision in that eye is good enough to pass a drivers test. I need to put eye drops in the eye for a year, starting at 6 times a day, but now I'm down to 2 times a day. My stitches are coming out 1 year after the operation. The vision improved very slowly, but steadily since the operation. It was like looking through a misted shower door and now it is similar to my other eye when the lens is out and it gets better every week. There is a slight visible ring where the new tissue meets the old but it's not really noticible as it lies at edge of the iris. It will fade with time. The stitches are so small you can only see them up close.
Lastly, regular soft contact lenses won't help keratoconus unless it is very mild. Hard lenses achieve the best results. There are hybrid lenses especially made for keratoconus. I was advised against them by my optometrist as his previous patients that had tried them didn't achieve good results and then had to move on to hard lenses. The other negative of the special kerataconus lenses is the cost. R6000 and they only last 4 months, before you need to buy again.
Good luck and shout if you have any questions.
