New glasses could improve quality of life for people with keratoconus

What is keratoconus?

Keratoconus is a condition where the clear surface of the eye (also known as ‘the cornea’) thins and forms a cone-like shape. While the condition can be treated with speciality contact lenses (such as rigid gas permeable lenses), it cannot currently be treated with glasses, meaning that the limitations associated with contact lenses can leave people with a very low level of vision when they cannot be worn (for example when going to bed, or in an emergency).

What’s more, roughly a third of people with keratoconus have allergies, which can include being allergic to their contact lens solution. There is therefore an unmet need to relieve people with keratoconus from being dependent on contact lenses alone.

Fight for Sight funding: could special glasses address an unmet need?

Back in 2019, Fight for Sight awarded Dr Ahmed Amass a Small Grant Award for a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of newly developed glasses for keratoconus. Keratoconus causes vision impairment because the light coming into the eye is not appropriately directed to the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye (known as the ‘retina’).

However, while people with refractive errors (including short and long-sightedness) can help direct light to the retina using glasses, standard glasses cannot correct these errors in keratoconus. This is due to the irregular shape of the cornea.

What did the study find?

Dr Amass found that 61% of participants had improvements in their best-corrected visual acuity using the new glasses, including 87% reporting improved letter clarity. They have also identified ways to continue to improve the glasses, so that they can improve quality of life for people with keratoconus.

Even more importantly, 74% of participants expressed interest in trying the glasses when they are commercially available. During the project, the team received many emails from people with keratoconus, asking when the glasses would be available to them, demonstrating just how much impact this research could have for the patient population.

Dr Ahmed Abass, the project’s principal investigator, expressed gratitude on behalf of the study team, stating:

"We deeply appreciate the invaluable support provided by Fight for Sight and Keratoconus Group UK in facilitating our research. Our heartfelt thanks also go to the clinical team at St. Paul’s Eye Unit at Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and the School of Engineering at the University of Liverpool for their crucial assistance in bringing the study to this stage.

"We remain committed to advancing our efforts to improve the quality of life for patients living with keratoconus, and this support has been instrumental in driving our mission forward."