Keratoconus: Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve NHS (a) treatment for and (b) diagnosis of keratoconus.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
We are not aware of any issues with the diagnosis or treatment of keratoconus. Keratoconus is usually identified during a routine sight test. The National Health Service provides over 13 million free NHS sight tests annually for eligible groups.
Patient with suspected keratoconus will be referred into the hospital eye service for a definitive diagnosis and any clinically necessary treatment. For mild cases of keratoconus, glasses or a range of contact lenses can be used to correct vision. The introduction of cross-linking treatment, a treatment that uses ultraviolet light and riboflavin eye drops to stiffen the cornea, in early keratoconus, has reduced the number of patients who go on to develop advanced keratoconus, which may require surgery.
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