Keratoconus – ever heard of it?

It’s an eye condition where genetics and environmental factors like ultraviolet light and vigorous eye rubbing conspire to make the usual curvature of the cornea more pointy, leaving us with double vision and nearsighted.

National Basketball Association and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry helped make keratoconus, which affects an estimated 1 in 2,000, a more visible eye condition this April.

A $2.1 million grant from the National Eye Institute is now helping Dr. Yutao Liu, vision scientist and human geneticist, learn more about keratoconus’ causes and identify points to better diagnose, treat and possibly prevent the progressive disease that typically starts in our teens.

“We want to help patients better understand what is happening to their vision by better understanding how keratoconus happens, and give physicians better points to intervene,” says the scientist in the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Georgia and James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute at Augusta University.

For Curry, his solution was simple – treatment with corrective contact lenses. But keratoconus does progress and some who suffer may eventually require a corneal transplant surgery or corneal collagen cross-linking as treatment.

Keratoconus is a fascinating disease and the research by experts at Augusta University will be groundbreaking. Do you need to know more? That’s where we can help.

Dr. Yutao Liu is an associate professor of Cellular Biology and Anatomy with the

Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine at Augusta University. Dr. Liu and is available to speak with media regarding this rare disease - simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.