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Conditions

Keratoconus: symptoms and treatment options

Independent Clinic verification in progress Medical review pending Updated

The cornea thins and bulges into a cone shape, causing distorted vision and increased sensitivity to light. Usually begins in teenage years or early adulthood.

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The cornea thins and bulges into a cone shape, causing distorted vision and increased sensitivity to light. Usually begins in teenage years or early adulthood.

General educational information about a subject, not an assessment of your own eyes. Suitability and treatment decisions are made by a qualified ophthalmologist who has examined you.

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Keratoconus

The cornea thins and bulges into a cone shape, causing distorted vision and increased sensitivity to light. Usually begins in teenage years or early adulthood.

Also known as keratoconus, corneal thinning

Questions about Keratoconus

Each answer below is the short version; the question links to the page that carries it in full, with sources.

  • What is keratoconus?

    Keratoconus is a condition in which the cornea thins and becomes progressively more cone-shaped, which distorts vision and cannot be fully corrected with ordinary glasses in many cases.

  • Can you have LASIK with keratoconus?

    Laser vision correction is generally avoided in keratoconus because removing corneal tissue from a cornea that is already thinning and unstable is likely to make matters worse. This is one of the clearest contraindications in refractive surgery.

  • How is keratoconus detected before surgery?

    Keratoconus is detected with corneal topography and tomography, which map the shape and thickness of the cornea. This is a standard part of a refractive assessment and one of the main reasons those scans are done.

All 34 Eye conditions questions, searchable

Where this is covered in full

Educational information only

This page describes what is generally true about keratoconus. It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot say whether a treatment is suitable for you, because suitability depends on measurements taken during an examination.

Read the full medical disclaimer

Sources & further reading

We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.

  • Eye Health Information Patient information National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (US)

    Condition-by-condition eye health information from a US government research institute, written for patients rather than for clinicians.

    Used for Plain-language explanations of eye conditions and their symptoms; Healthy vision and screening guidance.

    Link checked 23 September 2026

  • EyeSmart: eye health information for the public Patient information American Academy of Ophthalmology

    Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.

    Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.

    Link checked 23 September 2026

  • The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Professional body The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (UK)

    The UK professional body for ophthalmologists, which publishes standards and commissioning guidance for refractive surgery services.

    Used for What good preoperative assessment and consent look like.

    Link checked 22 September 2026

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