Keratoconus is a degenerative non-inflammatory disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal even curve. Keratoconus can cause substantial distortion of the vision, with multiple images, streaking and sensitivity to light all often reported by the patient. Though frequently thought of as a rare condition, keratoconus is the most common distrophy of the cornea, affecting around one person in a thousand, and seems to occur equally in all ethnic groups worldwide. It is typically diagnosed in the patient's adolescent years and attains its most severe state in the twenties and thirties. Keratoconus is a little-understood disease with an uncertain cause, and the course of its progression following diagnosis is unpredictable. The associated deterioration in vision, if in both eyes, can affect the person's ability, for example, to drive a car legally. It does not, however, lead to blindness, and in most cases, corrective lenses are effective enough to allow the patient to continue to drive and likewise function normally.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1849: Denmark became a constitutional monarchy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark)

1947: George Marshall called for economic aid to war-torn Europe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Marshall)

1967: The Six-Day War began with an Israeli Air Force attack on Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War)

1968: Sirhan Sirhan mortally shot Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan)

1995: A new phase of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate was discovered. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose-Einstein_condensate)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Nobody knows you. No. But I sing of you.For posterity I sing of your profile and grace.Of the signal maturity of your understanding.Of your appetite for death and the taste of its mouth.Of the sadness of your once valiant gaiety. -- Federico García Lorca (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Federico_Garc%C3%ADa_Lorca)