Clearly KC Podcast

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD celebrates World KC Day with returning patient and health advocate Rachel Dungan.  They discuss keratoconus as an invisible disability that others may not perceive or appreciate.  Rachel declares that KC makes her move through the world and pick up cues from others differently.  The two also assess the importance of not letting KC hold you back, even if it me...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD chats with Sacramento-based cornea surgeon Dr. Sam Lee MD.  Dr. Lee has performed corneal crosslinking since the procedure earned FDA approval in 2016.  He described the procedure in detail and noted the results are quite good, with only 1-5% of patients needing retreatment and emphasized the importance of crosslinking as soon as there is any evidence of prog...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD visits with Dr. Suzanne Sherman OD, Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Tampa’s University of South Florida.  Dr. Sherman and Dr. Barnett discuss the impact of estrogen and progesterone on vision.  Increased hormone level resulting from pregnancy can lead to many changes in the body, including decreased stiffness in the cornea, increasin...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD visits with Rachel Dungan, a Director with Academy Health, a Washington DC policy institute.  In 2016, Rachel’s short video, “How Do I Look?” was awarded first prize at the NKCF Film Festival.  Since then, she has addressed lawmakers, clinicians, and health researchers about her keratoconus journey.  Rachel shared her experience of living with undiagnosed KC...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD and Dr. Daddi Fadel, DOptom celebrate Dry Eye Awareness month by answering listener questions.  Dr. Fadel is a clinician scientist at the University of Waterloo in Canada and co-author of “Clinical Guide for Scleral Lens Success” with Dr. Barnett.  Dr. Fadel observes that a majority of individuals with keratoconus also suffer from dry eye disease.  She descri...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD visits with Louis Karaolis LLB, PhD, professor, Head of Law, and Director of Academic Affairs at Cyprus Business School.   An expert on EU law, he has been visiting lecturer at UK law schools, and law school admissions examiner at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.  Now splitting his time between London and Cyprus, Karaolis shares his experience of being diagnos...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD was joined by Joey Gase, NASCAR Xfinity owner-driver and ambassador for National Keratoconus Foundation.  Joey shared his story of wearing eyeglasses and contacts from an early age and becoming frustrated with frequent vision changes in his 20s.  His eye doctor, unable to improve his vision beyond 20/40, diagnosed keratoconus, the cut-off for participating in...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD and Dr. Jennifer Li MD, professor of ophthalmology from Univ. of California-Davis, and chair of the Eye Bank Association of America, discuss how corneal transplantation is undergoing changes with advances in surgical techniques.  Dr. Li relayed how cornea tissue is prepared and sent to surgeons within days of a donor’s death for implantation.  She reported th...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD and Dr. Muriel Schornack OD from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester debate if there is such a thing as a keratoconus personality.  Individuals with KC tend to score differently on personality tests, but Dr. Schornack points out that the disease impact often comes in youth or young adulthood where coping mechanisms are not fully developed.  KC can have a profound im...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD visits Dr. Marguerite McDonald MD, a legendary clinician scientist.  Dr. McDonald offered her take on impact of age on disease.  She finds that younger patients tend to have more aggressive disease and it is important to treat quickly in order to save vision.  A second group exists with a slow, mild version and many of these older patients only learn of their...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD visits Dr. Hae Young Aaron Song MD, a board-certified allergist from Orange County, CA.  Dr. Song discusses two types of environmental allergies: seasonal, referring to pollen, grasses and weeds linked to the local landscape, and perennial, year-round allergens like animal dander and dust mites.  He talked about testing to identify specific allergies and note...

Clearly KC podcast host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD talks with Jeff, diagnosed with KC in 2007.  He recounts vision changes after college that drove him to an eye doctor where he learned his diagnosis.  He tells of trying different options and then giving up when there seemed to be no hope of vision improvement.  Jeff describes getting scleral lenses in 2013 as life changing.  Very satisfied with his v...

Clearly KC host Dr. Melissa Barnett OD chats with Dr. Barry Eiden OD of Chicago.  Dr. Eiden discusses prevalence of keratoconus, and the fact that rather than a rare, orphan disease, we are learning that KC is relatively common.  He talks about genetics and genetic testing.  Drs. Barnett and Eiden consider the need for technology that would permit primary eye care doctors to screen their patients...

The host of Clearly KC, Dr. Melissa Barnett OD, and Mary Prudden, Director of National Keratoconus Foundation invite the audience to join them for a podcast focused on keratoconus, a disease of the cornea.  Dr. Barnett noted the prevalence of this condition is much higher than originally believed; because more people are diagnosed with keratoconus (or KC), more people have questions about their vi...