Ft. Lauderdale, FL -?Do you have Keratoconus or know someone who does? If so, The National Keratoconus Foundation, a program of The Discovery Eye Foundation, will be sponsoring a free educational seminar for patients and their families on Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 9:00 am to noon. The seminar, featuring speakers who are experts in the field of Keratoconus research and patient practice will be held in the

Terry Auditorium
Nova Southeastern University
3200 S. University Drive
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Free parking is available for attendees.

Discovery Eye Foundation exists to facilitate the development of cures and improve patient care through retinal and corneal research and educational programs for eye disease. Since 1986 The National Keratoconus Foundation has worked to provide the public with up-to-the-minute, unbiased information on Keratoconus. Current information about this disease can be found on the organizational websitewww.nkcf.org

Keratoconus is a progressive eye disease in which the normally round cornea thins and begins to bulge into a cone-like shape. abnormalities of the cornea severely affect the way we see the world, making simple tasks, like driving, watching TV or reading a book difficult. Keratoconus can occur in one or both eyes and results in significant visual impairment. The condition usually progresses slowly but unpredictably. Patients never know what to expect, and this uncertainty can be extremely disturbing and destabilizing to many of them.

This debilitating eye condition usually strikes younger people. Patients commonly present initially with mild astigmatism at the onset of puberty, and are diagnosed as having the disease by the late teenage years or early 20s. The disease occurs with approximately equal gender distribution in every region and every ethnicity throughout the world. Although the incidence varies somewhat from country to country, the most recent large demographic study, a 1986 population-based study in the U.S., indicated that approximately one in 2,000 people have Keratoconus.

Presenters for this seminar include:

Cristina Kenney, M.D., PhD., the director of the Ophthalmology Research Laboratory at University of California in Irvine, CA. She is recognized as one of the top five corneal basic science researchers in the United States.

Sonia H. Yoo, M.D., an Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida.
Her research interests include new technologies in refractive surgery involving corneal and external diseases including Intralase Enabled Corneal Transplant surgery.

Heidi Wagner, OD., an Associate Professor of Optometry and Chair of the Department of Clinics at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. She is the principal investigator of the Nova Southeastern Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus.

Edward Boshnick,OD., maintains a cutting edge optometric practice in Miami Beach, Fla. focusing on all types of vision care including non-surgical vision improvement, contact and scleral lens care for Keratoconus, children’s vision, and vision rehabilitation for the partially sighted.

Reservations for the seminar are required. For more information and to reserve your seat please call (310) 623-4466 or email:?info@nkcf.org?.

  • Each year NKCF receives approximately 85,000 hits on our website from people who are looking for information and resources about Keratoconus.
  • We send approximately 2,000?“KC packets”?each year full of information about Keratoconus and other resources.
  • We mail?17,000 copies of our outstanding newsletter?three times each year (51,000) to patients, their families, and eye care professionals around the world
  • We receive over?100 calls each month?from around the world on our toll-free patient information line
  • We exhibit and participate in three or four national and international conferences each year

DEF, founded in 1970, by Rita and Morris Pynoos, as the Discovery Fund for Eye Research, is dedicated to finding cures and treatments for corneal and retinal eye disease.

Patient Education and Outreach Programs: Discovery Eye Foundation (DEF) exists to facilitate the development of cures and improve patient care through retinal and corneal research and educational programs for eye disease.

For registration please call 310 623-4466

For more information on the seminar please contact:

Dr. Heidi Wagner
954-262-1466

For more information on Discovery Eye Foundation or the National Keratoconus
Foundation, please contact:

Maya Benyehuda
maya@ballantinespr.com
Tel: 310 454 3080
Cell: 310 699 9431
Fax: 310-943-1978
Ballantines PR
http://www.ballantinespr.com