Gisborne Hospital’s ophthalmology research team is poised to pilot keratoconus screening after being awarded $39,918 by the Australian & New Zealand Eye Foundation (ANZEF).

The team will begin gathering data mid-year to reveal the extent of keratoconus in Gisborne as part of their ‘Slowing the cone: arresting keratoconus on the coast’ study.

Ophthalmology clinical nurse specialist Rachel Cook said the team – consisting of Dr Graham Wilson, Dr Jason Rodier, Dr Sheng Hong and herself – only have high-risk keratoconus patients referred to them or those who have had significant prescriptive changes. “But we suspect we have higher numbers than many other regions, based on our high Māori population. That is why we would like to pilot a screening study.”

Dr Graham Wilson and Rachel Cook

As well as getting a better idea of the burden of disease within the Gisborne community, Cook said the team also wants to raise community awareness about keratoconus and the availability of sight-saving treatment, which may not have been available to older generations.

After the pilot ends in December they hope their results will attract additional resources to enable early detection and treatment of keratoconus and demonstrate how a long-term screening programme could be initiated and sustained, she said.

“As a nurse, I talk with whānau and hear the heartbreak of parents who thought, along with the teacher, that their child was just ‘mucking around’ and being naughty, not realising that they had suffered significant vision loss in a short period of time. There are so many stories that pull at your heartstrings!”

She said the team will be approaching schools and their boards in the next month or so, since their approval for the screening is required.