Newly Diagnosed
If you either have just been diagnosed with Fuchs, or believe that you may have the condition, then firstly and most importantly try to be calm about the diagnosis.Fuchs is a condition that many in our group cope well with on a day-to-day basis, with some minor adjustments to everyday living, depending upon the severity of each case.
Visit our Visual page which gives an indication of the type if visual problem Fuchs may see.
Fuchs develops in the front part of the eye, called the cornea. The cornea consists of a number of series of layers, including the stroma, and endothelial layer. The stroma is like a sponge that can adsorb fluids, and to prevent too much water building up, the endothelial cells pump the excess fluids away to maintain the eye's normal function, so enabling us to have clear vision.
The number of endothelial cells that we have is set at birth, and gradually over our lifetime, these cells decrease in number. For most people in later life there are still sufficient cells in the cornea to allow the impurities and fluids to be removed.
With Fuchs the number of cells is either lower at birth, or the rate of decrease is faster than in the average person, and consequently at some point in one's life, the number of cells left becomes insufficient to enable the impurities and fluids to be removed. At this point the clarity of sight deteriorates as the cornea remains waterlogged for an increasing period each day. This results in the characteristic glare and rainbow effects that can be seen on our Visual page.
Being newly diagnosed can be very worrying, but as mentioned above there are treatments available. Read the rest of the information on this site and then join our group to take advantage of our members only pages and our message forum.