Keratoconus is a deformation of the cornea that generates significant visual disturbances. It is this illness that explains the misadventure during an Olympic event of French swimmer Yohann Ndoye Brouard who was disqualified after hitting the wall of the pool.
- Yohann Ndoye Brouard suffers from a deformation of the cornea called keratoconus
- This disease causes vision problems
- These effects can be corrected by wearing contact lenses or glasses, but only surgery can restore the shape of the cornea.
“I was dazzled because I have had a small problem with my eyes for a year, at the level of my cornea”. This is how the young French swimmer Yohann Ndoye Brouard explained the misadventure that struck him during the Olympic Games events: when turning around at one end of the pool, he violently hit the wall. Result: disqualified! The hard law of sport but which sanctions a totally involuntary act. Yohann Ndoye Broard explained that he suffered from a little-known disease, keratoconus, which caused, because of a spotlight in the swimming pool, his glare and his inability to recognize the limit of the pelvis.
And what is keratoconus? It is a degenerative disease of the cornea -it could be of genetic or hormonal origin, because it often appears after puberty, towards the end of adolescence and can affect both eyes as one- which changes its shape, changing it from a spherical to a conical shape. A deformation that inevitably leads to vision problems that can only be corrected by wearing corrective lenses specially designed for those whose eyes are affected by this pathology.
“With ‘the lights on full, I can’t see much!’
It is, according to his statements to France 2, during confinement that the young 20-year-old swimmer noticed a deterioration in his sight. “I see less and less well, I have a little gray veil sometimes, I am dazzled by the headlights at night or by spotlights; in a large swimming pool, with the lighting on full, I don’t see much “, he clarified.
If genetic causes seem to be the first to be considered when the disease appears, environmental factors such as wearing contact lenses or rubbing your eyes often could accelerate the onset of symptoms. While vision-correcting glasses or contact lenses may be a solution for those affected by keratoconus, the disease often requires surgery to restore the original shape of the affected eye(s). A solution to which Yohann Ndoye Brouard should soon have recourse: “I should do it after the Games, in September”, he announced in Le Parisien.
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