Hacker News Reader

Not rubbing eyes is folk knowledge in my family, but I guess it's more about scratching the eyeball than anything about Keratoconus.

It’s also very prevalent in Kenya, where for some reason people have a lot of allergies and habitual eye-rubbing is very common.

Thanks for posting about this. The tear ducts on my eyelids often get clogged, and my optometrist recommended I sometimes __gently__ rub my eyelids to unblock them. I now see why it should be done gently!

I was diagnosed at 24. I has very bad animal allergies and hay fever when I was a child and frequently rubbed my eyes (often to the point they would swell shut).