To the Sports Editor:
Kudos to Stephen Curry for breaking Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record. But Curry saying he’s learning to "live with keratoconus" (KC) is as bad a public health message as Aaron Rodgers saying he was "immunized". Curry recently tried scleral lenses, which unlike regular contacts can fit over abnormal corneas. But corneal cross-linking (CXL), which was FDA approved in 2016, can "cure" KC by strengthening the cornea, and in conjunction with LASEK, can reduce or eliminate myopic astigmatism, providing vastly improved vision. What then, is holding back the approximately 350,000 Americans with KC from getting CXL? The same factors preventing 100 million Americans from getting vaccinated–fear from misinformation. Americans should get their medical information from doctors–not athletes.
Emil William Chynn, MD, MBA
The writer is a Cornea and Refractive Surgeon in NYC and a Scientific Advisor for the American Counsel on Science and Health (ACSH)
