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We Are A Group Of People With A Corneal Dystrophy Called
Fuchs' Syndrome.
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We have an inherited eye disease of the cornea. We experience
glare, rainbows, and cloudiness. Driving at night is almost impossible. Lack of brightness/contrast makes daytime driving difficult, and even walking down the street can be a challenge.
A few hundred of us Fuchs' sufferers have formed a support group called "Fuchs' Friends," and some of us have attempted to depict how we see things. Hope this helps you deal with Fuchs'.
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The above photo is a window in a
shopping center which reflects the world much the way we see it. Note the crispness of the right window frame as compared to the "foggy" indefinite view inside.
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By the way, our disease was named after a doctor in Vienna called Ernst Fuchs. We pronounce it FEWKS or FOOKS.
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One early symptom of Fuchs' is glare and painful sensitivity to
light. People with Fuchs' will flinch when seeing the sunlight glare off a car windshield, sitting under inset canister lighting, facing a window in a restaurant, stadium lights, or even under the small
light above their seat in an airplane. These people often resort to big hats, sunvisors or wraparound sunglasses.
Lights at night are a special problem. Here's a depiction:
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Imagine this is one streetlight or headlight. Now multiply
it by the number of headlights you would see on a freeway.
Here's another depiction of how a sufferer sees headlights.
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Another stage of the disease is the "fogginess" that
is often worse in the morning or on humid days, but comes and goes by its own fickle rules. Some of our group have discovered that a stressful event can plunge our vision into the fogs. To explain this
type of vision, imagine a loss of contrast, brightness, and color. For example:
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Advanced Fuchs' sufferers may completely forget what the color
white looks like. White appears to them as grayish. To simulate how a Fuchs' eye sees text, place 4 layers of wax paper over this print. That's why reading of a newspaper is one of the first things to
go. It's just too much work to read.
Bright colors are sacrificed, too. Colors are "muddy," A Fuchs' lady may put on too much blush because she can't see when
"enough is enough." An office worker will find sticking white labels on white envelopes a challenge. The edges aren't distinguishable. Memos written in pencil might as well be invisible. We can
see black marker pen on yellow.
Some of our Fuchs' Friends have said they feel they are "seeing slowly." That may be because we need to take the input from
our vision, analyze it, trying to figure out...
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Is that a step or a speed bump or a painted line?
A normal eye could see that "It's a drain in the street!"
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Even when we're walking we may wonder, is that a shadow, a drain, or what is
it? I better watch my step!
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What a dirty trick! It's just fresh asphalt over a repair!
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(I'd feel like an idiot if anybody saw me stepping carefully over that...)
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Members of Fuchs' Friends have some hilarious stories about "What I thought I saw." One of the classics is the person who
thought she was picking up behind her dog, getting startled when "the litter" jumped away. It was a frog! We call these our "Fuchs' Moments," and we have many of them every day.
If you have or know someone with Fuchs', join us:
Fuchs' Friends
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