As veteran comedian Bill Cosby has been seen plastered all over the news recently for issues related to sexual misconduct, rape, and drug use, there is something that is becoming more damaged than the once beloved comedians reputation, his eyesight.
The comedian’s health has been referenced his attorney, Monica Pressley. On a recent interview, Pressley called Cosby a “blind man.”
“He’s a 78-year-old blind man who they’ve chosen to charge, that’s not a defense to a charge, that’s just a fact.”
According to a report by Daily Mail, Cosby is suffering from keratoconus, a condition that causes the thinning of the cornea. As the domed-shaped cornea thins, the eyes begin to bulge to a cone shape, leading to “blurring, ghosting, multiple images, starbursts and glaring.” The clouding of Cosby’s right eye is visible in the mugshot taken after he was taken into custody on Dec. 30. In his defamation lawsuit against supermodel Beverly Johnson–one of his accusers–Cosby was referred to as “legally and functionally” blind.
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As the cornea becomes more irregular in shape, it causes progressive nearsightedness and irregular astigmatism to develop, creating additional problems with distorted and blurred vision.
People who have blurred vision, distorted vision, astigmatism, double vision, inability to see in dim light, nearsightedness, sensitivity to light, or vision loss. Also common is a rim of discoloration around the front of the eye.
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Often, keratoconic patients experience changes in their eyeglass prescription every time they visit their eye care practitioner.
New research suggests the weakening of the corneal tissue that leads to keratoconus may be due to an imbalance of enzymes within the cornea. This imbalance makes the cornea more susceptible to oxidative damage from compounds called free radicals, causing it to weaken and bulge forward.
Risk factors for oxidative damage and weakening of the cornea include a genetic predisposition, explaining why keratoconus often affects more than one member of the same family.
Keratoconus also is associated with overexposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun, excessive eye rubbing, a history of...
...poorly fitted contact lenses and chronic eye irritation.
Treatments for moderate keratoconus include:
- Custom soft contact lenses
- Gas permeable contact lenses
- "Piggybacking" contact lenses
- Hybrid contact lenses
- Scleral and semi-scleral lenses
- Intacs
- Corneal crosslinking
- Topography-guided conductive keratoplasty
- Corneal transplant
But, it's important to note that as the disease progresses and the cornea thins and becomes increasingly more irregular in shape, glasses and regular soft contact lens designs no longer provide adequate vision correction.
“Mr. Cosby has suffered from a degenerative eye condition for years which has steadily worsened recently to the point that he is for over a year has been legally and functionally blind,” said Pressley.
