Guest: Larry Kornhauser, President of Keratoconus Australia

In this episode, we flip the usual script and learn about keratoconus through lived experience. Our guest is Larry Kornhauser, co-founder and President of Keratoconus Australia and a tireless advocate for patients nationwide. Larry was diagnosed as a schoolkid in the 1960s, underwent a corneal transplant at 18, and has spent the past two decades helping others navigate a condition that can quietly upend education, work, and daily life.

Larry takes us from classroom vision screenings and early hard-lens fittings to the joy of restored sight, the realities of cost and access, and why second opinions with an experienced fitter can be life-changing. We also unpack what keratoconus is—when the normally dome-shaped cornea thins and bulges into a cone, distorting vision. Larry shares practical advice for patients and families, reflects on the mental-health toll of uncertainty, and explains how advocacy, teaching clinics, and modern treatments like corneal cross-linking have transformed outcomes.

In this episode:

• Larry’s diagnosis, transplant, and the bumpy road of early RGP lenses
• What keratoconus actually is, who it affects, and how it progresses
• Costs, funding hurdles (including NDIS realities), and where to find more affordable care
• The power of a proper fit, backup spectacles, and seeking a second (or third) opinion
• Cross-linking as a game-changer—and why avoiding eye rubbing matters
• Keratoconus Australia and building a supportive community 

This is a hopeful conversation. Larry’s story shows that with the right clinicians, the right lenses, and timely treatment, most people with keratoconus can study, work, travel, play sport—and simply get on with living.

If you or someone you love has keratoconus, talk to an optometrist experienced in specialty contact lenses and ask about cross-linking assessment and teaching-clinic options in your state.

Key resource for this episode:

Keratoconus Australia

The national patient support, advocacy & information body in Australia with

• FAQs, downloadable guides, treatment info, and clinic directories 
• Vision Subsidies & Assistance page (lists state/federal schemes, clinics that offer subsidised lenses) 
• Helpline / outreach support, to help people find specialist eye-carers even in regional or remote areas 
• KeraClub webinars / patient forums (updates, Q&A with clinicians) 

Acknowledgements

Produced with support from Humdinger Studio (Melbourne), Gulwa Recording Studio (Darwin), the University of Melbourne, the Centre for Eye Research Australia, Optometry Australia, and mivision.

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