NKCF provides educational materials and support programs designed to help those with KC better understand and cope with this condition. This year, our English informational booklet, What is Keratoconus? was updated and reprinted in Spanish: ¿Que es Queratocono? NKCF is the only program in the United States that offers printed KC information in Spanish. This update and printing were made possible by a generous grant from Bausch & Lomb, Inc.

The NKCF website also has been translated to Spanish. With just a click on the NKCF website's home page, the entire website switches to Spanish, providing accurate, up-to-date information to a worldwide Spanish-speaking community. The Spanish website may also be accessed directly at www.nkcf.org/es. NKCF recently hired a bilingual staff member to offer direct assistance to Spanish-speaking patients and their families through our toll-free information line at (800) 521-2524.

We are in the process of updating our corneal transplant booklet to include information about the new procedures, such as crosslinking, available to the KC patients, and these booklets also will be available in both English and Spanish. Our comprehensive overview of transplant surgery, Corneal Transplant Surgery: A Reference Guide for Patients and their Families, was published in English and Spanish in 2005. We are currently seeking funding for an update.

NKCF is the only source for personalized attention, free printed materials in English and Spanish, a comprehensive website and a toll-free telephone line dedicated to personally answering patient questions in both languages.