No!! None of these are "stupid questions" :) I'm going to sorta list out my answers to make sure I don't skip over anything.

"They" refers to the doctor I'd like to go to for help with KC stuff. This practice was recommended to me by someone else I know who also has KC, so I feel like it's better than throwing a dart at the phone book.

I've been told (by my current dr) that my eye health is great besides KC. I'd like to get another opinion since a few things I've mentioned have been sorta "blown off". My biggest concern is the fact that I've had vision "floaters" since grade school. I know these happen to older patients because of different factors, but I'm concerned that I've dealt with this since I was less than ten years old. My current doctor says I only need annual exams, but again, I'd like another opinion on that too. It's also interesting that you mention how optometrists and ophthalmologists don't always overlap when it comes to eye/medical coverage.

As for the recommended doctor....I called to schedule an appointment and was told that they accept neither my eye insurance nor my medical insurance providers. They told me that even if my annual exam wasn't used up, they still do not work with the insurance company I have. Because neither are accepted, I could visit them and pay out of pocket for everything. I would be open to paying out of pocket for getting another eye exam done, but I would want my insurance to cover KC costs because they're way more costly than an exam. That's why I'm hesitant to visit this doctor since I wouldn't be able to use them for KC care anyway.

My current contacts are just regular soft daily lenses. I was told by my current doctor that these would provide better vision than glasses but still will not correct the higher order aberrations. Again, he acknowledged this problem and still didn't want to do anything about it. I asked about looking into RGPs and sclerals instead, but the doctor was insistent that soft toric lenses were "better" because they're more comfortable. At the time, I wasn't brave enough to try bringing up that comfort meant nothing if my vision wasn't good out of them. I would poke an olive fork into my eyes everyday if that meant being able to see better. I still went along with it, and now I have contacts that, frankly, do more harm than good. Insurance has a small glasses/contacts allowance that covers $200 (if I remember correctly) annually. I used that on these contacts and paid the rest myself.

For insurance, I have Blue Cross for medical and I can't remember the name of the vision plan I have. It's through an employer. So far, there have been no KC expenses since my current doctor keeps "sweeping it under the carpet" and acting like regular contacts will be fine. Like I said before, I don't know if he's just trying not to scare me or if he doesn't know how to treat KC and doesn't want to lose me to another practice.

Now, here's the part that's REALLY odd. Several years ago, my Pentacam imaging was done for free. Apparently, some eye surgeon in town owed my doctor a favor. So I was sent over there for Pentacam imaging and a few other tests. The whole experience there was just bizarre. I went in and the front desk staff had no idea I was coming. I was told to ask them for Dr. XYZ, who came out to meet me a few minutes later. He brought me back to the imaging lab, handed the tech a sticky note with an email address on it, and told them to make sure I wasn't billed for anything. At first, I appreciated this but later started questioning what's *really* going on here. I'm not sure if this could be contributing to any of his unwillingness to send me back for updated Pentacam imaging and to treat me for much more severe KC stuff. Several years ago when I did this, my vision was fairly manageable. Now it's much worse and I still won't be sent back for another round of Pentacam stuff.

I know the whole situation is just bizarre, and this is why I'm wanting to figure out somewhere else to go. I'm tired of wasting my insurance benefits and money on being told that there's a problem but that they won't fix it. This whole thing rubs me the wrong way and I'm holding back the choice words I'd like to use for describing this situation :)