For years, Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry was knocking down historic three-pointers through a literal haze. It wasn’t until former general manager Bob Myers noticed Curry squinting through games that the guard finally saw an eye specialist. The diagnosis: keratoconus, a progressive eye disease that causes the clear front surface of the eye (the cornea) to thin and bulge into an irregular cone shape.
The condition turns everyday sight into a minefield of glare, nighttime halos and blurry distortion. Yet, like many people who gradually develop vision issues, Curry had simply adapted to the blur, assuming it was normal.
While Curry’s vision was corrected with custom scleral contact lenses – and newer therapies like corneal cross-linking can halt the disease’s progression – his story underscores a critical public health gap. Regular comprehensive exams aren’t just about updating a glasses prescription; they are vital tools for catching progressive conditions before permanent corneal scarring sets in. For Black communities, where routine eye care is often delayed due to systemic access barriers, catching the squint early is the difference between manageable corrective wear and invasive surgery.
Which celebrities have keratoconus?
Steph Curry is among several American public figures who have been reported as living with keratoconus. Examples include actor Mandy Patinkin, baseball player Tommy Pham, former NFL defensive tackle Brandon Williams and Olympic bobsledder Steven Holcomb. Curry’s story is notable because he played elite basketball while unknowingly adapting to distorted vision.
As he explained in a Forbes interview, Curry learned about keratoconus after being asked why he was squinting so much. “I learned about keratoconus pretty quickly and about [the] irregular shape of my cornea and just how distorted my vision really was,” the athlete said.
“And there was a need for us to follow up testing every six months to make sure that it didn’t progress because it is an eye- or a sight-threatening condition.” Curry described the diagnosis as eye-opening because he realized his vision had deteriorated without him noticing. His experience shows that high performance does not necessarily mean normal eyesight.
What is keratoconus?
If your new glasses seem to stop working every few months, or if night driving suddenly comes with blinding halos around every headlight, your eyes might be trying to tell you something deeper than standard screen fatigue.
That subtle, shifting blur can sometimes point to keratoconus – a progressive eye condition that quietly reshapes how you see the world. The National Eye Institute explains that, instead of maintaining a smooth, rounded dome, the cornea gradually thins at its center and bulges outward into a slight cone. Because the cornea focuses light directly onto the retina, this structural change scatters light, causing astigmatism, glare and distorted vision.
What makes keratoconus tricky is its timing. It typically surfaces during late adolescence or early adulthood – a stage of life when many of us brush off blurred vision as tired eyes or assume we just need a slightly stronger pair of frames. But because the cornea’s shape is physically changing, standard glasses and soft contacts eventually lose their ability to correct the blur.
The Mayo Clinic notes that catching it early makes all the difference: comprehensive scans can spot the thinning long before major vision loss sets in, opening the door to specialized treatments and rigid lenses that protect your sight for the long haul.
Source: Keratoconus Explained: Everything To Know About Steph Curry’s Eye Condition
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