NBA Star Steph Curry on His Game-Changing Eye Disease Diagnosis

• NBA All-Star Stephen Curry is opening up about dwelling with keratoconus, an eye fixed situation that may trigger blurry or distorted imaginative and prescient.
• Curry was recognized after former Golden State Warriors basic supervisor Bob Myers seen him squinting throughout a sport and inspired him to get his eyes checked.
• Keratoconus can worsen over time, however early prognosis and remedy may help right imaginative and prescient and will assist forestall the situation from progressing.

Twelve-time NBA All-Star and two-time MVP Stephen Curry is thought for main the Golden State Warriors to 4 NBA championships.

Along with basketball accolades, being a part of the Warriors dynasty made him conscious of an eye fixed situation he was dwelling with known as keratoconus (KC).

The situation causes the cornea to skinny and bulge outward into an irregular cone form as a substitute of staying spherical.

This may trigger blurry or distorted imaginative and prescient, elevated sensitivity to mild, glare and nighttime halos, frequent or speedy adjustments in eyeglass prescription, and eye irritation or redness.

“I didn’t know something about it earlier than I went to the physician, nor did I actually know that I had really blurry imaginative and prescient or, like, distorted photographs and stuff,” Curry instructed Healthline. “It was sort of simply the best way I noticed issues, and for no matter cause, I didn’t ask the questions or go have an eye fixed display screen and all that till our basic supervisor for the Warriors, his title’s Bob Myers, [pointed it out].”

In 2018, Myers was watching Curry play on TV and seen that when the digital camera zoomed in on Curry sitting on the bench, he was squinting as he watched his teammates and appeared on the Jumbotron. Myers took a photograph of Curry squinting on the TV and texted it to him after the sport.

“He’s like, ‘Hey, you had been doing this the entire time they’d you on digital camera. Have you ever gotten your eyes checked?’” mentioned Curry. “After which that was the primary concept of like, ‘Wait, is there one thing off about the best way, , my imaginative and prescient was?’ Fortunately, I had entry to go to an eye fixed physician and obtained a display screen. And that was the primary time I heard the phrase keratoconus.”

At 29 years outdated, Curry was recognized with KC and realized that it’s a progressive eye illness that may worsen over time.

“[There’s] a sure time window of your life [when it becomes] an irreversible sight-threatening situation,” he mentioned.

Randy McLaughlin, OD, affiliate professor of scientific ophthalmology at The Ohio State College Wexner Medical Heart, mentioned the situation can worsen if not handled and will make acquiring a driver’s license or working tough.

He mentioned folks with the situation are often fitted with inflexible fuel permeable contact lenses, that are agency lenses manufactured from breathable plastic and silicone that enable oxygen to move straight by way of to the cornea. Some folks get bigger scleral contact lenses, that are large sufficient to vault over the cone-shaped cornea and relaxation on the white of the attention.

“Sufferers could also be handled with a medical remedy known as corneal cross-linking, which hopefully stops the development of keratoconus,” McLaughlin instructed Healthline.

As soon as Curry found out corrective lenses, he mentioned, “I might truly see clearly and cease squinting, cease having these bizarre little complications that will come, that I didn’t affiliate with my imaginative and prescient.”

Whereas it took some trial and error to get his lens prescription right and really feel secure sufficient to play basketball, as soon as he did, he couldn’t imagine the distinction in his imaginative and prescient.

“[I] was probably the most annoying particular person most likely that first two weeks, ‘trigger any time I walked within the room, both I’d be awkwardly observing you, ‘trigger I can see you clearly, or making a remark [like], ‘I can see all of the mud within the air, like, that is unbelievable,” Curry mentioned.

On the courtroom, he might see his teammates higher.

“[It] was only a complete new world, for certain,” he mentioned. “[I] realized for the longest [time] I used to be simply adapting and adjusting to what I noticed.”

Curry continues to have eye screenings twice a yr to watch the situation.

McLaughlin mentioned KC is well recognized at an eye fixed physician’s appointment with an instrument known as a keratometer. Nevertheless, further testing could also be required.

Your eye physician might check for it in the event that they discover sudden or extreme adjustments in your astigmatism or nearsightedness, in case your imaginative and prescient hasn’t improved with commonplace eyeglasses, or when you’ve got an irregular corneal reflection.

Though the situation just isn’t inherited typically, it can occur in some households.

“Household historical past of each affected person is necessary, together with any household historical past of keratoconus,” mentioned McLaughlin.

To unfold consciousness about keratoconus and the significance of annual eye exams, Curry partnered with Glaukos for its Could it be KC? marketing campaign.

“[The] attain that I’ve and the genuine story of what this has sort of been like for me is the explanation I’m doing it,” Curry mentioned. “The work that me and my spouse are doing in our basis in Oakland — the children that we’re serving — this can be a message that they should hear.”

To attach with extra younger folks, he took half in an academic group occasion at Madison Park Major in Oakland on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. On the occasion, he launched a brand new image guide, “Eye on the Ball,” impressed by Curry’s personal expertise dwelling with KC, and designed to make conversations about eye well being and KC extra approachable.

“You need to give a visible, particularly for teenagers, to sort of destigmatize what it means to go to a physician, ask uncomfortable questions, be in that atmosphere the place it may be overwhelming at occasions for certain,” mentioned Curry.

He empathizes with youngsters and other people of all ages who’re dwelling with undiagnosed KC.

“I can solely think about [because] the best way that I noticed the courtroom, typically struggling to see the display screen to observe movie, like, little issues that you simply simply adapt to and determine, for youthful children, highschool children, faculty, [those] within the workforce, you notice…that’s vitality exerted,” Curry mentioned. “It’s a hurdle that shouldn’t essentially be a factor that it’s a must to take care of, nevertheless it’s solely going to get corrected when you’ve got the attention to go get it checked.”

He encourages folks to see an eye fixed physician if one thing doesn’t really feel proper.

“[There] had been loads of moments for me in that respect, the place… issues are designed a sure method to have the ability to see them, and in case you can’t, it’s a must to make changes to do it, or it’s a must to ask anyone, ‘You understand, what does that say up there?’”

Curry hopes that sharing his story encourages extra folks to schedule eye physician visits and that extra folks with KC get the care they want.

“[Hopefully their] final result is much like mine, as nicely, the place it’s only a matter of getting checked and getting the correct solutions for what your scenario is,” he mentioned.