Abstract： Objective To investigate the eye-rubbing habits of Chinese keratoconus(KC)patients,and analyze the correlation between eye rubbing and KC and the correlation between different severity of KC.Methods A retrospec-tive case-control study.This study was carried out from January 2021 to June 2022.All patients were followed up for a sec-ond time,and asked in detail about rubbing their eyes and related habits.A survey was conducted on myopia patients rub-bing their eyes to compare their habits with KC patients,and to compare the disease severity between KC patients who rubbed their eyes with those who did not.Results 202 patients with KC and 201 control patients.Patient responses to the questionnaire indicated that the average proportion of eye rubbers among the KC patients was 61.4%,and among myopia pa-tients it was 25.9%,a significant difference.After multivariate binary logistic regression between the KC group and con-trol group,the following variables showed significant results:eye-rubbing frequency>10×/day(odds ratio OR=264.406,P<0.05).Eye-rubbing times<10 s(OR=0.004,P<0.05).Supine sleep position(OR=0.364,P<0.05)and prone sleep po-sition(OR,12.427;P<0.05).The severity of KC was significantly greater in eye-rubbing than in non-eye-rubbing patients(P<0.05).Conclusions Eye rubbing is a risk factor for KC and correlated with the severity of the disease.