Or know anybody who had one? After a cataract operation, the cornea was damaged. The docs warned me this might happen, and said it if did, could just get a transplant.
Went to a surgeon who did the exam, but after watching a video about it, and then reading all the literature he supplied, sort of chickened out. Much more complicated than just a cataract removal.
I can still see pretty well out of that eye, but things are a big fuzzy. The other eye is fine.
Under my long-standing dictum of avoiding surgery whenever possible, have been putting it off. Went for a refraction yesterday and the doc strongly recommended getting the transplant.
The thing that bothered me the most was the warning that had to forgo strenuous exercise for several months after the procedure. They did not define “strenuous” but I am loath to give up my daily mountain climbs for that long.
Probably this is not what you want to hear, but my Dad had a corneal transplant this past summer; he got an infection in the eye, which led to a detached retina, and has ended up losing sight in that eye. The doctor wanted to do a transplant in the other eye, but now my Dad has nixed the second surgery. Until he got the infection, though, the eye was doing fine and healing nicely. I’m not sure what caused the infection. He’s totally blind in that eye, his left - he probably shouldn’t really be driving any more, because he can’t see when merging into traffic.
I hope you get more responses, hopefully from others who’ve had this surgery successfully. Good luck, KlondikeGeoff!
ETA: nothing like mis-spelling (and in an … unusual way!) the OP’s name! Fixed now, fortunately.
I had one last February. For a very different kind of condition than yours, a very advanced case of keratoconus (a corneal condition where the cornea curves in very extreme ways). For keratoconus, a corneal transplant is the treatment of last resort when you can longer get good correction with contact lenses.
Like you, I’m not a fan of surgery - but with me, it got to a point where I couldn’t drive at night anymore, which was severly impacting my life. So after a wee bit of anxiety, I decided to go ahead with it. It helped to have a doctor that I had a lot of confidence in.
I am overall very pleased with the results. There were some minor complications the first two weeks after the surgery - they had to keep the eye covered with a patch for longer than they normally do, and had to put in one more suture during the second week.
But after that, no problems. After six months, after they had removed most of the sutures (which is an amazingly simple procedure - after one time the doctor did it, I said to him, well is that one suture out? He said, no, that’s five) I was able to get fitted for contacts on top of the transplant. That was always expected with my condition. I’ve not have a problem with the contacts in that eye since.
For my condition, it made a HUGE improvement in the correction. I think the best correction I could get in the eye before the surgery was 20/80 or thereabouts, with contacts - I’m now about 20/25 in that eye with my lenses. It’s made a huge difference in my life, obviously.
I have no idea if the precautions after the surgery are any different for my condition than they would be for yours… what my surgeon said was no strenous activity for a month, and then no swimming for a couple of months after that. So not a big deal. I was back to driving to work within two and a half weeks after the surgery as well.
I’ll probably have the other eye done within the next year or so - they did my “bad” eye first, but the other eye is also a candidate.
My wife had congenital cataracts, which lead to a wide variety of eye conditions and subsequent surgeries. About 7 years ago, she had plastic lens implants (so called permanent contacts). The implant in the left eye went well and improved her vision. The right eye had a complication which damaged the areas around the cornea.
Over the next two years, the condition got worse and worse, with increasingly strong meds to control swelling and glaucoma pressures. Eventually, it got to the point where no meds could help, and a transplant was the last option. We were both rather nervous about it at first, but the doctors were very reassuring and the alternative… well, she went ahead with it.
I can’t speak about the actual procedure, but from my perspective, there was an immediate improvement. She was no longer in constant pain, her meds were reduced, and her vision improved. After six months, she was back on regular drops for glaucoma and one steroid. She didn’t even have the stiches taken out - the doctor said there was no need.
It took about 18 months for the graft to fully blend so that there’s no noticable mark on her eye, and about that long for her corrective glasses prescription to stabilize. It’s about 4 years later now. Her right eye does have a tendency to become inflamed with changes in the weather, but only for about a day or so. Otherwise, the only real change has been that she went from being far-sighted before the surgery to near-sighted afterward.
Thanks, all. I don’t know if I’m reassured or not. I guess it’s pretty safe if don’t get an infection. Just went ahead and made an appointment for a re-examination, and will probably bite the bullet and go ahead and do it.
Interesting side note. One information folder said that when the patient is ready, have to wait for a cornea from a doner. When I inquired how long that usually took, the doc said they had a huge supply in their “bank.” Why? So many people are killed in Phoenix in automobile accidents that their is a big supply. Gee, that’s good news, eh? :eek:
Yeah, from what the doctors told me, corneas are not exactly in short supply in major metropolitan areas. As I assume you know, there’s no matching or anything with corneas that happens with other organs, and because corneas don’t have a blood supply, there’s a much lower chance of rejection then there would be with something like a kidney. It is still possible though.
Fixed now, fortunately.