Went to the eye doc today- he said I had an incipient case of it (like 1+ on a scale of 1-4, 4 being a trip to cornea transplant town). For anyone not familiar, it’s a gradual degeneration of the inside of the cornea that shows up with age (I’m 51) and is apparently genetic.
He put a very positive spin on it-- said there was some chance I might need a partial cornea transplant when I get older, or I might live out my life without a problem; it’s pretty common, he sees a lot of people with it, and he only needs to recommend a transplant every 2-3 years. And if I ever did need a partial transplant (I guess they would only replace the inside of the cornea) he said the procedure is so perfected now that it’s a piece of cake.
So it could be worse I suppose. Still, it’s my eyes :eek: Anybody else have this issue, or know anyone? Had to go through with the operation?
On the good side, I’ve always been slightly nearsighted and used to wear glasses for driving; now my vision is 20/20. The same eye shape changes that make it harder to see things up close with age sometimes make distance sight better. So at least one good thing has come out of getting old (I’d like to say wisdom too, but I’m not going to kid myself).
I don’t have Fuchs, but I have keratoconus, another corneal disease that can lead to the need for corneal transplants. I’ve had transplants done in both eyes - first one ten years ago this month, second was about 18 months ago. Some minor complications after the first one, nothing yet with the second one. The vision improvement has been significant.
A quick read about Fuchs tells me you’re likely to have a different kind of transplant done than I did (partial/endothelial vs full/penetrating), but your doctor is right that corneal transplants are commonly done and have relatively low complication rates. No blood supply to the cornea means the risk of rejection is almost nil, unlike other transplants.
My dad found out he had it a couple years ago in his late 50’s. Sounds a lot like your case where His doc said late discovery and slow progression are fairly common, and told him that if things go bad he may need a transplant, but more likely he would die of something before they needed to be.
But woohoo it is hereditary. So I have to make sure my eye docs are aware to keep an eye(hehe) out for it in case I got that roll of the genes, and was told to never risk anything that effects the cornea such as laser surgery…
That’s right Wolfman, when I was looking up info on the condition last night I read that if you suspect you might have Fuch’s it’s important to see an eye doc who specializes in diseases of the eye, so it’s not missed or misdiagnosed as cataracts or something. I’m lucky that my GP referred me to an experienced doc.