To have a transplant or not?

[Libby]

Hi Reena

we are in the same position as you. my daughter has been told today that very probably we a looking at a transplant for her right eye. We don't know what to do either - just wondered what did you decide - did ou go ahead or are you still gathering info x

[Christhomas1983]

Hi Reena,

I am 29 yrs old, had KC in both eyes since I was 14-15yr old and worn lenses since then. I had a full cornea transplant in May this year on my left eye in Moorfields.

The operation went well and I am lucky so far in that my only issue was high pressure in the eye due the steroids, however I was prescribed different steroids which should bring the pressure down.

The frist week after the operation is pretty intense with lots of eye drops. I would definitively take 2-3 weeks off in order to make sure you feel comfortable and recover from the operation. It is also important to get used to putting eye drops in. The first week I hardly left the house as I didn't want to miss an eye drop session. Now I am used to it I have few problems.

Of course there are many risks with any operation so make sure you ask lots of questions of your doctor. And there is lots of great info on the forum.

My sight is so much better than it was. Some days the sight is good and the next day is bad so prepare for a long recovery time and inconsistency with the vision.

I have no problems with normal life and still cycle to work everyday. But make sure your work knows your condition. I told them in advance that I may have days that I will just want to rest the eye not look at a computer screen all day.

Happy to answer any further specific questions you may have.

Chris

[eye16]

I know this is very very late. But thank you Chris for your reply.

[eye16]

Yes Libby I did have the operation. Did your daughter go ahead? X

[Kerry Mc]

I had my first graft st age 51, it failed, had my second in May, that's had complications and no useful sight at the moment but I'm told it's early days and consultant is hopeful functional sight with correction will return
The decision to have a graft came when my corrected sight dropped below 6/12 as I wanted to continue driving, I am a teacher but have only been able to work a few weeks between grafts and if I am honest I really struggled with my sight, with hindsight if I knew what issues I would have, I would probably have delayed it, but all said and done everyone is different and reading issues on here I was fortunate to have retained reasonable sight to continue as long as I did