The eye, a few weeks on.

[rosemary johnson]

It's now three weeks and a day post graft. Does anyone else here recognise any of th efollowing?
1. I have a very sore patch, about two-thirds of the way along my cheekbone. No longer noticeably bruise-coloured as it was at first, but still sore to the touch - I have to wash and dry my face very carefully or there's a sudden "Ow" coming from under the towel. I gather this is where something was resting on it during the op. Is this usual, or a sign I was doing a lot of muscle-twitching under the anaesthetic, or what?
2. My nose is very bunged up. Not just a bit mucous-y, but absolutely set solid inthe mornings. Is this the eye drops, or a completely separate head cold?
3. vision is sharp enough to read, but a bit "weird" at 5" range, very blurred further away, and about 4 ghost images of anything further away, particularly anything light.
4. vision appears "redder" than the other eye, and sometimes a bit misty (is this the drops? - they look vaguely brown in the dropper)>
5. Feels a bit dry all the time (except when just put drops in); not painful but uncomfortable as if "I really must go and take this lens out" then remember it doesn't have one in.
6. gets a bit painful/sore and tired when doing much reading with the other eye - as if movement of ungrafted eye's eyelid is being transferred to pressure over the graft as eyelids not independent.
Have just made a pinhole in a piece of card and tried looking through it. Can see no more, probably less, than without. DOn't think I@d have a hope of seeing as far asa Snellen chart on the wall.
OK, I know it is early days for the vision....... butis it usual for post-graft vision to be v short-sighted?
Can anyone else (or could you) see your own stitch(es) if you looked in the mirror? I can't but someone else who looked recently said she could see a continuous zig-zag.
It's still pretty light-sensitive, but probably no more than the current light-sensitiveness of the other one -which is sorer than usual and more sensitive because it's havng to do all the work for two. And I tend to keep it shut most of the time, so the unaccustomed fuzziness doesn't upset still further the balance and dizziness from the anaesthetic.
Rosemary

[Andrew MacLean]

Rosemary

Here is my take on your questions

1 Outside my experience
2 Outside my experience, but could have something to do with a reaction to one of your drops. Why not mention it to your Ophthalmologist?
3 I used my DALK eye to read and my PK eye for distance vision; it saved me putting on my reading glasses. Unfortunately when they took out my sutures I lost the very good close-up vision of my DALK eye that became, at the same time, a better partner for my other. I now have to put on my reading glasses to work at my computer.
4 Could this just be the return of good colour perception with sight no longer being refracted through corneal scar tissue?
5 I had that; I used to look forward to putting in my drops. I eventually took to using hypermelose between applications of chloramphenicol and dexamethasone. But, I did ask my ophthalmologist first.
6 I think that the immediate post-graft period is not a good predictor of how good your sight will be when everything has settled down.

All the best

Andrew

[melissa]

I had some pain in my cheekbone- kind of like sinus pain- but only for about first 10 days. not bruised at all. i presumesd it was from the drops.
I can't see my stitches in the mirror, but it could be because my eyes are brown, and so there isn't much contrast. other people say they can see, and the photos are good.
i have clear reading vision at about 4 inches, but it makes me dizzy. the rest of my vision is a bit blurry and a bit ghosty, but so much better than before that i am delighted. i would love some glasses, but realise that i should wait a bit longer.
i don't have a lot of light sensitivity. i would call it mild- compared to when i had 'pink-eye' once or a corneal ulcer.

[Louise Pembroke]

With my first graft I had a continuous suture and I could clearly see it in the mirror, the zig-zag. A photo was taken which clearly showed it and this wasn't even an extreme close up, wish I still had it now. Other people could see it easily too, almost like little lights, felt a bit Star Trek!

[rosemary johnson]

Louise mentioned little lights:
I'm glad you said that! I've taken the bathroom mirror through to the sitting room where the light is better, and keep thinking I can see a row of white speckles, in a little curve round the iris, about two-thirds of the way out. But they aren't always in the same place (ie. sometimes at 4 o'clock, sometimes 9 o'clock (as viewed in mirror)).
Been hoping it was just the way the light was reflecting, and trying to block it out so it wouldn't - but then too dark to see anyway!
And hoping they aren't white cloudy patches as signs of it starting to reject.
Does this sound like it might be the rows of lights you mentioned, of refelctions of the ends of stitches or similar??
Andrew said he used his DALK eye for close-up and his PK eye for distance:
That's interesting... and sorry; should have said. Mine's a PK. Had to be, as I've had hydrops in that eye three times. Well, what was that eye....
Rosemary

[rosemary johnson]

it'll be 4 weeks post-graft tomorrow, and the grafted eye seems to be seeing more and moe ghost images all the time.
If I lean across the screen and peer from about 5" away, I can see 1 copy of each letter (etc) and fairly sharp.
From about 16" away, the distance at whch I'm reading the screen with my other eye plus lens, I can see about 6 of everything.
I think..... it is quite hard to count.
And it changes a bit as I blink.
Every time there's a horizontal line across the screen, I can see either three or four copies (depending how I blink) and a lot more fuzziness.
SIngle letters have two main and about 4 or 5 ghosts.
IS THIS NORMAL??????
The first evening after the op, it looked (peering through a crack-open eye under the corner of the ddressing) as if I could see 1 of everything just blurrily.
Then there were two. Last time I posted I said there were four. Now it's more like 7.
Should I be concerned??
- particularly as I still have no follow-up appointment booked (see another thread about this).
Rosemary

[piper]

the only one of your issues I can really address is the difference in color between the two eyes.....i have the same thing, and suppose it is because the corneas came from different donors. Here In Louisiana they could have come from any number of other races, ages, and sexes......I have learned to llive with it. piper

[rosemary johnson]

I'm sure it is getting blurrier.
Even at best 5" reading distance, I think I'm now getting faint ghost images.
Very hard to be sure ..... but seems harder to read.
Interesting comment from piper about origins of donor corneas - I wonder whether the eye bank(s) store, or even get told, info on the ethnic origins of the donor. Or if they think it makes any difference.
For that matter, would the gender of the donor make any difference?
I'm guessing that maybe age does - in that a young person, they'd try to give a young cornea to, rather than one from a "senior" who died of old age. At least, in my youth I seem to remember hearing that young people did better with young corneas, eg. from road accident victims, and hence the waiting with the bag packed for The Phone Call - whereas with older recipients that wasn't so crucial. But maybe modern storage techniques make that less of an issue?
Rosemary