Corneal Transplant Procedure

[jayuk]

there have been a fair few threads...but you see many will be for UK PMI (Private Medical Insurance) which may not help you....

[Andrew MacLean]

Serge

Not all of us live in England. I live in Scotland but I am very forgiving!

Seriously: I'm with Jay. I have never heard it suggested that there is inevitability about people being on drops indefinitely after a graft. I do know that procedures vary in different jurisdictions, and that clinical practice does also vary from consultant to consultant, but the idea that you have to be on drops forever is new to me.

As to contact lenses, it would be worth asking the optometrist up front whether he or she has any experience in fitting Keratoconus eyes. We are difficult to fit, and experience does nake a difference.

Andrew

[GarethB]

Most people I know post graft are no longer on any drops and those that are is because of repeated rejection episodes, so the drops is to keep that under control.

Using drops for the rest of your life goes against the medical recomendations of the drug manufacturers due to risks such as high occular prressure due to excessive use. This is why people using these for rejection regularly have eye pressure moitored.

In the UK, not all medical insurers cover KC, it also depends if you pay insurance your self or you have a scheme through your employer which can also exclude KC which mine does.

In all the years I have had private medical insurance none have paid for contact lenses, it was only in the early days, the specialist consultation was coverd as was the graft. Thereafter nothing was coverd by the insurance.

Where I live in the West Midlands England, the National Health Service offers a service far better than any private medical insurance, I have found this too for my other health problems.

[Louise Pembroke]

I personally wouldn't have it done under a local anaesthetic unless you are very afraid of a general or are an anaesthetic risk. Injections around the eye are not exactly a walk in the park

[Andrew MacLean]

I think that Knight had his DALK under local anesthetic. I don't know whether he is still around (haven't seen him for a long time), but I do recall that he was pretty positive about the experience.

For my part I am far happier having been well asleep while they were attacking each of my respective eyes. Imagine lying awake looking up into the bright light of the ophthalmological microscope and hearing the surgeon say "Oops".

Dr Ramaesh does remove sutures in traunches of 8 at a time, and this is done in theatre under a light local anesthetic. It is really interesting actually to see the stuff in the theatre, hear the music and breathe the air.

Andrew

[jayuk]

Having it under local is actually not meant to be that bad lol....I saw one being done on the web a year or two back...and I think I even posted the link on this site......apparently...the feeling is that the eye is immobilised so you have no control to move it, and everything is hazy......you are mildy sedated but there is no pain involved....allegedly.....

Knight I beleive is still overseas involved in a production film \ documentary of some sort.......

[Louise Pembroke]

I know topical anaesthetic drops are put in before the injections around the eye, but even still my experience of having just one injection [for rejection episode] was hard. It's still not a nice sensation, I wanted to throw up and needed a friend to hold both my hands otherwise I would have grabbed the nurses. They would have to sit on me now..vowed I would never have any eye surgery under a local, I know I couldn't hack it. I insisted on sutures being removed just a couple at a time in clinic, I didn't want to go into theatre and have any eye retractor thingy in my eye. With the first, it was a continuous stitch and removed that under a general anyhow.
Last time I was in clinic a patient in the clinic next to me was telling me about the injections they were giving her for her condition. She said the injections around her eyes were very painful. Don't mean to be negative but I reckon it's worth asking around to see what peoples experiences are of transplants under a local

[Andrew MacLean]

To be honest, Lou: It would take more than a couple of testamonials to get me to undergo that kind of surgery without the protection of sleep. I know that others are made of sterner stuff, but for me the merit of slumber is that I do not have to watch while they prod about my eye and wield their doughnut cutter.

Aarghhh

Andrew (The Timid)

[Louise Pembroke]

I'm with you Andrew

Lou the Timid

[piper]

Serge, as a USA resident with Blue Cross I'd like to respond to your concerns.

In Louisiana there was NO WAIT for tissue.....I was scheduled for the op. 3-weeks in advance. Tissue matching is not a big deal with corneas......nothing like kidneys, etc.

Went in to the outpatient clinic at 8 am.....out of surgery by 11 am.....back in the room by noon.....sat there till I could pee......and they sent me home for dinner. I went back the next morning, to the doctor's office and had the patch removed. I had a little perforation leak, so they placed a soft lens on it.

Four days later they lifted the soft lens off with a Q-tip.....I used antibiotic for a week. Used the Prednasone 4x for a month or so, now 2x.......

Had 8 stitches our 4 weeks post op.....may have the remaining eight out later this month, which will be three months.

In February I'll have a contact made to fit the new cornea. My optometrist is a miracle worker and doesn't hurt anyone.

My Blue Cross paid everything but the deductable and I have the least expensive Blue Cross available. Yours probably will pay for it too......this is not a nose-job by choice. You don't elect to have surgery that will keep you a productive member of society, able to drive and work. Surgery is the key term here.......when they cut you, Blue Cross pays. I'll be VERY SURPRISED if you find anything else to be true.

Forget the commercial eye specialists......call your local BIG university medical-teaching center. They will help you, won't overcharge you and they truley care about the patient, not the BMW out in the driveway.

good luck!! Piper