Graft

[kieran19685]

Just been told I need a graft in the left eye as I have central scarring and a contact lens isn't providing great vision.

Any advice as to what happens next? I was told by the contact lens clinic that a graft is the next step and I need to come back in 2 months to discuss.

My left eye is quite poor and its probly the end of the road in terms of contact lens correction. No lens has been comfortable to giving great vision however is the right eye is doing well and overall getting very good vision.

[cat66]

Hi,
My son aged 18 was in the same situation-his left eye had bad scarring and the KC was advanced and he was told he needed a graft. He couldn't tolerate the scleral lens. He saw the consultant who would do the surgery at our local hospital. Once he agreed it took about 3 months until he had the graft. He had the op at the end of February and is doing ok. At first he had eye drops every 2 hours except when sleeping. He now has 3 drops each day but the pressure in his eye was raised last week so has been prescribed drops to reduce it. The consultant is very pleased with how the graft went and vision is improving.
Good luck.

[GarethB]

I'd say don't rush in to this. Many people have been told to have a graft due to corneal scarring, but I know alot that changed the lens type to scleral or soft lenes and the scarring has reduced so no longer a need for a graft. It is worth asking the hospital what other lens options are available to them as I have found some lens fitters don't know how to fit anything other than an RGP lens.

After a graft a good proportion still need contact lenses and the recovery time depending on the type of graft (full thickness or partial) is 12 - 24 months. Today the preference seems to be to keep graft patients on steriod eye drops for much longer which carrys a risk of cataracts (even in young people!).

So you need to ask the following;

What type of graft is being proposed?
How long will the operation take?
What medication is required?
How frequently is the medication to be taken?
How long will you be on medication?
What exercise can be done?
What is the recovery time?
How long is the graft expected to last?
What do I tell if something is wrong e.g. rejection? Needs asking because caught early most cases can be reversed very quickly resulting in no further problems?
How long will the stitches be in for?
When will they start removing the stitches?
At what point will all stitches be removed?
How soon will it be before a form of vision correction such as glasses can be fitted?

Grafts do work very well and I have had two which have worked very successfuly (24 years left and 25 years right) but you need to ensure you have explored all options before taking this route.

The consultants that have seen my medical notes from when I first had my graft just wouldn't recomend it if they had someone today at the same point I was 25 years ago, such is the advancement of KC treatment.

[kieran19685]

I was told that other lens such as Kerasoft and Scelera lens sit on blood vessels which could be a problem.

i have an appointment in two months to discuss a graft on the left eye as i have tried a few different RGP's lens and im struggling with the comfort and the vision isnt great either due to the scarring.

Thanks