MY SON HAVING CXL TOMORROW... Is it painful?

[Annabeirut]

Can somebody please help me. My son is having cross linking done tomorrow. He is so scared and I need to be prepared. He's 14 and can't imagine watching somebody scrape his cornea. Can somebody tell me the truth about the pain involved? Anybody have a child that went through this? Pain management after? I'm really scared for him, telling him if course it will be nothing, but I know better. His procedure is tomorrow. Please somebody give me the facts. Please.

[Anne Klepacz]

I haven't had CXL myself, but from all the posts I've read here from people who have, the procedure itself isn't painful, but the 24-48hrs after usually is. But of course, the people administering CXL know this, and will certainly give your son medication to manage the pain.
Plenty of sleep afterwards and plenty of tlc and he'll be fine a day or two later.
I hope some of the people here who have had CXL recently will see your post before tomorrow and be able to reassure you.
All the best
Anne

[James_Ldn]

I've had cross-linking done. As Anne rightly says, the operation itself isn't painful. The 'scraping of the cornea' sounds worse than it actually is.

Assuming your son is having 'epi-off' cross-linking then the first 48 hours afterwards will be painful, but it will soon go. The pain is worth it if it stops the progression of the keratoconus.

All the best for tomorrow!

[Annabeirut]

There doesn't seem to be a pain management plan. Since he's a child I'm not sure. Am thinking just Advil pm, but is it enough? Doctor has never done kids and isn't sure what he can take as he's 14. I'm in Beirut Lebanon, would love to know what doctors outside give kids doing this procedure? Help.. It's tomorrow and I have a feeling Advil won't be enough.

[CrippsCorner]

I came home from my CXL feeling fine, and wondering what the hell I was worrying about... however a few hours later the pain gradually drew in. Not going to lie it felt like someone was pushing their thumb into my eye. They give you many drops and painkillers to use which helped slightly. They gave me one particular one actually and said if you use this one it'll completely numb the pain but it'll delay the healing process. Purely the fact that I had to think about using it told me that I definitely didn't need too, so I didn't. The good thing is when I woke up in the morning the pain was completely gone and never returned.

One thing I will say is rest, rest and more rest. I tried doing too much too soon and tbh it wasn't very comfortable. Mine was done only last month so my sight is still recovering... it's scary thinking the blurriness will stay forever but it is gradually fading away. I've been told it takes up to 3 months to fully restore.

Good luck!