Corneal graft. Daniel Calladine. Spire Hospital Worcester

[johnharry23]

Hi
I am booked in with an eye surgeon for a corneal graft, Mr Daniel Calladine, at Spire Eye Centre, South Bank Hospital, Worcester.

I wonder if anyone has experience of this surgeon? My graft is booked for May this year. I have suffered Keratoconus for the last 50 years. My right hard contact lens has now caused severe scarring and I can only wear the lens for 3 or 4 hours per day at most. I ma now 66.

Experience from other sufferers would be really appreciated.

Thanks

John

[Anne Klepacz]

Hello John and welcome to the forum,
You will have read our forum conditions when you registered and seen that one of these (number 3) is 'Not to enter any text that expresses opinion on medical competence' so we can't comment on individual surgeons (though of course a Google search will usually give you a good biography, including specialist interests and experience). But quite a few of us here have had corneal grafts and will happily share our experiences of surgery and of long term contact lens wear so do ask any questions you have on those topics.
My original grafts were 30 years ago, when contact lens options were quite limited and like you, I was finding my rigid lenses almost impossible to wear (and they didn't do much to improve my vision either by that time). But there are now many more lens options for KC, so I was just wondering whether you've had any discussions with your optometrist about alternatives to the small, hard lenses - for example scleral or semi scleral lenses which you might find more comfortable. Or is the scarring too severe to make that a practical option? But if a different lens wouldn't work for you, then I can certainly testify to the fact that grafts all those years ago gave me my life back! And if you'd like our information booklet and DVDs of our conferences on various KC issues, do e-mail your postal address to anne@keratoconus-group.org.uk and I'll put them in the post to you.
Anne

[johnharry23]

Hi Anne
Many thanks for your response. I note the point regarding comment on individuals.
Yes my right cornea is now too badly scarred and the only option advised is a DLK lamellar corneal graft. The scarring has affected my vision too. 18 months ago I could wear the hard contact lens for 12 hours a day. Now down to 4 hours at most; sometimes less.
I am emailing you my postal address and would be very grateful to receive any relevant information.
Regards
John

[GeorgeThe2nd]

hi
get a graft
u will see much better and spend much less on sophisticated contact lenses
good luck

[Lia Williams]

hi
get a graft
u will see much better and spend much less on sophisticated contact lenses
good luck

I've not had a graft, but most people I know who have had a graft have still required specialist contact lenses.

The scarring has affected my vision too. 18 months ago I could wear the hard contact lens for 12 hours a day. Now down to 4 hours at most; sometimes less.

John, is the effect to your vision just the wearing time? or is the quality of the vision also affected?
If you can see clearly, albeit painfully, it may well be worth investigating other lenses. In my case I was down to an hour's wear in my favourite lens (an older lens with worse vision and a poor fit was comfortable) and piggybacking with a daily silicon hydrogel lens has meant that I can wear the lens comfortably all day.

Lia

[mohammadkam]

Hi John,
I have had a graft (DALK) less than a week ago in my right eye. Unfortunately the contact lens solution did not work for me as finding a lens to fit my eye was a problem and there was also significant scarring in the eye.
I was therefore told to either have a graft or continue to manage with glasses (luckily the condition has not affected my left eye nearly as much as the right)
I can honestly say I would find myself changing my mind as to whether I wanted the graft depending on what I had read on the Internet or depending on who I spoke to.
What confirmed my decision was putting up my first post on this forum. Having support and feedback from individuals in a similar position really struck a chord.
Anyway reporting from the other side I can confirm that I am recovering from surgery. It is too early to tell whether there are signs of infection or rejection. There is no signs of improvement in my vision yet but it is early days.
I was also worried about the pain levels post op. Although everyone's pain thresholds will be different I can say that for me it was not nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. For the first couple of days I had quite sharp pains when the eye was exposed to light, whilst blinking and also when putting drops into my eye. I found myself keeping my right eye closed for large periods.
However this is improving on a daily basis with respect to pain levels and sensitivity to light.
Apologies for waffling on for so long. For me although it is early days, I am glad I went ahead with having the graft.
All the very best to you.
Kamran

[John Thatcher]

That's really good to hear, Kamran, so pleased the forum helped you and now you can help others. Very best wishes to you for speedy progress, John