what does it mean

[nicola jayne]

Hi all ,
I hope that you are all well, I wonder if you can help me ?. I am due to have a graft on my right eye in september I was not told if it was a full or partial graft.... in fact the only thing I was told was that my "good eye" my left one had got much worse in the last year so they were going to graft the right one before the left one gets as bad as it is getting worse quicker than they thought it would.
anyway I had new glasses this week and I understand nothing about my prescriptionso I was wondering if anyone could decipher it for me

my good eye - sph=1.50
cyl= 2.25
axis=120

my eye which they are grafting, this is the same prescription I have had for the las 18 months because the optition said that they cant do anymore for the sight in that eye and "we have given you the full whack" and no more lenses are going to help it.
sph=2.00
cyl=5.00
axis=51

so how bad is my good eye?
and is it really catching up with my bad eye bearing in mind that it has changed within the last 18 months even though they cant give me a new prescription.

well I will leave it in your hands
thanks all
kind regards
nicola

oh and my new team leader in work is fab and is getting hr involved what is the best keyboard type ?
thanks again

[John Smith]

Hi Nicola,

I'll have a go at explaining it... (and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm not 100% )

Basically "Sph" (Spherical) measures how long or short sighted you are. The closer the number is to zero, the more "normal" your vision.

"Cyl" (Cylindrical) measures your astygmatism. Again, the nearer zero the better.

"Axis" measures the err... axis of the astygmatism. In other words if your cornea is shaped like a rugby ball, in which direction are the pointy bits? The nearer to 90 degrees this is the better.

In terms of catching up, I'd only be worried about the cyl value, although huge changes in axis mean that the cone is on the move.

Lots of luck with your graft. If you've not been told, you're likely to be having a "standard" penetrating (full thickness) graft, but it is certainly a question worth asking. If nothing else, it tells the consultant that you've been doing your homework!

[GarethB]

The problem with KC is that the astigmatism is not just regular, we have irregular astigmatism too.

So a topography of my eye shows 3 - 4 areas of astigmatism in slightly different planes and what gets recorded for my prescription is the worst levels.

So part of the lens fitting problem is overcoming all the irregularities which also depends on where the cone is pointing.

Not knowing anything about your KC history; purely reading your post seems a big leap from glasses to graft!

Mild KC can be corrected with glasses in some cases, more usually Rigid Gas Permeable corneal lenses of which there are many types and only once these have been exhausted does a graft get mentioned.

As for the best key board type, I am afraid only you can answer that, we can make recomendations. The best would be to have a look at the standard ones available, mine came with my DELL computer and is white letters on black keys like my laptop and I find easier to read. The RNIB also have acces to a wide variety of keyboards to help find which is best for you.

[Andrew MacLean]

Nicola

All the best with your surgery in September.

As to your keyboard, I’d ask your team leader to arrange a workplace needs assessment in conjunction with the Access to Work team. In Scotland these assessments are actually done by the RNIB who have a training facility in Glasgow, but I don’t know who will do the assessment in your area.

There are loads of different sorts of keyboard and screen available.

All the best.

Andrew

[rosemary johnson]

A word on keyboards:
if the problem is reading the letters on the keys, you don't need to buy a whole new keyboard!
It is possible to buy sets of sticky-backed letters to stick onto a "normal" keyboard with high visibility or high contrast letters on them.
FOr example, big white letters/numbers on a black background, or yellow on black.
I think I've seen packs of these inthe RNIB showroom in Judd St (near Kings Cross in London).
I'm sure the local RNIB would know about where ou might get such things.
Don't buy a whole new keyboard till you'll looked into the sticky-backed plastic option!
Rosemary

[Sandi M]

Hi John,

I was interested to read the meanings of the clinical data, can you give a idea of the ranges at all......for example what would the range of the cylinder measurement be.....if 0 is good how far up/down does it go, (10, 15 100.......just to give me an idea)

Thanks
Sandi

[John Smith]

Hmmm. The Sph and Cyl values are measured in dioptres, so as a guess to +/-20 (the sign would indicate short or long sightedness for the sph value).

As Gareth said, the cyl value for Keratoconics can vary wildly across the surface of the eye. I've no real idea, but it wouldn't surprise me too much for a local cyl value to be 100, though on average, I'm sure it woudl be much less.

Can an optom help out here?

[Sandi M]

Thanks for that John.

Sandi