Look after your eyes kids (Intac gone wrong)

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Gaz2k21
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Look after your eyes kids (Intac gone wrong)

Postby Gaz2k21 » Mon 24 Jan 2022 11:12 am

Hello Gang, long time lurker rare poster here just thought I'd post about my recent experience in case anyone else encounters it....

I had an Intac ring fitted into my left eye in 2014 followed up by Corneal Cross Linking on both eyes, this was all arranged by QVH East Grinstead who are incredible and I consider myself quite lucky to be treated by them.

In October 2021 my left eye started displaying symptoms of light sensitivity, watering, pain and redness, Unsure of what to do and having not been seen by East grinstead for while (The Pandemic had caused havoc for them) I contacted my GP who direted me to local emergency opticians, I attended a few appointments they could not see any issues and suspected it was Blepharitis, I spent small fortune on wipes/creams and Gels but didnt really see any improvemnt, I had a check up booked at East Grinstead so upon attendence I explained what was going on and the Opthalmologist backed up what the emergency optician had said so I went away and continued the treatments after a few weeks I saw no improvement so i went to my local Vision Express (They made the original referral when I had suspected KC back in 2013) and saw a new optician, she stated it wasn't blepharitis but wasn't sure what was going on and suggested hot compresses etc.

The next day I had an answer phone message from the optician at vision express saying she had been thinking about it and suggested I go to hospital (She was very new and was a bit nervous and unsure about overriding the diagnoses I'd alrey had) I attended Eastbourne DGH (My Local) and had a few appointments where they determined had a very small split in my cornea just bove the lower section of my intac ring, I was pu on course of antibiotics to ee if it would heal but this made no improvment.
The Eastbourne Opthalmologist referred me back to East Grinstead as matter of emergency (this is now December) on December 10th I had an appontment at East Grinstead and the opthalmologist immediately stated that the ring needed to be removed they we're going to do it that afternoon but had no space so they gave me a Covid test sent me home to isolate for the weekend and then first thing in the morning I was in surgery, they removed the lower half of the Intac ring but the upper half remains in my eye.
Obviously this has put my life on hold for a bit I'm a prison Officer by trade and had to be signed off work over christmas/new years (no bad considering i was due to work a 12 hour shift xmas day) and I'm at work now but on no prisoner contact duties until my eye is fully healed, my last check up was very positive and the healing is going well I'm taking anti biotics and eye drops im back on the 25th of Feb fo check up where hopefully it will be good enough to return to normal.

My left eye at the moment is completely uncorrected which means that my right eye is doing alot of leg work however I've been lucky and can see well enough to watch TV, Play Video games and drive I've not been able to train properly (I like weight lifting/Jiu Jitsu/Kickboxing and pro wrestling I have a show in march I hope to be ready for) and this combined with festive gluttony have resulted in quite the pot bell but im in good spirits about it all, the next steps are to correct the vision in my left eye through glasses and contacts they have suggested RGP lenses but I really don't get on with them so I'm hoping to avoid them (I struggle with soft daily lenses).
Later down the line I may be able to have an implanable contact fitted which is my preference but this is very much in the future.

The only real gripe I have at the moment is that I'm struggling with driving at night and fully avoid it atm. I had this issue for a good year after previous surgeries so hopefully it will improve, I occasionally use Alphagan drops if I really have to drive but this isn't ideal it's also typial of how my life work where everythin happens at once, not only o I have this going on with my eye but I've just got a new job (just going through the security checks process) and am also trying to move home......life is good :P

Feel free to ask any questions as from what I gather this is quite a rare thing in fact I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's had similar issue...

(apologies fo any spelling errors im working with one eye here)

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Anne Klepacz
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Re: Look after your eyes kids (Intac gone wrong)

Postby Anne Klepacz » Tue 25 Jan 2022 11:26 am

Thanks for sharing your story, Gaz, and I'm glad that you did get treatment for this, even if it did take a while to identify the problem. I guess that is an indication of how rare this complication is (though Intacs will be outside most opticians' experience too). But well done for persisting until you did get a result. All the best for successful healing.

thhancock3
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Re: Look after your eyes kids (Intac gone wrong)

Postby thhancock3 » Wed 20 Jul 2022 11:01 am

I'm no expert but if I were you I would get the other ring removed so you dont have the same problem again in the future. Good luck!


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