UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I went to my optometrist yesterday. I had been aware that my vision had changed and thought I'd need a new prescription for my glasses.

The change was a 10 degree shift in my astigmatism. The power of the lens was unchanged and with new lenses ground to the change in the astigmatism I am still getting 6/7.5 in my graft eye.

The optometrist was a bit puzzled by this change in the astigmatism; the second since I was able to start using glasses back in September of last year. She looked into my graft eye and found that a cataract had been growing for some months.

I asked questions and she maybe said more than she strictly ought to have said: a trauma induced cataract is growing at the centre of my field of vision, it will begin to affect my vision and may lead to the loss of sight in my graft eye.

This was one of the dangers that I was warned was native to the PK procedure, and while the ophthalmologist did say that it was a relatively rare result of an insult to the eye such as PK surgery, it was a finite possibility. I have no complaint, I knew that this might happen and I was already blind when I had the surgery.

My other eye is still waiting for a graft, so if I lose the sight in my graft eye I shall be blind again.

Still we soldier on! I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist on Thursday.

Andrew

Andrew,
My thoughts and prayers are with you. Horrible too, to have a glimpse of life with good sight.

Thanks Matthew. I'll just have to spend more time looking across the Clyde while I still can

Andrew

Andrew,

That is very unfortunate news, and my thoughts are with you.

Is the cataract responsible for the change in astygmatism? I don't understand these things fully, but that surprised me.

I'm also surprised that your optometrist is suggesting that you will lose the sight in that eye. Surely you will only lose vision if the cataract is left untreated. I can see no reason why having a PK graft will preclude having the cataract removed. Sure, it would involve another operation, but not a major one like your graft.

I hope all goes well with your appointment on Thursday, and that your ophthalmologist can set your mind at rest. Do let us know how you get on.

All the best,

John

I don't know: the optometrist saw the cataract when she was looking for an explanation for the change in the axis of my post graft astigmatism. She didn't actually say that the two were related, nor did she say they were not!

That's on my list of things to ask my ophthalmologist when I see him on Thursday.

I think that there is a reluctance to operate on cataracts before they are "ripe".

As I say, I did push the optometrist pretty hard with the questions I asked. I was in her chair for over three quarters of an hour, the greater part of it was my post examination questioning. But then, if you don't ask they are not going to tell!

Andrew

added later: I found this article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

im sorry to hear abot this. i don't really have any nice sayings or any words of importance for you, just honestly, i hope things improve for you.

one kick in the crotch after another huh..

Andrew,

Sorry to hear the news. I know this is of no conselation but it has been a long held concern of mine that the the period post graft that patients are asked to use the steroids may exacebate such problems.

It has taken a while for the cataract to form and with advances in science I am sure although it may not seem so now that things will inevitable work out for the better.

Regards

Gareth

Dear Andrew,

I am so sorry to hear of this latest issue. I have to agree with Gareth about steroids - I know of two members of my family who have contracted cataracts after steroid therapy. The first is my nephew, aged 10, for whom no treatment is available due to having a life limiting disease. The second is my sister-in-law who is on steroids for lupus and as a direct result she ended up with cataracts in both eyes. Initially she had to wait till the one eye was completely clouded over before she could have surgery and then was totally reliant on her lens. The other eye also had a cataract but was not ripe enough for surgery. Recently she had to undergo the op again but this time things were completely different, the surgeon put a synthetic lens directly into the eye and she is not reliant on her lenses any more. She says her vision is now back to what it was before the cataracts arrived! I don't know how this would apply to KC patients but it may be similar. It would be worth asking about. I do hope the news will improve for you.

All the best when you visit your optom.

Sally

Andrew, I am truly sorry to learn of your setback
My thoughts are with you and I hope that perhaps there will be some better news to come very soon.

Andrew

Sorry to hear this!

For what its worth!..I am in the same both...at 28 I also have cataracts in both the eyes...but I beleive its very early stages....this I was told before my transplant last year........but eventualy, if it gets worse, ill need to have them out....which paniked me at first until I realised that having them removed and grafts make no difference.....and there are no complicatons....

Jay