Jay thanks for the article, that’s very reassuring to know, and yes the ophth said that there are pros and cons to small grafts, pro being that rejection is less likely (although I’ve already had one rejection episode but they think that settled down ok with no long term effects) and that the cons were being the surface was harder to correct than with larger sized grafts. I am still a bit confused as to why he said what he did but I think you’re right Anne that sometimes they make pretty devastating sweeping statements like that and sometimes don’t quite think just how much such throw-away comments can have on us. Andrew, he also mentioned that the small graft did mean that a future regraft would be easier as, like you describe, they could just make the size slightly bigger.
A long-term study into graft lifespan would be very interesting and perhaps give us some more quantitative objective evidence and help to allay some of comments made, because saying things that have such massive repercussions are pretty hard to swallow and can leave you reeling. Yes to a certain extent you have to just get on with it and appreciate the here and now and the vision that is there, I guess for me the situation is slightly different than for many - there is much less room for adapting to decreasing vision, there is that strict cut-off point of I have to make driving standard vision, or I have to take sick leave until I can / essentially, give up medicine if it came to that. So throw away comments about needing a regraft in max ten years really do leave you reeling and you can’t help but contemplate the future a bit.
And Lou, thank you for your confidence in me and RGPs. Reckon I would qualify for minstrels on script?
