UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi all,
I just thought I would share some of my disappointment with you guys to see if anybody else has had the same problem.
I was initially so pleased with the level of sight that I had after my graft (2 months ago)that excuse the pun but I could hardly believe my eyes.
Over the next month the sight continued to improve and all seemed to be going well.
About 3 weeks ago I got tonsillitis (I know its probably not related) but since then my level of vision has dropped away by quite a bit to the worse it has been post op.
Also at the time I was landscaping my garden and did lift the odd heavy thing. I was told not to lift anything initially after the op for the first few weeks but it would be fine after that.
I did see my consultant around the time that the sight got worse but it all checked out ok.
Did anybody else's vision get worse then recover during the healing time?
To date, touch wood I have not had ANY problems with the graft and I worry that I may have pushed myself too hard because of this.
Any comments would be great.
Regards
Chris

Hi Chris,
I have had the same thing, with my first graft. My vision seemed to get better and then all of a sudden it didn't seem so good. (although i can see so much better than before )
I know that i need to go and have my first graft re-stiched at some poin, so this should help the final out come, but it may make it worse for a while.
What i keep on telling my self is that i still have a long time to recover fully and even if my sight doesn't get any better i haven't started on the glasses/contacts yet!!!!
So try not to worry to much i am sure you havn't caused any damage.

after a 1 1/2 years post graft my vision unaided 6/18, and 6/12 on good days though my vision was fluctuating a lot. after 3 years its now 6/60 uncorrected, but 6/6 corrected with glasses, so basically my unaided vision has gotten worse (but still way better than pre-graft) but visual acuity has improved.

Mine (grafted 30th January) seems to have been seeing more and more double images all the time.
I'm told it's not uncommon for it to get worse before it gets better.
I also found that it was quite easy to tell if I was doing things I shouldn't that pushed the pressure up - I did a LOT (!!!) of coughing and coughing, and sometimes coughing so much I threw up, in the few days after the op (because of the anaesthetic reaction) and I could feel the pull then, and on a few occasions afterwards if I pulled/lifted something I shouldn't.
I'm sure yours will settle down.
Are they testing your eye pressure at your appointments? - if they think it looks OK, and the pressure's Ok, I'm sure you won't have done anything drastic to it - and I think you'd have felt it if you had.
Rosemary

Chris...

As the graft settles and heals, the shape changes and this changes the vision. It usually means you COULD see OK if you had glasses/CL's that corrected your present error. So generally, most people go through these kind of changes. Some may only get a clear window of clarity several months down the line. Others never see clearly until they get their final prescription which may be very many months down the line. Yet others, like yourself, start off with good vision but then, as the cornea changes shape, it can "go off".

As always though, one can't see your eye through the ether, so if you are at all worried then do contact your hospital and get their advice.

Lynn

Lynne's post accords exactly with my experience. My vision changed dramatically and rapidly during the healing process. Then they took out my sutures and my vision changed again. Once I had given two (or maybe it was three) consistent readings, they gave me a prescription for glasses. The reason for the delay in giving me the prescription was that with my eye healing the prescription was changing so quickly that it would have been a waste of my money to be buying new glasses every couple of days.

Andrew

as always thanks for your replys,
Chris