UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Aye up everybody! (Nottingham slang)

Was just wondering about GRAFTS in general.
I am still being treated for eye Ulcer in the same eye after 3 months, and after my last visit to the QUEENS Medical Centre Nottm, i was told may have to have THE GRAFT Surgery .

Since then,i have had my six monthly check up with my local Opthelmist,who tells me Surgery may be the next step but be prepared for a long wait due to the shortage of suitable Donors?
.
But then again with new technology and the latest research being used SYNTHETIC or even ANIMAL substitute are being trialed.
( He did mention the PIG being one such species,"As long as its not a SHEEP i said "ME BEING A FOREST FAN! I couldn,t BARRR! the thought of any thing to do with Derby County being used in my body.

Knowing my look i,d end up with a MOLE being the Donor,

Any thoughts on this would be well received,

thanks 4 now.
wayne.

Hi.
nottingham Forest, eh? - can't stand the rams. Hmmm.
As far as I know, we're still some way off the arrival of xenotransplantation for corneas (ie. from another species). I've no idea what the prospects might be - in general, the further away from your own genetic makeup the implanted piece, the more likely a rejection. Though corneas are less "picky" about precise match types than some other organs.
The problem with a synthetic one would be that it wouldn't, once implanted, become living tissue and be alive and growing. WOuldn't be able to keep itself maintained.
WOuld be good to think that one day inthe future it may be possible to "clone" or "grow" a new piece of cornea for ourselves from our own stem cells - so it is truly our tissue with lower rejection risks. And if just the "KC gene" could be "therapised" to make it less likley to develop KC again in the graft in future.....
Maybe the female part of the KC world could even gestate our own new corneas in a form of IVF process? WOuld that make it worth putting up with periods (for PMT for those as get it) for all those years???!
Rosemary