I have been diagnosed with hydrops

General forum for the UK Keratoconus and self-help group members.

Click on the forum name, General Discussion Forum, above.

Moderators: Anne Klepacz, John Smith, Sweet

User avatar
Andrew MacLean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 7703
Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2004 8:01 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Other
Location: Scotland

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby Andrew MacLean » Mon 02 Feb 2009 6:00 pm

I'd tend to caution against this sort of approach: dry eye is also a very serious ophthalmological condition and you can have both dry eye and hydrops at the same time.

By all means ask your eye care professional, if you think it is worth trying, but do not take this action without first checking with someone who has looked at your eye and knows the precise nature of your condition.

All the best

Andrew
Andrew MacLean

User avatar
rosemary johnson
Champion
Champion
Posts: 1478
Joined: Tue 19 Oct 2004 8:42 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Contact lenses
Location: East London, UK

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby rosemary johnson » Mon 02 Feb 2009 6:43 pm

It was someone on this forum who reported that they had een given the suggestion f using a hair dryer pointing at their eye to hurry up a hydrops clearing.
I can't remember who it was though - am hoping they come on soon and see this and admit to it!
I had never heard of the suggestion before, let alone tried it (don't possess a hair dryer - when I was a kid and my mum insisted on using hers on me, my hair went like "I washed my hair last night and now I can't do a thing with it" for a week. besides, as last hair cut was a No 4 all over, why bother???!)
The person who said they'd had the suggestion and tried it reported that their hydrops cleared up pretty promptly. How fast it would have cleared if they hadn't used the hair dryer, of course, no-one will ever know.
Rosemary

User avatar
vsanders0814
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 29 Jan 2009 7:18 pm
Vision: Contact lenses

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby vsanders0814 » Wed 04 Feb 2009 3:01 pm

I woke up on Tuesday Feb. 3 and noticed that the halo on my eye was no longer there. I was going to go to the doctor to get a second opinon on my hydrops that day. I cancelled the apt. and decided that I have to meet with the cornea specialist next week so I should just wait until then. I have not put any eyedrops in my eye and I also have not stopped with the treatment regimen that the doctor prescribed for me. I will continue will all of this until next week when I see him. From there he will determine how much damage was done to my eye from the hydrops and examine the scarring. Once the halo and fluid build has gone away does that mean that the hydrops is totalled healed? I am curious to know others stories since I have read that it still could take the eye months to completely get back to normal. I am not sure exactly what does that mean. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,
Valarie

User avatar
rosemary johnson
Champion
Champion
Posts: 1478
Joined: Tue 19 Oct 2004 8:42 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Contact lenses
Location: East London, UK

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby rosemary johnson » Wed 04 Feb 2009 4:42 pm

OK.
The first thing that happens is that the split has to heal over. That stops any more fluid going through the gap.
Then the fluid that has built up has to clear away. HOw fast this happens depends on how much leaked, and how good your metabolism is at clearing it out. (Your metabolism will be trying to clear it away as soon as it starts leaking through, but until the plit has healed, more keeps coming.)
Once the fluid has all drained away - and the fog it caused gone from your vision - the medics can see the damage, how big the split was, how well it is healing, etc.
One thing that complicates this simple statement is that some of the lingering "fog" may be scar tissue not still fluid. Or there may still be fluid, but you don't notice it because it is not central to the vision.
As regards taking some months to settle down - that's my experience, at least.
Similarly - a few weeks ago, I had an argument with a bramble (blackberry bush - very prickly) and got a long scratch down my arm with blood dripping out of it.
The blood soon clotted, and the skin healed in a few days. I still have a prominent shiny-pink stripe down my arm where it was.
Fortunately, this is slowly fading..... very fortunately, as I think the hospital saw it and thought I'd been trying to slash my wrists!!!!!
I think my hydrops did something similar - healed over to seal the split fairly soon, then took a while to heal over a bit more permanently. If you see what I mean.
Hope this makes sense. And maybe others will chip in with their experience.
Rosemary

Lorrine
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue 17 Feb 2009 11:09 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: I'm coping with no aids

I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby Lorrine » Tue 17 Feb 2009 11:51 pm

I have been dealing with hydrops since November 2008. At first I thought all hope was gone but after researching and groups like this I feel hopeful. I use Muro and the steroid as perscribed. For those of you that are now done with hydrops, what should I expect when it begins to clear up? Will it drain out as tears or will I not notice the drainage?

BTW, for those of you having trouble using the computer (with hydrops), I found it helpful to change my computer settings (Control Panel, Accessibility Options). I was able to change the background to black and make the text white. The change has made it easier to work on the computer.

User avatar
Andrew MacLean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 7703
Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2004 8:01 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Other
Location: Scotland

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby Andrew MacLean » Wed 18 Feb 2009 7:11 am

Lorraine

welcome to the forum, and thank you for the very good advice. I use a Mac, and it is very easy to change the screen, increase the text size, alter the configuration: black on white/white on black, etc. The sad thing is, that if asked, I could not tell a Windows user how to achieve this change :oops: (although there are others here who could).

To your question: I don't really think I noticed the hydrops clearing until it was gone.

The good news is that it will go.

All the best

Andrew
Andrew MacLean

dazzabee
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 70
Joined: Thu 12 Jun 2008 10:45 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Contact lenses
Location: London
Contact:

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby dazzabee » Wed 18 Feb 2009 1:54 pm

Hi All,

I am the mystery oerson who suggested the hair dryer. I had a mild case of hydrops a year ago (two small white patches that were infuriating rather than blinding me in anyway).

I was told by a doctor in the Emergency Room at Moorfields in London to use the hairdryer. He also have be the Sodium Chloride plus one other solution which escapes me now but I know it made my pupil bigger!
When he suggested the hair dryer the staff nurse (of some years "experience"!) was shocked and the doctor said it was "in Daniels' book". I am not sure who Daniels' is but perhaps someone has some time to research this.

Anyway, it really helped for me. Just for 5-10 minutes in the morning with no lens or anything in the eye. I am not too sure of the science behind it but it certainly eased the white patches each time I applied the hair dryer and within a week I woke up one morning to see they had gone.

My advice would be to speak to a consultant and see if they have heard about this treatment but it did help for me that is for sure.

I hope this helps.

All the best

Jay
Jay

Irregular Cornea Foundation
www.ic-f.org
E-mail info@ic-f.org
Tel: 01788 529 937

User avatar
Laura Hook
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed 09 Aug 2006 7:53 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Other

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby Laura Hook » Wed 18 Feb 2009 3:31 pm

Hi!
i had hydrops in my worst eye maybe 18 months ago, i don't really know.
I woke up one day and didn't notice that my eye was cloudy until i looked in the mirror as i don't really use that eye.
Luckily my family is experienced with KC so my dad thought he knew what it was.
Although i didn't think it would clear, only a few months after my eye was totally clear.
I remember having sodium chloride drops (which stung!!!) and some that dilated my pupil, that was probably the worst part as i was extremely light sensitive and didnt go out without sunglasses.
Luckily my school nurse was great with helping me with the drops in school.
Laura
(sorry about any spelling mistakes as i can't wear contact lenses at the moment)
Laura :D

User avatar
rosemary johnson
Champion
Champion
Posts: 1478
Joined: Tue 19 Oct 2004 8:42 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Contact lenses
Location: East London, UK

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby rosemary johnson » Wed 18 Feb 2009 7:18 pm

Hydrops clearing -
nope, you don't notice the actual fluid coming out.
It doesn't come out as tears. It gradually is reabsorbed into the tissue and taken away in tissue fluids.
With my first two, the ones where the world went white-out, the first thing I noticed was that the fog started to clear at the edges first. SO first, after about a month, I could see things moving at the edge of my vision, while the centre was still a white out (like that steamed up window). And gradually the clear edges got wider and the central fog got smaller. Until there wasn't a big white patch any more, just a lot of the usual KC distorted vision and I was hankering to put a lens back in (but had been told not to....)
The first one cleared over very well indeed; the second left a bit in the centre that didn't seem to have gone back to normal 100% but I guess either I got used to it or it faded very slowly over the next few months.
Rosemary

Graeme Stevenson
Optometrist
Optometrist
Posts: 80
Joined: Wed 03 Dec 2008 11:30 pm
Keratoconus: No, I don't suffer from KC

Re: I have been diagnosed with hydrops

Postby Graeme Stevenson » Wed 18 Feb 2009 10:43 pm

Hair Dryer treatment is commonly used in Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy to help reduce the corneal Oedema. I must say it is less commonly used in KC although in a case of Hydrops there is also severe oedema and in that case the hair dryer will have a similar effect in reducing fluid in the cornea. It has a similar effect to that of Sodium Chloride which has a hypertonic (takes water out) action on the cornea.
I must say that would be very cautious regarding using a hair dryer on an already thin and delicate cornea.
Having said that I have an old friend who did have Fuchs and he said the hair dryer was fantastic until he finally received a graft.


Return to “General Discussion Forum”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 33 guests