UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi

I am due to have a full thickness graft on tuesday next week as a day patient. Is this normal practice now?
I had a graft in my other eye 14 years ago and was kept in hospital for 10 days!

Obviously things in the medical world have moved on since then
I would apreciate any advice

thanks

Yes, day case surgery is increasingly common these days.
If you are having it done under local, there's no reason you shouldn't go home (so long as you aren't tyring to drive), and even with generals they have so-called quick-recovery ones where they et you go home that evening so long as you've someone to take you home (ie. you don't have to get the bus/tube).
It does depend where you live, as they'll probably want to see you the next day, but so ong as you can arrange to come back in then (not driving yourself), they'd generally rather you went back to your own house - costs the NHS less in "hotel" costs (meals, clean sheets, etc) and you're less likely to pick up a "hospital acquired infection".
Rosemary

I think that the big change in recent years has been in the use of anesthesia: general or local.

The General Anesthetic commonly used in the NHS was developed in Glasgow: when the second part of the process is administered the residual molecule of the knock-out element is completely dispersed, so that there is no longer any anesthetic from which you have to recover.

In Glasgow they would keep you in hospital overnight if you lived a distance from the hospital: this is because there is an early morning clinic that they like graftees to attend on the next day. They generally take the view that it is not good to have to get up and change trains two or three times to get to the "day 1" clinic.

All the best.

Andrew

I hope everything goes well on Tuesday.People in Scotland who have had grafts in the last few years seem to have had very positive results.

Looking forward to meeting you at a Scottish group meeting in the near future. Elizabeth

I had my graft 7 weeks ago and I was home half an hour after coming out of surgery.