UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

what a graft looks like after 20 years?

I have an today was the first time that I have ever seen my graft properly. When it was first done I could only see the stitches, but now i can see how big the graft is and that in both cases ther are biased towards my nose and slightly low which to me suggests the surgeon did his best in the days before topography to remove all the KC he could see.

Left Eye


Right Eye


Now i understand why everyoptom and ophthalmologists takes in a sharp breath before saying 'that's an excellent piece of surgery, you should be prod of that!' which of cours I am because of all the things I have achived since then.

That's interesting.... really??
You could see the stitches but not the graft?
I need a really good light to see my stitches (well, bits of stitch, you know) but can almost always see the graft itself.
It's somehow a different colour fromt he rest, like vaguely milkier, and seems to reflect the light in a way as if the gradient changes at the edge of the graft, and there's like a faint white stripe round the edge.
Even after nearly 14 months.
Is yours un-seeable in anythign like this way,then?
Rosemary
PS: sorry, can't see your pics onthis old computer.

Rosemary, would you be able to see the pics on your computer if I e-mailed them to you?

I've always thought there was a colour change in the iris but assumed it was normal as no consultant ever mentioned it and in the morror it looks like a gradual change not a more steped change as you describe. Now I see the pictures, to me the grafted area is clearer than the host cornea. Before I have put this down to the angle the ligt has illuminated my eye, it might be the case here.

I had individual stitches, about 20 or so in each eye and you could see a series of dashes like part spokes of a wheel which were more obvious when stitches were removed as the gaps were more apparent.

In recent years it has been commented on that the graft looks to be in better condition than the host tissue!

Then again when I was grafted all those years ago, i never thought like peple here do about how long it would last. I just wanted to see and every day I could see was a bonus and still is.

If the graft is milkier, then you can see the graft better than the stitches. This does simply the graft is not totally stress free. Gareth's eyes are a good example of really clear grafts.

Lynn

Gareth: not sure about the pics and email. Depends on format and size and whether the email programme is in a good mood.... can you pm me about how you've got them?
Lynn... errm, eh? It is not markedly white and milky, in that I don't think a casual glance from someone inthe street would spot it. I know its there and where.
It's almost what someone on the forum once said about a "fish eye" - just looks a bit different. And vaguely whiter round the edge.
It's a 16 point running stitch and I can see most of it in good summer sunlight. ell, I could last summer! I hope it will come out soon, so not be here by full summer.
the hopsital keep telling me what a good graft it is, and telling me it is very clear and very quiet.
I say "how galling!" They clearly have no idea. Nor willingness to acquire one...
Yes, I see it becaue it is that little tad milky, esp at the edges. And dont see the stitch because it is faint and black (10/0 nylon IIRR) and against the striations of the iris.
Guess I've never seen a really torublesome one for comparison.
Rosemary

In some lights I could see the sutures in my first graft through the sutured eye. They appeared sparkly and blue around my central vision.

Actually they looked rather beautiful. After the first eight came out I could no longer see the rest.

Interesting pictures Gareth. Make a note in your diary to post new pics again in another ten years then twenty ...

All the best


Andrew

Lynn took the pictures with her new slit lamp and we made a recording of how the K3 lens sits on the eye too which I hope to add later. Lynn was making all sorts of noises as you do when you see something inetresting and go into deep thought mode and as we discussed grafts I mentioned that out of all the poeple who have looked at my eyes that I am the only one that has not seen the grafts so Lynn obliged.

In the past we have had pictures of newly grafted eyes and a year or two post op, just thought I'd join the fun

Does anyone think we could add a gallery section for topographies and grafts and perhaps exhibit them as art?

I have some close-ups photos of my grafted eye too, with and without a few different lenses. Scott at Moorfields wanted to take them to use to teach about good / bad lens fitting, and I asked him if he could e-mail them to me as well, as like you I'd never really seen a close up of my graft before!

I think a gallery is a good idea

Personally, I like topographies. They are in some ways as individual as fingerprints but in other ways have predictable shapes. Graft topos are always interesting because the quietest, clearest looking graft can be the most amazingly odd shape when mapped!

Sadly, most of my patients don't share my appreciation and grumble they don't want to be THAT interesting!!

(I can't imagine why.....!!!)

Lynn

Personally, I always take great delight in being as "interesting" as possible!
I'll try to get some piccies of my eyes so people can see what I mean by the graft being a whiter colour.
Not sure about topologies - only time I've ever had one done (on anything like a "modern" machine, at least, ie. since 1975ish) was by Marina doing that research project in Pimlico. It was very difficult, as the light rings were too bright for my hypersensitive eyes. She turned it down as far as possible, and even so it was very uncomfortabble. And as soon as she pressed the "save" button, it reset itself and the brightness shot back up again - YEEEE_OUCH!
SO don't suppose a topo on the grafted eye is a starter ATM.....
Gallery would be fun....
INcidentally, did anyone hear the final outcome of that research project?
ISTR they were using the data they gathered to produce some pictures of "what the world looks like to us." Or at least, what various snellen chart letters looked like to each of us. And it was suggested we could use some of those pictures on the group leaflets to show bosses, schools, etc the sort of things we might be seeing.
Anyting come of that? (Sorry to digress)
Rosemary