UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I have had a graft in my left eye now just over 10 weeks ago. During the first week i experienced some irritation which was due to a lose stitch, which was sorted out at my 1 week post op appointment. Since the 7th week post op i started to feel an irritation in my grafted eye. This was intermittment throughout the day. I went to the eye emergency and my concultant told me it was because of a foreign body which had entered the eye causing ulceration giving me discomfort. My iop also has risen to 21. i was then told to use chloramphenocol again 4 times a day for a week to clear the ulceration and a weaker steroid drop prednisolone to reduce the iop and come see him after a week. after a week of taking the chloramphenocol my eye felt better and when i went to see him again he said that the ulceration had cleared and stop the chloramphenocol so all was good.

However the irritation returned that night and was still present the morning after. I then went again to eye emergency, where a different doctor found that the problem was due to a filament present on my eye and the tears were not being distributed evenly causing the discomfort, not because of an ulceration. He removed the filament and told me to take illube and viscotears for 3-4 weeks.

I eye felt better after this but the irritation returned this past monday afternoon. As the irritation sensation is intermittant and was not present on tuesday morning, when i went to eye casualty again. A different dr saw me and checked my eye out and said there was nothing wrong with the graft, all stiches were fine and there are now signs of rejection and so there is nothing to worry about. . I explained to him my problem and the past few times when i have been to casualty for the same reason.

The irritation is still present and is very annoying as it comes and goes throughout the day. Has anyone else had this problem with their graft or have any idea of why this is happeneing or any suggestions?

whats the irritation sensation?...

Its feels similar to a lose stitch but have been told all the stitches are in place. Basically i can feel friction between the top of the cornea and the eyelid when i blink or move the eyeball.

Did they flip your lids up and take a look underneath the lids.....

yeah they did the 1st time i went 2 eye casualty

hmmmm thats odd..and they say stiches are ok!....cdoes it stay there when u get the sensation throughout the day?

when i get it which is almost everday it lasts throughout the day. However sometimes at times in the day i cant feel any irritation if not that than it is quite minimal. Any ideas??

Well if its what I get then I can explain what happens to mine

During the first hour of waking I can feel a few stiches when I blink.....then after that I am ok.....if I then go out where there is A/C then I beleive my eye dries a bit and I can feel the stiches again....I can only assume that this is due to the cornea changing slightly...with the surrounding effects...

However, since having some stiches removed..this has reduced..I would suspect this is because the cornea has been made flatter a little but the stich removal..

thats the only thing I cn think of mate

Maybe Garth, John and the rest of the Post Graft ppl have ideas.

I really don't know the answer here, but can only suggest that the reason that Asif feels "friction" is because there is friction present, and there will be such friction until all of the stitches are removed.

Most of us get used to the sensation to the point where we don't feel it (or at least so it doesn't feel odd). Alternatively, our eyes are lubricated enough to ensure that the lid is not rubbing hard on the stitches.

Of course, as is said (all too) often, we're all different. It may be that all is well, but the lid sensation is there to stay.

Have you tried an additional lubricant (celluvisc and systane come to mind)?

Afraid I can not add more than what has already been said. Even found the diary I kept at the time and there is nothing there other than what Jay has mentioned.

I lived in a village, which is not as dusty as a town and there was only one bus a week into town where only a handful of places had aircon, so I never experienced what Jay mentioned.

Keep asking the conultant as there must be a reason.

Gareth