Suture removal

[Amer]

Hi All,

Not posted in a while. Had my PK transplant in Feb 2011 and not had great sight so far. I felt it was due to 2 sutures that were remaining that were causing ghosting to happen in the direction they were, so i assumed they were tight. My contact lens specialist agreed and had them removed yesterday at the hospital. I still seem to have ghosting in the same direction, would just be because they have been in for so long that the cornea now needs to settle and that may take some time, I know I should just wait and see but not the most patient person lol. If anyone has had anything similiar, would love to hear from you

[longhoc]

Hi Amer

Oh, patience, yes, I've heard of people who have that

But seriously, what you've been advised is correct. Suture removal affects the shape of the cornea. The shape of the cornea has a significant impact on your visual acuity. Unfortunately the cornea is not like a piece of elastic -- it doesn't simply snap back into shape. I was advised that it's quite likely that vision will continue to change 6 months after stiches are removed post graft. And even after a year, you can still get changes occuring.

That said, if it's only a couple that were removed because that was all that were left, you might be pretty close to your final vision -- it's possible you'll not end up with another two or three lines on the Snellen chart if that's what you were hoping for. Then again, it does depend on how "tight" they were, and where they were located. So no hard and fast rules here. Even the professionals can't look up in some table and make that determination.

All you can do is be patient (I know...) and wait for time to pass and make an assessment on your final post operative vision.

Best wishes, good luck.

Chris

[Amer]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that. The two stitches i had were really tight, so much so that the vision was getting pulled in that direction and causing ghosting (towards the upper right hand side) I was hoping to see a slight difference straight away (I know, wishful thinking lol) but didn't. It was the last two stitches and when i had the majority of stitches in my vision was getting quite good, could read subtitles on the tv which was a first for me throught that eye (vision in other is near perfect). Well its been two years, guess i can wait a little longer