UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

When I had the last eight stitches removed, the surgeon spent a little time tugging at one that seemed oddly reluctant to vacate my eye. In the end, he decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and gave up.

The upshot is that I have one broken stitch remaining in place, and this contributes to a fairly steep astigmatism requiring glasses that are heavier than they would otherwise need to be.

I read in another string that stitches start to dissolve (I think it said in three years). Does anyone have any idea how long it is likely to be before my renegade has vanished?

Andrew

Andrew

Not all will dissolve....I was told that in some instances stitches are never taken out and can be left in the eye up to, and well over, 8 years..........therefore I am assuming this is consultant specific and that the type of material used for the stitching differs?

j

PS - Whenever I see your name I always remember Bruce Willis blowing up the Nakatomi Building in Die Hard lol!...How weird is that!..must be the Maclean / McClaine link!

Andre,

My graft healed over some of the stitches which left me in the same position you are in. Some still remain, about three of the seven so it may go.

However as time went on and the graft gained in strength the astigmatism did get less.

Gareth

Thanks Jay and Gareth.

Jay, there is a story about the diverse spellings of my surname. Often the variation arose because of error (usually on the part of "anglophone" registrars or ministers of religion who heard the name pronounced and guessed at its spelling).

Sometimes the variation arose because of a deliberate decision on the part of families. This could be because of a falling out, or in the case of the most major variation in the spelling of my own surname, because of war.

In the bad old days, Scotland was a nation divided along almost every sort of line you could imagine. The long transition of monarchy from one branch of the Stewart family to another (the present Queen's legitimacy depends upon her Stewart ancestry) gave rise to a series of rebellions usually called "Jacobite".

In all this most families fought on both sides. Sometimes this was because of conviction, and sometimes because they feared the consequences of ending up on the losing side and forfeiting all their land. At Culloden there is no distinction between the graves of jacobite and government troops.

Brothers would enter a covenant with each other as they went off to fight on opposite sides. They would promise to look after each other's wives and land in the event that the other were to die.

So the main branches of the MacLean family (MacLean of Duart and MacLaine of Lochbuie) chose different spellings. It's just a pity that the writers of the Die Hard films chose the wrong one!

I'll ask the ophthalmologist about the renegade stitch next time I see him (in March)

Andrew MacLean