Have you ever wondered....

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GarethB
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby GarethB » Thu 26 Mar 2009 8:17 am

I wonder if this was used in the development of the Aberometer?

Rather than looking at a light you look at a picture (well as best we can anyway) and it does more than topography, is measures all the aberations in the eye from the cornea to the retina and gives a load of numbers I think called Zerniki's, Coma and so on. This generated a picture of the eye chart showing what it thought I could see and what I should see with glasses and what I would see if everything was corrected.

First time I have seen a picture of an eye chart that I could show others that truly reflected how bad my vision is. It had all the doubling/tripling of the image, smudges, halos and wobliness we live with in one image.

They are very expensive and the place I was at only had it no loan for a few days to evaluate its abilities.
Gareth

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rosemary johnson
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby rosemary johnson » Fri 27 Mar 2009 2:32 am

The machine (at Marina's research centre) was the type where you look at a set of bright pink concentric circles, and the idea is the circles reflect off your cornea, and because you have odd-shaped corneas, the reflections are odd shapes. The computer does cleer calculations on these to work back to the shape.
It appeared very much like one at the hospital that they got my mum measured on a couple of years back, excpet that had orange rings not pink ones. WHy my mum? - to see if she might have very mild sbclinical KC, and be of "tuns in family" interest to genetics study. SHe doesn't; only astigmatism. Hospital have never tried one on me.
The "eye chart as we see it" description sounds just like what I remember Marina showing me.
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GarethB
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby GarethB » Fri 27 Mar 2009 8:50 am

Forgot to mention the concentic rings it had :oops:

Modern topography machines have the same but most have a yellow LED in the center you try and focus on.

The bit you look through is pretty similar from the bit you look through, it is just the gubbins it is attached too!
Gareth

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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby Yes » Fri 27 Mar 2009 3:47 pm

Well, thats quite something those pics,

Is that a spec of something I see near your pupil ? and I wanted to ask, if yo you have any contrast/light aversion trouble ?

Do you have annual check ups ? and what do they check in these check ups ?

Yes

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GarethB
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby GarethB » Fri 27 Mar 2009 6:06 pm

Specs are just reflections of the lights in the consulting room, the spot lights can't be turned off completely and you need an element of lighting to see the keys on the computer. We tried changing the angle but the reflections are still there, just in another place. As you line the image up you can see them move so nothing on my eye.

Since changing from RGP's to the softs there is absolutly no light averion.

Are you having problesm with light aversion or contrast?

The only problem with light contrast is related to dyslexia. Black print on white paper and the leters appear to move around the page. If I wear glasses with a bluesh tint the letters move far less and only shimmer on a bad day.

My check ups at the hospital are every three months and we concentrate on corneal health and every six months a more detailed eye examination is carried out. From the people I have spoken to at the West Midlands meetings my check-ups are the same as anyone else with KC.

What do the consultants check in your check ups?
Gareth

private104

Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby private104 » Fri 27 Mar 2009 6:19 pm

Hey Gareth,

Sorry about this. I don't visit the forum every day so I may have missed something; was there a reason why your check-ups may have been different?

Hello 'Yes'. It's always good to see someone new. This is a really friendly place. I hope you get as much out of it as I do. Do you have keratoconus?

AJ

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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby Yes » Sat 28 Mar 2009 12:46 pm

The topic title says:

"Have you ever wondered"

Then it starts

"what a graft looks like after 20 years?"

It can vary alot from transplant patient to patient, I thought that was obvious in it self, so my question was, what are the checks done, and at what intervals for KC transplants, the question asked to someone who has had them first hand, because I have not.

If I talked about my self (and it might get picked on with some small thing I may write, as has happened already), then the question asked would be "can you keep to the topic"

To go back to the topic, what are the checks done after a transplant through out the life of a transplant, what are they for, why are they needed and what are they looking for ?

Yes

private104

Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby private104 » Sat 28 Mar 2009 2:25 pm

hello again yes. I am a bit confused. You say that something has happened before; but this is only your third post. You also seem to be attacking Gareth for some reason.

From my point if view Gareth, who has keratoconus, is not saying 'This is what YOUR eye will look like after 20 years'. He is giving us AN EXAMPLE of what a graft CAN look like after that length if time.

Surely that is obvious?

Take it easy. As I said this is a friendly place. People who have keratoconus should not be attacked here by people who won't say whether or not they have it. My advice to you is to chill.

If you are waiting for a graft and font know what post op tests you ought to expect, why not just say 'I am waiting for a graft, can anyone tell me what tests I ought to expect as I go into aftercare?'

AJ
Last edited by private104 on Sat 28 Mar 2009 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Andrew MacLean
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby Andrew MacLean » Sat 28 Mar 2009 3:09 pm

GarethB wrote:
My check ups at the hospital are every three months and we concentrate on corneal health and every six months a more detailed eye examination is carried out. From the people I have spoken to at the West Midlands meetings my check-ups are the same as anyone else with KC.


Hello Yes

I entirely agree with AJ. I think that Gareth already answered your general question, but for the sake of clarity let me share something of my own experience of post graft after-care.

I now have an appointment four times a year at the hospital clinic. The tests vary, but I think that I can summarize them as follows:

1 Routine Refractions, to check that my vision is stable and make sure that my correction is appropriate.
2 A visual examination of my grafted corneas, to check on the general health and clarity of the grafted tissue.
3 An examination of my retinas, to make sure that there is nothing untoward happening at the back of my eye.
4 A measurement of my IOP to make sure that there is no problem with the pressure inside my eyes
5 A check to see whether I am developing cataracts. I did develop a cataract in my right eye; once identified this was quickly removed.

I see from other users' experience that other tests are available to suit circumstances; one member has had some cells removed from the surface of his eye and sent for a 'culture test'. I guess this is to find out whether there is an infection that needs more than chloramphenicol.

I don't know how widely you have read in the forum, but Gareth has indicated that he used to wear RGP corneal lenses after his grafts, but that now he is using a new lens as part of a clinical trial. He seems to feel that the new lens is more suited to his particular needs than the ones he was using before, although he is always careful to emphasize that each person with KC is unique, and just because the new lens suits him it should not be assumed that it will suit everybody.

Can I say one more thing? I agree with AJ that the tone of your latest post is a bit belligerent. I know that you are new here, but we do try to keep the forum a friendly place where people who have KC can support each other. Although two of us have now asked you to tell us something about your interest in keratoconus, you have not done so. While there is no particular need for you to say whether or not you have keratoconus, your decision to keep that information to yourself does diminish a bit the high ground from which you seem to want to attack someone who clearly does have KC and is trying hard to share his experience to the benefit of others.

When you signed up for the forum, you agreed that posts that were unacceptable could be edited. We very seldom take this action, but you should know that we are prepared to edit or remove belligerent posts.

Like AJ, I am not sure that I understand what you mean when you say

yes wrote:If I talked about my self (and it might get picked on with some small thing I may write, as has happened already)


I am sure that you will want to explain what this means.

All the best

Andrew
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GarethB
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Re: Have you ever wondered....

Postby GarethB » Sat 28 Mar 2009 4:18 pm

Aberometer - I was invited to have my eyes measured using this instrument when I was representing the group at the 2007 Hospital Optoms Confrence.

Pictures and video - Lynn had asked if she could introduce me to some peple who wanted to know more about the group and meet someone who had had KC for some time. Taking video and pictures was just part of killing time until these people arrived.

Check-ups depends on how well the last one went. If all is well they can be once a year and when things have not been going well they have been monthly. Currently it is every three months.

Most the time it is an eye tests, observe the lens movement, general corneal health pretty much 1 & 2 on Andrews list at most visist and once per year I'll get all 5 on Andrews list. As the hospital i go to is a teaching unit extra checks may be thrown in if students are present. As far as I am concerned, lettingstudents have a look helps them gain experience in our condition before they enetr practice for themselves and can only benefit the KC community as a whole.
Gareth


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