How long did you wait for an eye?

[stevematic]

I was put on the list in late December and I have my graft scheduled for August 29th.

[melissa]

In south africa I was told the wait could be 2 years. I ended up paying for donor tissue to be flown out from USA (apparently they send their excess to the third world countries). The wait for this was 3 weeks and after some motivation my Medical insurance paid the extra over of about R10000 (about 1000 pounds). So thanks to a family on the other side of the world I can see and didn't have to stop working for 2 years.

[stevematic]

I was put on the list in late December and I have my graft scheduled for August 29th.

Sorry, forgot to say it will be at Cabrini Hospital in Brighton, Victoria, Australia. The donation service is Lions Eye Donation Service, Melbourne.

[snorkelboy]

I had my initial appointment in December 2010 and had my graft in early April this year so a wait of 3/4 months.

[Bob Mason]

I had my initial appointment in December 2010 and had my graft in early April this year so a wait of 3/4 months.

Which hospital was that at please - we are trying to build up a picture of waiting times around the UK.

Bob

[Brooksy789]

I was put on the list December 24th 2010 and i have yet to hear anything about a pre op or graft date if this helps? That makes it 5 months without even a slight word or hint about an op. My hospital is The Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Matt

[snorkelboy]

My hospital is Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.

[rosemary johnson]

I had clinic appointment in late Oct 2007 when decided to go for a graft, and doctor sat down at computer there and then, tapped away, said wait currently 3 months and booked it in 3 months to day! - though I was warned that if there was shrtage of donor corneas, I may get rung up and postponed. But (unfortunately as it turns out) that didn't happen.
SO went ahead late Jan 2008.
This was in London at hospital I'm advised not to name as it went so long (PM me if you need info) and the cornea came from the UK transplant centre people in Bristol. At least, the paperwork with it came from Bristol; no idea where the actua donor had lived) and thence into the hospital's own eye bank for their own further testing.
Donor cornea at that time had been lined up for at least one other person and not gone ahead and was on its last day before time expiring.
Paperwork came with rest of my medical notes when I had to use the data protection act to try to find out what drugs they'd given me that I was having such a terrible adverse reaction to (consultant's response to me maing such an enquiry was to tell me to get off the premises before he called security and had me thrown out bodily. Hence DPA. It came with rather more than I'd expected!
They do say that waiting time can vary markedly over time, and I gather it has gone up since then.
Rosemary

[Anne Klepacz]

I too was booked in for 3 mths from the date the decision was made for each of my grafts. But that was more than 20 years ago, and even then things seemed to vary a lot in different parts of the country.
Anne