Has anyone had a corneal transplant?

[abitfishy]

Hi all,

Well, aint life grand. A few months ago I was diagnosed with moderate Keratoconus, and have subsequently been fitted with 16mm rigid contact lenses, which give pretty good vision (in combination with the good eye 6/6, but not great on its own), however I have corneal edema (swelling of the cornea basically) due to the rigid fitting and the lack of oxygen that causes. I'm on my second hard lens and thats the last option for me.

The only option to improve my vision in that eye, successfully (we hope) is a corneal transplant. I was wondering if anyone had it done and their experiences with it. I'm aware the op itself if pretty straight forward and can even be done under a local as an outpatient, however the recovery is lengthy with repeated checkups, a long time before the stitches are taken out etc. I realise people are probably different but I'm keen to hear on how quickly/well the vision was corrected after the op, and whether having stitches in the cornea for 6mths-1yr is as irritating and painful as it sounds, and whether the vision improves whilst the stitches are still in place etc etc.

Its a harder decision for me as I am only 33, and can 'live' with that eye not corrected if I have to, but would prefer not to, but its versus the likely outcome of a transplant. If I was in my 60's for instance I wouldn't hesitate to take the plunge, but for me its a long time before I die if its a complete stuff up. I hope I haven't offended anyone in their 60's or older with that comment.

I'm having difficulty getting advice from the opto, specialists etc, as the opto (ie suburban glasses/contact dispenses) doesn't know enough and the Dr's (opthamologists) who actually do the procedure to me tend to be a little more 'likely' to recommend it as thats what they do.

[graemet]

PM sent
Cheers
Graeme

[abitfishy]

Received and replied.

Thanks mate

[AlexS]

G'day Graeme, hadn't seen you for a while.