Vision and Eye Disorders Forum - Corneal Transplant

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Q: Corneal Transplant - Anyone Else Had One?

asked by: stella82 on July 22nd, 2005

New User

Have you had one? What was the outcome? What was your experience?

In march 2004 I had a corneal transplant. My left cornea was scarred due to the chickenpox virus I contracted 11 years before. After the surgery, I had several problems over the following year, including problems with the stitches, minor pain, rejection of the cornea and improper healing. Somehow I got through all of that.

The stitches came out in may. They generally stay in for about a year. After that I had no problems. I was told that after the stitches came out, I should see a great improvement in my vision. That didn't happen. What I see is significantly better than before the surgery, but still very much out of focus. For example, I could not watch tv with that eye. I see the colours, but the image is very blurred.

That is a brief summary that brings us to last evening. I had an appointment with the doctor to see about glasses/contact lens. He told me there was nothing that could be done. A contact lens would be too thick and uncomfortable. At least you now have a back-up in case anything happens to the right eye, he said.

Thats all. I am devestated. The last year of my life has been very stressful and difficult, due to the pain and trying to protect my eye. Those are things I am going to continue to deal with forever. And it seems that it was all for nothing.

I would just like to know of someone who has gone through a corneal transplant, and if you experienced anything like this. I want to know if there is anything I can do to help restore the vision in my left eye. Anyone with any information, please help!

Thanks

Replies(10)

tanya11

replied on July 27th, 2005

New User

I'm just wondering where you live in ontario.
Typically a hard contact lens can be used on an irregular cornea, which I would imagine yours is.
You might consider seeking a second opinion.
If you are near the university of waterloo there are drs there that specialise in hard lenses.

stella82

replied on July 28th, 2005

New User

I live north of toronto.
I understand from my doctor that a hard contact is the only type I would be able to use (because of the new cornea).
But when he did the vision tests, he said the contact would be too thick and too uncomfortable to wear.
Thanks for the input though, I will search around for another opinion.

magic718

replied on July 31st, 2005

New User

Chris 13 Years Old Please Read!

My name is chris I am 13 years old and I had surgery.. The cornea transplant suffering with the desease keratoconus since the forth grade june 1st 05 4 years later I had the transplant taking 2 weeks off from school and now july 31st I did not have any difficulty in recovering there was a litle pain but not much,much like the pain when you put the hard contact lense in
now I was nervase in getting the sergury any body will but me as a kid thinking being blind cannot watch tv or play baseball got me scared but my docter was very sure and said that itll be highly doughted that you will go blind
i now see so much better and its only been 2 months I still cannot play sports and have to be careful about the eye but the most painfullest thing the docter said was I could reject it any day forever but I come to realize when it happens if it happens I will be ok
ive been thinking about finding a forum to help people and kids about this I hope I did in a few months I will be getting the other eye done and will try to inform you all on how that will work out
i might be 13 but experianced on all of this the surgery the hard lense ive done it all!!

Users who thank magic718 for this post: Phee148

enchanted

replied on September 2nd, 2005

New User

I had a cornea transplant when I was about 5 years old. It's already been 15 years since I had the surgery. I've never had any problems with it. I was completely blind from one eye, so I can actually see now. My vision isn't perfect, but I wear a contact on that eye. It's kind of weird just wearing one. It's a combination of a hard contact lens and a soft contact lens. It's really expensive, but it's worth it.

magic718

replied on September 2nd, 2005

New User

Chris--

Yea thats confortible to hear about im now worried tho about rejecting

aleut4

replied on December 20th, 2005

New User

Corneal Transplant

I had my corneal transplant july 27th and i'm not able to see yet. Ive had stitches taken out about 5. I do have pain on and off. I can't see very well in bright lights outside. But mine was due to cataract removal and a infection set in.I have several different surgerys and still can't see. Maybe one day we will wake up and see again! I haven't returned back to work it is hard to do anyting with one eye.

kayra

replied on February 12th, 2009

New User

cornea transplant

Its been a over a year since i got a bad infection in my eye , causing my cornea to be completely opage and i couldn't see anything, but yellow light. i waited a year before i did the surgery so that the infection wil get time to settle. i did my surgey on jan 5th 2008,when the bandage was removed, just seeing the light and furnitures around me gived me so much hope, even though it was blurry and distored. After the surgery i didnt feel any pain, had light sensetivety for a few days.Its been 5 weeks , my vision is still blurry, and distored, but if i slightly open my eye(like if im peeping), i see clear as my other eye, i dont know why its like that,but when i do this i see crisp, no blur, no distortion ,and no double vision.So i guess i can say thatmy vision is improving, day after surgery my vision was 20/150, pretty rotten ,and 3 weeks later it was 20/70, a big improvement , my next appoint is in 2 months i will post , Hang in there !!!

Phee148

replied on August 12th, 2009

New User

sixteen year old has had cornea transplant

Hello,
My name is Phoebe and I am sixteen. In feb this year I had a cornea transplant due to having keratoconus (which I got from my dad, silly genetics). I was really looking forward to the operation and when the day came along, I was very nervous (although I had known about the operation for a year, so I shouldnt have been that nervous). Luckily I had such a great surgeon who was there to answer all my silly questions I had going through my mind. I had in total seventeen stitches. I got told they would stay in for a year. The surgery was six months ago and I have only got 2 stitches left. They are unsure of why this is and are putting it down to my body recovering very fast from the surgery. Yes I have been in lots of pain and suffering from migraines from the operation. But thanks to my lovely friends and a smart doctor, I am living my life how I want it. Being a donor recepient has given me a new view on life and I am so glad I will be able to see my life.
If anyone has any questions about the surgery, I will be more then happy to answer them.

Regards,

One happy customer

maxinemccammon

replied on August 17th, 2009

New User

My Mother was recipent of a cornea, which did not end up working out, but for anyone out there to get put on a list to donate your cornea is a wonderful thing. But you know it takes great courage to even accept a cornea, the stress etc.
Please check with your local eye bank and see what you need to do to be put on a list of donations. Maxine in Florida!!

corneaconnoisseur

replied on September 1st, 2009

New User

Hello, my name is Gus Stern, M.D. I am a cornea specialist practicing in Houston. I'm glad to see that there is a forum discussing patients' actual experiences. I might add a little information to the forum. Full thickness corneal transplants generally take around a year to heal (shorter for younger patients). Sutures are gradually removed over this time. When the sutures are removed patients have to wear hard contacts in general. If a person were unable to wear hard contact lens, refractive surgery to correct some of this error could be attempted. Newer corneal transplants (DSAEKs) offer a much more rapid recovery but are generally limited to older patients with Fuchs Dystrophy. Please feel free to resond to this post with any questions. Thanks.

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