tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39144276999130275662024-03-05T20:39:17.908-08:00partial-thickness-cornea-transplant for KeratoconusMy experiences with getting a partial thickness cornea transplant. The surgery was performed in December 2008 by Dr Anthony Maloof, a pioneer of such surgery in Sydney and perhaps the world(?)
Recommended Web sites relating to Keratoconus and cornea transplants:
<a href="http://www.wall.org/~larry/cornea.html"> Diary of Larry Wall</a>
<a href="http://www.eyesandfaces.com.au/">My Surgeon</a>
<a href="http://www.keratoconus.asn.au/"> Support group for Keratoconus patients</a>Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-49809083264580253472011-03-29T21:38:00.000-07:002011-03-29T21:38:15.809-07:009 months later - around half way will the stitches are scheduled to be removed.Its now about 9 months since my operation. I haven't updated the blogfor a while. Partly this is because my eye doctor says I am far from a typical case and originally part of the purpose of this blog was to let people know what to expect. The other reason that I haven't written for a while is that my eye has not been bothering me very much.
My eye has been largely free of painStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-54402024802623690242010-09-01T07:58:00.000-07:002010-09-01T08:01:11.966-07:002.5 months laterI saw my surgeon again 2.5 months after the latest attempt at a cornea graft. My eye continues to show much better signs then it did last time at this point and there is no reason to think that everything isn't going to plan.
Dr Maloof said he had never had to redo a graft like this before and he couldn't altogether explain why it hadn't worked last time and now seemed to be working. As Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-57856563336694168852010-08-05T05:02:00.000-07:002010-08-05T05:02:49.728-07:00This post is about two weeks late. However I went and saw the surgeon again. He told me when he removed the old cornea he found it was soft and not properly formed. So removing it appears to have been a good choice as it was unlikely to come good. On the other hand we still don't know what happened, but apparently the cornea may have gone wrong Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-32812521922301010032010-06-25T05:34:00.000-07:002010-06-25T05:34:18.134-07:001 week onI had another transplant 1 week ago. My eye is still very sore and very very sensitive to light. However it hasn't had the really intense periods of pain as badly as it did last time so I am hoping thats a good sign.
I was surprised by the surgeon saying to me as I was wheeled in that he was going to make the new transplant .5mm bigger then the last one. It didin't seem much Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-43333000561662100402010-06-10T00:25:00.000-07:002010-06-10T00:25:17.461-07:00The operation was supposed to be today...but there were no donor corneas available and so it maybe be a few more days before it goes ahead now.
Interesting;y I found an article on the web about how the EU is later this year starting widespread use of artificial corneas. Who knows how long that will take to reach Australia - or if it will actually produce a better result or just be aStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-23457857479345935822010-05-20T21:05:00.000-07:002010-05-20T21:05:00.369-07:00giving it another goyep in early June I will give the whole mdalk (stromal transplant) thing another go. Who knows for some random reason it might go better this time...Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-50463223242294300792010-04-13T07:32:00.000-07:002010-04-13T08:29:21.225-07:0016 months later and bad newsI'm just back from the doctor and this time the advice I got was very different to last time. Last visit I was told my vision would 'definitely' end up very good - 6/7.5 was mentioned as a minimum.I found that very encouraging around the end of the year I was beginning to think the operation was a failure and I might have to get it done again or have further treatment such as collagen cross Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-17858739115340839852010-02-02T18:31:00.000-08:002010-02-02T18:36:41.445-08:00Good newsIt seems my cornea has stabilised which is good. The shape wasn't too bad but it wasn't ideal. Dr Maloof to my surprise was able to do a small operation on my eye to improve the astigmatism. It is only possibly to change the curvature in one direction with this technique. It was about 6.5 dioptres and he was aiming to reduce it by approximately 3 dioptres. He says he doesn't reduce by more Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-47480406420687621872010-01-10T09:09:00.000-08:002010-01-10T10:06:06.367-08:0013 months after operation and 1 after the stitches were removedIt's now a little over a month since the stitches were removed from my eye. I cannot see much better then before they were removed. The topography actually looks worse. I'm a bit annoyed I seem to keep getting my expectations up only to have them dashed again. The promise that I would get the same vision with glasses after the operation as I did before (in three months) seems very far from Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-25591832036592716592009-12-09T17:03:00.000-08:002009-12-09T17:12:45.607-08:00Good news 12 months on.Two days short of a year after the operation I had my stitches removed. This was 6 months earlier then usual but the doctor seemed to think they may be responsible for the problems I have been having.I got them removed under local anethetic and sure enough when he cut the first one it felt like a rubber band being broken and the doctor said that there was a lot of tension on the stitch and this Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-49992980868509705152009-11-04T21:04:00.000-08:002009-11-10T21:40:35.928-08:00Well 11 months after the operation and my cornea continues to change and this increasingly is a mystery. Last time I saw my surgeon he told me that it would be best to leave the sticthes in for the full 18 months. Now however he seems to think they should be removed 6 months early - or in about 1 month.He must be hoping that the changes in my cornea are due to the stitches though I don't thinkStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-8398233511836572302009-10-14T23:54:00.001-07:002009-11-04T21:04:33.190-08:0010 months onWell I went to my optometrist today. He said "Wow dude your eye is like all different shaped again"* So much he rang up the surgeon. The surgeon said. "Yeah its like freaky, I've never seen anything like it before"*.So yay for me, I'm special - like everyone else.. Oh well the eye had been more comfortable since the operation. I just cannot see with it very well. Thank goodness its only Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-75506248718129984192009-06-18T21:59:00.000-07:002009-06-18T22:01:14.243-07:00blahWell I tried a contact and it hurt and didn't help my vision. But The optometrist is going to order me a new one and we will try again in about a week.Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-41795790914934822452009-06-16T22:51:00.000-07:002009-06-17T19:36:41.081-07:00better news (7 months after the opperation)Yes I've been to see the surgeon again and my news is better then I feared. Apparently the folds I mentioned earlier between the donor cornea and the remains of my old cornea are tiny and should not negatively affect my vision.So what is the problem? Well it's something around the edge of the cornea. The doctor temporarily covered the edges of my cornea and this allowed me to see very well!Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-84345364480160751372009-06-02T07:05:00.000-07:002009-06-05T07:39:55.498-07:006 months onIt's been a while since I posted anything. I kept thinking I might have good news soon - but it never quiet happened.So I was promised there was a small chance of complications but short of that my vision would be 9/9 after the operation. Definitely. In three months.Now it's 6 months and my vision is still around 5/9 - so I am not very happy about that. It must be nice to work in a Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-4194917141993627032009-03-26T00:06:00.000-07:002009-03-26T00:15:32.494-07:00surprisedI went along to my optometrist today wondering if I was wasting bother out time but my vision was bad and seemed to have perhaps got a little worse plus and it was giving me mild headaches so I wanted to see if anything could be done.He confirmed that the prescription for my eye had changed - the amount of correction needed had almost halved! I was quiet surprised to know it ha changed this much,Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-73825850057609891042009-03-02T17:18:00.001-08:002009-03-02T17:34:07.540-08:003 months laterMy operation was on the 4th of December. Tomorrow will be the 4th of March about 3 months later. By now really I was expecting my vision to be probably close to 9/9 and my eye to be comfortable. Instead my vision is probably not quiet 6/9 and I continue to need drugs for my eye to stop inflammation, mucus and bad things in general. Even with drugs its not really comfortable.I've been on maxidex aStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-18064961166761121222009-02-15T21:11:00.000-08:002009-02-17T18:23:28.724-08:00Pictures of my eye (10 weeks and 5 days after opperation)Here's a picture of my eye taken about a week(?) after the operation. And here it is again today:It's a lot clearer, which is why the stiches are much more visible. In news that is not so good, today the vision corrected with glasses was only 6/9. My optometrist said that if this didn't improve it would be "disappointing", however he was not confident that it would improve a lot. 6/9 is (just) Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-23125028045978677632009-01-29T05:23:00.000-08:002009-02-15T21:45:16.026-08:00astigamtism 2.7520 JanI went back to the surgeon. He had a look at my eye, measured my astigmatism (but didn't tell me the measurement). He told me that it was so small that if he tried to change it it he was just as likely to make it worse.28 JanI went to the optometrist 2 days ago and was told that my astigmatism was now 2.75. 0.75 worse then 1.5 weeks after the alteration to my stitches. Apparently this couldStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-36461700975321656422009-01-04T15:44:00.000-08:002009-01-04T15:45:20.304-08:00Meh I amn back to wearing glasses. I am also at work, ( my eye has settled down a bit since waking up). What would I know?Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-64043245222938996762009-01-04T14:36:00.000-08:002009-01-04T19:36:46.089-08:004 and a bit weeks after operationVery randomly when I woke this morning I found that I could see very clearly with my non-operated eye. Indeed when I put my glasses on it got worse. Actually for the last week or so while wearing glasses I noticed my vision was a little worse then often.This is very odd and is slightly disturbing, my vision and the shape of my cornea really should not change from day to day, it's also pretty muchStirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-87802927302453726522008-12-30T01:36:00.000-08:002008-12-30T01:54:30.284-08:003 weeks and 5 days after operationI saw my optometrist today. Apparently my astigmatism is down to about 2.0 diopters, and glasses should be able to correct this to 20/20 vision "or close". This is good news especially as I am booked into see the surgeon again, and it's likely that he will have another go at adjusting the stitches to reduce the astigmatism - so I figure its very likely I will end up with 20/20 vision with Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-16325194338607770072008-12-19T21:52:00.000-08:002008-12-19T23:28:13.065-08:002 weeks 1 day: Tightening the stiches - Part 1Yep Dr Anthony Maloof adjusted my stitches yesterday. The stitches are made from one continuous piece of thread, and he simply hooked the thread between stitches in several places and gave it a pull. It was kinda a freaky experience, under general anesthetic it didn't really hurt, but I could see my vision distorting as he pulled the thread. I normally less sensitive eye that wasn't being Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-78005356828706676512008-12-17T21:35:00.000-08:002008-12-17T23:04:08.834-08:002 weeks after operation (DALK or partial cornea transplant).I went and saw my optometrist today. Vision from the eye is 6/21. That sounds bad but its a big improvement from the zero (actually it had a negative affect on my total vision) previous to the operation. Both my eyes can focus on the same thing nowadays which already gives me some depth perception. Why he gave me a measurement out of 21 I do not know. Measurements are usually out of 20 or 9,Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914427699913027566.post-60346982549264503342008-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:002009-01-04T19:37:18.813-08:0010 days after operationMy eyes are feeling better everyday. While it is still fairly sensitive and painful some of the most annoying symptoms that have bothered me over the last year in both eyes have gone or dramatically decreased. I have stopped medication on the right eye so I am prety happy about this though to be fair it is just possible that the medication I am using on the left eye is also responsible. It does Stirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485916734322753245noreply@blogger.com0