better 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!

Apparently a cornea is often around 11 mm in diameter, a traditional cornea transplant is about 7.5mm - they don't want it too big as it increased the risk of rejection. This wasn't an issue with the layered transplant they did on me so they replaced a 9mm area - anyway it's possibly that there is still some light being reflected into my retina from the crazy shaped old bit of my eye. It is also very likely that the stitches in the outer few mm of my cornea (see pictures below) are mucking up my vision either directly or by pulling the cornea out of shape immediately around them. So...if thats the case my vision should improve a lot in around 12 months when the stitches come out!

In the mean time it's hoped that I will be able to get decent vision by wearing a gas permeable (hard) contact lens. Yes this sounds a little like going in circles, as I had the operation because hard contacts were causing problems BUT it will be good to know that I can still get my vision corrected by a contact - at least it's not gone backwards! Also the new thicker tougher better shaped cornea in theory should fit a contact much better and also be able to withstand the wear and tear of a contact better! Well that's the theory anyway. Latter this week I go to try and get fitted with a hard contact lens. I'll report how that goes.

I still think a profession that produces half the results in double the time, and then charges you to ask whats happening is a onto a good thing! ;) I am however feeling much more positive about the eye, and it seems that it is very rare to have as many difficulties after the operation as I am. After all for about 5 seconds I saw very clearly with it yesterday! I'm not sure but I think 9/9 (or 20/20) There may be some hope for it yet! :)

(Oh and just for the record in case somebody cares these days my astigmatism is about 2.5 somethings - diopters I think?)