advice on Intacs

[timtim]

Can some of you who have had Intacs put in please give me some info/advice on how everything went and if you are glad that you had them put in or not. I'd like to hear both positive and negative things about them. I am considering getting them more seriously, and would love to hear a little bit more about people's experiences with them.

And another question I have...Do Intacs either stop or help slow the progression of KC?

Thanks!

[Lynn White]

TimTim

Just in answer to the last bit. No, intacs don't stop or slow the progression - they reshape the cornea to give you better vision. C3R (CXL) is the one that is showing promise in slowing or stopping KC. Some centres offer intacs after C3R which gives you the slowing down effect combined with the reshaping.

[Karl R]

Tim,

You can read about my experience here. Eddie S has also done an experience diary here

Please, please take into consideration the fact that what may have worked for one person, and the time taken to gain useful sight afterwards, may well not be the same for another person.

[timtim]

Thanks Karl-I have kept up with Ed's diary, and will catch up on yours now.

I'm just trying to see if maybe Intacs are the way to go since my KC is fairly moderate but bothers me quite a bit. I am scared to wait until its too late as I have noticed some progression, but I also don't wanna rush into it, or have it cause worse problems than I had before. I have a great eye surgeon (one of the best) who go see, so that's reassuring if I decide to have it done. His name is Dr. Arun Gulani...he is quite a famous eye doctor from what I have heard and read.

I also read somewhere that someone's doctor told them that Intacs are good only for slight myopia and do not help for keratoconus. That seems wrong to me though with how many people have them put in for KC. Is there any truth to this?

[timtim]

Another question I have is: If Intacs don't slow or stop the progression of KC, and they reshape the cornea to a more normal shape, then if my keratoconus is still progressing, will it gradually become shaped badly again after the Intacs? And then is it possible to have the surgery re-done later to fix it again? I guess other surgeries are possible too, since Intacs can be removed.

Thanks for all of the help!

[Andrew MacLean]

Another question I have is: If Intacs don't slow or stop the progression of KC, and they reshape the cornea to a more normal shape, then if my keratoconus is still progressing, will it gradually become shaped badly again after the Intacs? And then is it possible to have the surgery re-done later to fix it again? I guess other surgeries are possible too, since Intacs can be removed.

Thanks for all of the help!

You have hit the nail right on the head there, tim. INTACS is not offered as a cure for keratoconus. At best the procedure will slow the development of the condition, bit it is possible that KC wasn't going to develop very much anyway. (in most people the deterioration of the cornea just stops, so that only a tiny minority of people with KC ever needed any conventional surgical intervention)

It is imperative that every one of us who is thinking about a procedure; INTACS, CXL, graft, whatever, takes time to weigh the possible benefits against the possible outcomes if we either did nothing, or took a different course.

All the best

Andrew

[Karl R]

I'll second what Andrew has said. Intacs is not a miracle cure, just merely a very good symptomatic treatment for a lot of KC patients. At the end of the day I know that Intacs can only delay the inevitable, also results can be very varied.

Tim only you can decide if the benefits of the procedure outweight the possible complications, and the only way you can do this is to have as much information about Intacs to had as is possible.

[Lynn White]

Tim

I found this article on intacs which describes a 5 year follow up.

http://www.crstodayeurope.com/Html%20pa ... brahim.pdf

Basically, the intacs hold the cornea in shape so even if it progresses with them in, the rings will keep the cornea regular unless other problems arise. More will be known about long term effects as time goes by, obviously. But the progression aspect is why surgeons are looking at combining intacs with cross linking.

[timtim]

Thanks for the replies and info. I have left a message for my doctor and look forward to talking with him about my options. I imagine he will probably want to see me and check some things to see if I would be a good candidate. In the mean time, I'm gonna keep researching and seeing how the surgery has helped/not helped people, and use all the info to decide what to do.