UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Ok i hold my hands up and give in, my surgeon obviously knows what he is doing and i'm going to stop being so dam stubborn! Not that i said that!!

I just want him to take out one stitch, just ONE as he already told me a few weeks ago that it was loose and now it is really hurting me. This would all be ok except that it is in a vital place and that if he removes it he will have to take out the other five on the other side because they will pull and mess the graft up.

Ok i understand this, but being a surgeon who hasn't had a graft done he doesn't really see how dam important i think this is and how stubborn i can be as well about it. There is no point him going on at me that for once he would like to take stitches out when he feels it is ready and not just when i break them as i still strongly think that it is too early and at the end of the day it is still MY eye.

But now i'm in pain again and so have decided that maybe it is time to just give in and let him take them all out as i'm not getting very far here. Also i know that he wouldn't have suggested taking them all out if it was too early and it will be eight months when i see him next. I would like to see him next Friday but being Good Friday i can't so have booked in for the week after.

So yes i give up and have decided to have an easy life! Take them all out as then i can start to concentrate on it healing and hopefully get a lens so that i can see! If the loose stitch does break then Moorfields have said that they will remove it but not before as my surgeon has said not to and they can see why. Ok ... fair deal! I really do understand why i can't just take one out am just being dam stubborn in trying to keep them all for as long as i can! LOL!

Sweet X x X

Just sit back and relax and wait...theres a reason why he is the consultant and not you.

If he did listen to you and took a suture out..and it all messed up youd be moaning at that......so I think hed rather you moan and squirm at him not listening to you, then him taking it out and the whole graft messing up.

J

Well yes that is true. For once he is saying i AM listening to you and NOT wanting to take any out, just i am the one in pain here! LOL!! You know this is all really dam funny and i have stopped stressing over it. This is his job and he knows what he is doing so everything is fine

Sweet X x X

Monkey, Donkey, Done, Sorted!

im not trying to scare anyone, but i have always wondered about having a graft. what if the cornea falls out? because of a broken or loose stitch. am i being silly?

Yep your being silly LOL

The sutures are held in place for at least 6 months generally...by which time the topical layers have healed. However, the lower layers of the cornea still need longer healing times (again, its all dependent on individuals healing times)....then they are removed based on the topography which is taken...and the consultant manipulates the cornea surface whilst ensuring he does not introduce too much astigmatism

Hope that helps

J

Hang in there Claire!

How long has it been, now?

ps Temporarily flying the Isle of Man flag in support of Lisa. (My American grandfather died on the Isle of Man, so I count Ellan Vannin an extension of home!)

Sweet.

4-5 months post graft they may take out all the stitches, according to my surgeon. By that time, under normal circumstances, the graft is securely grown into the eye. But they normally wait until 18 months. Then they take it all out, if you hsave not gained a 6/6 perfect vision. Then they leave it in. Single suture grafts may be something different, but I see the point of your surgeon.

I wonder if you could wear a soft lens (disposable type) until the wound is healed up enough to remove the stitches? It would act as a 'bandage' stopping the eye lids rubbing on the end of the stitch. (We do this when people have ingrowing eyelashes irritating the cornea, and they have to wait until the eye lash is long enough to have it removed).

Obviously, I can't say if this is the right thing for your eye, but it could be worth asking......

Christine

That is indeed a solution a few adopt...in fact the following day after my Graft; this was the very solution that they wanted to try...but they couldnt get a lens in as I had another complication when they were closing the graft.

It became aparent that during the nite I must have coughed or sneezed which took a few sutures out..or made them loose...which needed to be removed. However, the removal of both would have impacted the graft at such an early stage...so he removed one suture.....and wanted to place a "bandage" lens over it to provide some additional support and also aid in the closured and healing of the top layers of the cornea..

J