UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi

I have decided to have my graft under local anaesthetic as the material is available.

I am concerned about the operation and whether i will be able to hear/see anything.

Please can people who have had a graft through local post their replies as to whther you could hear/see anything. Did you know what was going on etc.

The consultants secretary said that this is how he normally does grafts anyway. Please post your replies if you have had it done under local.

Thanks

Hi, when my graft was done, they used local anesthetic. I heard and saw everything and they closed my other eye with cloth. Maybe it sounds scarier than it is but there was nothing scary, doctors were very nice, they spoke during operation and relaxed that everything is well. I didn't even feel anything, maybe a little little bit uncomfortable but thats all. I was quite uptight during operation, i don't know how did he recognized it, but he just relaxed me and finally everything went well

So, I assume, it is normally done under local anesthetic. Just relax

Good luck,
Alvin

I'm concerned now as the consultants secretary said that i wouldn't be able to hear or see anything.

I was intending to have mine under local and had 2 anaesthetists talk me through it.
(This was before the surgeon waded in at 11th hour 59th minute and overrode us all).
They said they'd put a cover over my other eye to protect me fromt he bright lights, and that the local in the eye being operated on would make everything very blurry so I would really see much.
They said I'd be able to talk to them, let them know if I had a problem, etc etc - so I must have been able to hear them talk to me.
They were talking as if I'd be fully awake and compos mentis. Surgeon - who would only have done it under local if, I gather, I'd been medically unable to tolerate a general - HA HA HA! - wouldn't have done so without me being doped up to the eyeballs on sedatives, apparently.
I'd love to know who is intending to do yours - and from anyone else who's had a graft under local about who did it and where, particularly if they do this as routine.
Please PM me to save any problems about naming names.
Rosemary

Knight also had his graft under a local anesthetic. I remember his describing it in fascinating detail.

I have now had other eye surgery under a local anesthetic, and think that, in retrospect, I'd have preferred to have my grafts done that way, too.

All the best

Andrew

Rosemary, excuse my English, i did not understand your text 100%, but your point was that local is not a normal behavior?

Alvin,
As I understand it, some hospitals normally do grafts under local anaesthetic and some don't. Or possibly, some surgeons mormally do them under local and others don't.
Rosemary

As I understand it, the issue has to do with the duration of surgery. In the UK most anesthetists operate with a simple rule of thumb that if surgery is likely to take longer than a given time, it is better to avoid potential stress to the patient by offering a General Anesthetic.

I am not sure how practices vary in different parts of the world, but again in the UK this means that cornea transplant surgery is normally carried out under General Anesthetic, although as Rosemary says practices do vary. If for any reason a patient is not able to have a General Anesthetic, then cornea transplants can be offered under a local anesthetic.

Some people opt for the procedure under local anesthetic and have generally posted very positive experiences. Some surgeons (or anesthetists) actively encourage people to have a local anesthetic and, again, the experience seems positive.

All the best

Andrew

I initially wanted a general anaesthetic as really didn't like the thought of having it done under local anaethetic.

My consultant was finding it hard to get me a cornea as The place the consultant works (the yorkshrie eye hospital) do not have facilities for general anaesthetic. So he had to try get me one for a private hospital that had general anaesthetic facilities. Apparently the corneas are given to the hospitals and not to the consultants. The Yorkshire Eye hospital has got a cornea for me but i would have to have it done there and as they have no general anaesthetic facilities, i have to have it under a local.

crackerjacker, you are really, really lucky!!!!! WIsh I'd been at your hospital!
I'm sure it will all be fine for you.
Rosemary