Good news I suppose!

[GarethB]

I've been told that cataract surgery is best done before the graft.

This is because if it is done after a graft, surgery on a grafted eye 'could' be a trigger for rejection. Plus the scaring left by a graft is always a potential weak spot.

When my Gran had her chataract done many years ago I was with her to help calm her as I'd had graft. While Gran was a sleep and we were discussing the finer points of corneal surgery as you do he told me of a patient that had to have the cornea stitched again 10 years post surgery because a blow to the head when he was mugged opend the incision they had made on the cornea to remove the cataract!

I left Gran for my next race worried if I crashed, would my graft fly out and get lodged in my crash helmet like a contact lens!

[Anne B]

Well at least you know what the problem is now, and you may escape from having to have a graft.

Chicken pox doesn't look to bad, going to slap on the Aloe Vera tonight Works wonders

[John Smith]

Hi Michael,

Well, I'm sure that the cataract op will go a long way to helping your visual difficulties. And it's a lot faster to heal than a graft, too.

All the best to you.

[Michael P]

Chicken pox doesn't look to bad, going to slap on the Aloe Vera tonight Works wonders

Wot, MY Aloe Vera in the little sample sachet or have you gone and bought some cheap imitation?

But you're right, it is brilliant stuff.

[Michael P]

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words everybody. Yes it is far, far better to have cataract surgery.

My thoughts now are turning to who will actually perform the surgery.

[Sweet]

Michael,

So glad that you went and got everything sorted. Glad that you had an earlier appointment now!!

I am slightly lost though hehe, am most days! But i thought that with KC we wouldn't really get cataracts but it seems quite a few here have?

Best of luck with everything! Love Sweet X x X

[Michael P]

Hi Sweet.

From what I can make out it doesn't appear to be that unusual to have KC and cataracts; certainly no surprise was shown by Mr Tuft. I think he was more surprised that I had KC after his initial brief inspection!

However, having done a quick Google, there may be a genetic link although I have no way of knowing if there is any history in my family.

It would be interesting to know if anybody else has a history of this in their family.

Pat, have you any other family members with both conditions?

[Anne B]

Michae , i am using Aloe Vera straight from the plant. is that ok?

Anne

[Pat A]

Michael
Regret I don't truly know - most of the elderly relatives on my mother's side (Grandmother, 3 great aunts, and an uncle) all had poor eyesight and had cataract surgery when they were quite old. One great aunt in particular had very poor eyesight for many years and finally had her cataracts done when she was 93. She complained that it made little difference to her in the following years and was more or less blind for the remainder of her days - she died at the ripe old age of 99! My mother also had very poor eyesight in many ways, in theory corrected with specatcles - but not very well as she got older and I don't think we ever got to the bottom of her eyesight problems. I know there was talk of her having cataracts too although I don't know whether it was ever confirmed as unfortunately she died in 1998, before my problems started. But with hindsight, I now will always wonder whether she (and possibly my Great Aunt) had undiagnosed KC as many of the things she used to complain about are similar to what I suffer from now. The difficulty with cataracts is that they normally are not a major problem until "one is of more advanced years" (although I wouldn't like to define advanced!) whereas KC is generally (although not always) diagnosed at a relatively young age.
I've rambled on a bit and probably not helped - sorry!
Pat

[Michael P]

Thanks Pat.

The one concrete thing appears to be longevity in your family. That's a plus for sure .