marked deterioration since graft

[dweezil1968]

Hello
I had a graft on my left eye last November, and all has been well until recently. Last week I had tremendous pain like i had grit in the left eye, extreme light sensitivity and so on, after 2 days i went back to hospital and asked to be seen at the end of the day.
i was told that some part of the new cornea had 'worn away' (is this Corneal epithelial thinning) and there were scars. I was given some ointment and drops and had to wear a patch for a few days.
I went back 2 days later and saw my surgeon who said it wasnt rejecting and that I was 'a squeezer' and had to try and stop squinting, he knows i have extreme photo sensitivity.
now I notice in the left eye that i cannot 'marry' it up with the vision from the right (the old bird in the cage trick, one finger towards your face) and that I see 4 of everything in a downwards line, so I see one light or item repeated three times in a line going down diagonally, which is worse than before. now I have to keep the left eye shut to drive and type. This was better before!
I am going back to the hospital next monday, i am concerned that something is going wrong, or worse its rejecting? the vision is markedly worse and a little blurred at times.
any ideas from fellow graftees?
thanks

[Anne Klepacz]

Hi Dweezil
Some of the symptoms you describe are associated with a rejection, though your surgeon seems to have excluded that. But if you're still concerned, then do go back to the hospital before Monday - if it does turn out to be a rejection after all, then it needs quick treatment to reverse it. And if it isn't, it sounds like you need more advice on how to deal with the problems you're having - keeping the eye shut doesn't sound like a very practical solution!
Good luck
Anne

[melissa]

I had a similar 'grit-in-eye' feeling about 1 and half weeks ago. (10 weeks post-op). it caused quite a bit of pain and I went to my doctor about 2 days later. He found that one of the interupted sutures was coming loose, and he removed it before I could even worry about anything. since then it has been fine.
I also think you should go back to your doctors/ hospital... there should be something they can do to help...

[Andrew MacLean]

Really heavy dark glasses help, and then not trying to focus on things. An eye patch would help when driving, so long as you have good enough sight in your other eye.

To be honest, the things you describe do suggest rejection, but only your ophthalmologist can tell as (s)he looks at your cornea through one of those slit lamps. If you are still worried, why not go back.

Ask what they mean when they say things like "part of your cornea has been worn away?" If you are not satisfied with the answer ask more questions like

"Is this something about which I ought to be worried?"
"Can the 'worn away' part re-grow?"

Keep on asking questions until you are satisfied that you understand fully the position in which you now find yourself.

When I have my first graft I did notice a slight deterioration in my sight as the sutures held the new tissue in an increasingly awkward position. They addressed this issue for me by the selective removal of sutures.

Andrew