Graft coming up soon

[Davey]

Hi

I am from the west of scotland. I am coming up soon (early 2009) for a graft on my left eye which is the worst of my 2 eyes.

I figure that I need to get myself up to speed on what to expect, what to ask my consultant etc.

Can anyone who has the relevant experience give me advice on what to expect from the op (anaesthetic, pain, after care etc..) and perhaps even a list of things I should ask before I go under the knife?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

[Andrew MacLean]

Dave

Welcome to the forum.

I am also from the West of Scotland and have now had two grafts, both at Gartnavel Hospital. In Gartnavel they do cornea transplants on a Friday morning. You will arrive in the hospital in the early morning and go through all the admissions procedures. They will issue you with one of those hospital gowns and allocate a bed.

Transplants are at the top of the list, so you ought to be first or second to go to Theatre. As you leave the ward, they will give you a large white box with blue lettering "Human Tissue for Transplant"; you carry your new cornea into the O.R.!

They will give you a general anesthetic; you will fall asleep and wake in the recovery room. Your eye will probably not open very easily DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THIS: it is normal.

When you are awake they will return you to the ward. They will probably offer you some lunch, but I just wanted to sleep. They may actually let you out that same day, but as I live a distance from the hospital they held onto me so that I could attend the clinic on Saturday morning. I had very little pain, and what I had was comfortably controlled by oral analgesics issued on the ward, and available over the counter in any pharmacy.

Before the Saturday clinic a nurse came with swabs to bathe my eye so that it would open. Either avoid mirrors or be prepared to see the most blood-shot eye you could possibly imagine. Again, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THIS: it is normal.

Two weeks later I had to go back to the clinic. They said all sorts of comforting things to me and answered my questions. My eyes each had sixteen sutures. After the first eye the sutures were removed in two lots: eight the first time and a further eight the second time. Each of these involved a day-admission and a theatre visit. After my second graft, all 16 sutures ere taken out at the same time.

I think that there was about a year each time before they started to tweek out sutures, and with my first eye there was a further six month wait for the rest to be taken out.

All this sounds a lot more alarming than the actual experience. Actually it was very simple and straight forward.

All the best.

Andrew