help!

[Karl R]

I presume that you have been referred to Manchester by your local hospital.

I too was referred from my local hospital to St Paul's Eye Unit with regard to having a corneal transplant. However on the first appointment my consultant said that there was no need to do a transplant and that (at that time) it would be best to mange the KC with glasses (unsuitable for contacts) until such time as INTACS became available at St Paul's. This involved a 13 month wait.

Not every patient with KC will be suitable for INTACS surgery but it may well be an option worth discussing even if your consultant decides that you are not suitable.

[beckie nolan]

does anyone know the success rate of the grafts? or what are the risks involved in the procedure? i know this sounds a bit pesimistic but the doctors never realy tell you this and i would just like to go to my appointment there being aware of all possibilitys and could any one explain what INTACS are?!!!
many thanks!

[GarethB]

Beckie,

Doctors refer to a medical success which often differs to ours.

For a graft to be medically succesful it has to be clear, healed well and no signs of rejection or scaring. The quality of vision is not mentioned or how long a graft should last.

Within the KC community grafts are by far the more succesful with rejection rates for Penetrating Keratoplasty being between 2 - 5% which can be succesfully reversed in a vast majority of cases if cought early. I am unaware of any rejection rates for a Deep Lamella Keratoplasty.

For intacs, have a look in FrequentlyAsked Questions; Intacs which are small thing cresent shape strips embedded a certain depth in the cornea the aim of which is to flatten the cornea.

The purpose of this and a graft is to provide a corneal surface wherby vision can be corrected easier with contact lenses or glasses. There are however some cases where no visial correction is needed afterwards.