Cornea graft - so far so good

[Joanne Poultney]

On Thursday last week I had a cornea graft on my right eye. I was expecting to have a full-thickness graft due to scarring on my cornea but when I saw the doctor the next day he said they'd been able to do just a partial-thickness and hence I'd been in theatre a bit longer than expected.

I came round to my eye bandaged up which was left on all night. I found it a struggle to open my other eye as it made my grafted eye squint which was obviously very sore. I've been sent home with 5 different lots of drops - every 2 hours there's something to take!

At first my eye was very red but that disappeared after a couple of days. Yesterday it felt very sore but today has been much better - apart from the bright sunshine this morning which I hid away from.

I can already tell an improvement in my vision. I've just printed out the Snellen Chart from here and although I can't even read the top line I can tell there's something there which is a huge improvement. Just looking around the room with that eye I can see things far clearer than before. It's very exciting!!

I had my left eye grafted 12 years ago (full-thickness) and that's been a huge success. I get really good vision with just wearing glasses.

Tomorrow I go back to the hospital for a check-up and I'm hoping the doctor will be just as pleased as I am.

I'll keep you all updating on my progress and if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

Joanne

[Anne Klepacz]

Many thanks for your post, Joanne. And it's great that you were able to have a partial thickness graft rather than a full one. I hope things continue to improve for you, though as I'm sure you know from your previous graft it can be a slow old process before a graft gives useful vision. Looking forward to further updates and wishing you all the very best.
Anne