I've looked it up, and it takes about a year for the eye to heal completely and to see sight improvement, but how long is it after the transplant until someone can go back to work? Drive? Basically use that eye to it's fullest capabilities? I'm looking at a possible keratoconus diagnosis which could lead to a cornea transplant and I'm just wondering how long I'll have to wait till I can go back to living normally if this happens...One day? Three days? a week? Longer?
knocked↑2008-02-12T07:13:30Z
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keratoconus and cornea transplants are VERY tricky things. For a transplant to heal it does take a very long time, sometimes longer than a year.. and sometimes the Keratoconus comes back. I have a few patients that come in that had two transplants in each eye and STILL have Keratoconus. Before looking at a transplant, has your doctor tried to fit you in special made contact lenses?? I work with a doctor here in Illinois that specializes in fitting Keratoconus patients in contact lenses. Typicially doing this to reduce the need for a transplant. We also fit patients that are post cornea transplants and surgeries. One good thing about a keratoconus patient and contacts is that you can always try different things without consequences... with a transplant.. you cant go back and say... Oh well, I change my mind.. can I have my corneas back?! Talk to your doctor more about ALL of your options and if he only gives you the transplant, then seek help from another doctor. The more help you get, the better off you are.. its always a good idea to be informed on the subject when you have it as opposed to no clue whatsoever. Good luck!
It sort of depends on the status of the other eye. If that eye is OK, then you can get back into somewhat normal activities within a day or two. The corneal wounds don't 'heal' for months as there are no vessels in the cornea. Takes a long time to get enough scar tissue to close those wounds and for the cornea to become "optically spherical" so to speak. The sutures remain for a long time. Be sure to wear some sort of glasses to protect that eye., Don't want any trauma. So the kickboxing, mud wrestling thing will have to be put on hold for awhile. Driving and reading and work like that is just a few days out.
When you put your drops in, pull your lower lid down, drop the drop into that little sac. You'll blink and squint and squeeze and have that startle reaction, but hold onto that lower lid till that's over. Then blink (not squeeze) so the medication coats the cornea. Then close your eyes, not wink that eye. After your eyes are closed for about 20 seconds or so the medication between the lid and the cornea will have been absorbed into the cornea and will be less or gone. Re blink a few times to pull the medication from the tear lake below, over the cornea and re close for another short period. Do this about 3-5 times. You'll get the best benefit of the Rx doing it that way. If you squeeze, the Rx will become a face drop which won't help the eye at all.
Squeeze your eyes shut hard. do it. Note that your lids are wet and you want to wipe the fluid off. And that's your normal base tear level. So squeezing after placing a drop on top of that just makes it so the Rx won't have an effect.
Wearing the safety Rx is very important. Protect that operated eye. It will be 'weak' for 6 months or so, actually forever, but by then it'll be 'healed'. If you play any tennis or racquetball or basketball or ? ball, wear those strong protective prescription goggles. It could save your eye. I can't tell you how difficult it is to have to repair a post transplant eye that's been thumbed and ruptured during a friendly basketball game out back.
If you use predforte 1%, it is a suspension. It's a powder in a solution and has to be mixed up. If you took high school chemistry, shake the bottle like a test tube. In one study, the bottle had to be shaken 40 times before it became saturated at full strength so that every drop had the same concentration of the medication. That's a lot of shakes. But you'll need that Rx for the graft, to keep the inflammation to a minimum. Protect that graft. Remember, someone died to give it to you.
I have keratoconus and had Cornea transplant in my right eye when I was 16 now I am 28
Please note they do not perform Cornea transplant surgery until the disease has stopped progressing Because your transplant will scar, so if you just got diagnosed you got 7 years if you reach that point.
For example my left eye never required transplant and have had the same hard contacts prescription for the past 10 years.
within two weeks you could be back at work and you should be able to drive
Also I noticed by the second month the vision began to improve (If you needed a transplant it should not take much for you notice the improvements)
My daughter is in extreme need of a corneal transplant and is on Medicaide but her Dr. is in another state. How does she get the Medicaide transferred over to the other state.