Cornea transplant

A bit OT - but for anyone interested/involved - Wife of 60+ yrs suffers a genetic problem called "Fuch's Dystrophy."   It's a corneal inherited problem where the rear layer of cornea goes south on you, making the world look to you like it is on the other side of a jellyfish (Wife's descriptiion).   It starts at about 30 years, but does not become a real nuisance till you are about 60. 

Until about 2011, the only solution wa a complete corneal transplant.    Wife was extremely lucky.  A procedure called a DSEK (I think) was developed, where they go inside the eyeball, peel off a 50 Micron (About 50/1000 of an inch thick) layer of cornea off the inside  and replace it w/ a 40 Micron cadaver layer.  Has to be the same layer - that one is special and called a "pump Layer," causing the pumpimg of fluid out through the cornea.  They stitch the eyeball up and inject a bubble of air into the space behinbd the cornea.  You spend three days flat on your back staring at the ceiling.  Then you can get up & act normally. The bubble "Floats" on the fluid, keeping the transpmlant in intimate contact w/ the existing cornea.   After a week, we wemt back for a check up.  Implant was firmly stuck to her native cornea & about 25% functioning as a pump.  Yesterday, she saw the surgeon , who looked at her eye, pushed his stool back. slapped both of his thighs w/ his hands & exclaqimed "FANTASTIC!!!! - Better than I would ever predict.  The transplant is fully functional and clear!~"   Going into surgery,  Wife could barely see through that eye.  Today she can read through it & her vision checked out as 20/20.  Other eye gets done in about 3 months.  Entire procedure was totally painless.  Three days flat on back was a real pill.  She was allowed a potty break once per hour & to sit up to eat.  

ANYONE IN se us WHO HAS THIS & WANTS A REFERRAL TO A SURGEON, pVT mSG ME.

dONR

3 Comments

Don

by IAN MC - 2019-08-18 05:16:28

It really is fantastic that your wife has responded so well despite your description of the op putting me off my breakfast !

One question though ... now that she knows what you look like after all these years ,  does she have any regrets at being able to see so  clearly  ?

Seriously , I hope the op on the 2nd eye is equally successful.

Best Wishes

Ian

Full English Breakfast

by donr - 2019-08-18 14:14:03

Ian, I've eaten one or two of those "Full English Breakfasts."  You probably didn't need it, anyway, so I did you a favor!

She was shocked to seee what I REALLY looked like at age 83 - she had been living off memories of me in my younger days, when she could see. 

Sorry about the nausea I caused you - you should have heard the  description they gave us of the potential procedure for a full cornea transplant back before the current procedure was developed.   Recovery was measurerd in months, not three days.  She was extremely lucky that she muddled through till the partial procedure was mature enough to become common, as opposed to experimental.   Her vision was deteriorating very slowly over the past 5 yrs or so and she had not seen the cornea specialist in several years.  She just did not like the ones she had been seeing.  

A bit of history that you, TatMan & I can appreciate (Or anyone our age).   I met a man about 5 yrs ago who had gone ashore at Normandy on D-Day, fought all the way to Germany & survived.  Our local college alumni group  had its annual formal Dinner in March - every one of us is a veteran - so I invited him to come as my guest.  He readily accepted.  In our discussion leading up to the event, I asked him what time he went ashore, thinking he would be in the second or third wave.   His response - "I went in at 0530."  Taken aback, I asked him how could that be - the landing time for the first wave was 0600.   "Oh, I went in early with a radio & eight combat engineers   assigned to keep me alive.  I spoke fluent French & I was to contact the French resistance & coordinate their efforts to support us."  I had stumbled across the point man on Omaha Beach.   He was 19 at the time.  He came home, went to college, earned a PhD in sopmething biol;ogical & in about 1960 became the head of an opthomalogy research center at Emory University Med Center here in Atlanta.  He gave us the name of the cornea specialist we should see for Wife.  This was late Marcch.  Saw him shortly afterward & he said her eye  was as ready as it would ever be for rthe surgery.   Had it done on 17 July.

Don

Just Amazing...

by Grateful Heart - 2019-08-18 17:08:51

Modern medicine advancements!!  So glad your wife is doing so well Don, that's wonderful!  

I recently had cataract surgery (nothing compared to your wife's surgery).  My eye doctor explained the procedure but not as clearly or poetic as you.  

There is one drawback to my surgery....now I can see where I missed a spot when cleaning my house. 

Also, it's fitting that you got to meet one of the men who went in first on D-Day.

Grateful Heart 

You know you're wired when...

You have a new body part.

Member Quotes

Your anxiety is normal. It takes some of us a little time to adjust to the new friend. As much as they love you, family and friends without a device just cannot understand the adjustment we go through. That is why this site is so valuable.