vision after DSEAK

[patsy58]

I am a 58 year old female teacher and had DSEAK surgery in my left on on 3/5. My R eye is 20/40 corrected. The surgeon had to reposition the cornea button 2 times the week after surgery.  It is 3/ 14 and my vision in that eye is only 20/100,  I am really discouraged.  Should my vision be getting better by now? I am really discouraged!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[jet506]

How is your vision now--5-5-08? Bettter, I hope.

Lt. Col. Thornburg

[Candice282]

HI, Patsy.  I know what you are feeling, the uncertainty of everything.  I . had DSEAK surgery 12/10/07. My surgeron also had to deal with my corneal edemaeven after DSEAk, but he was able to rid me of it 4 days later.  He also had to reposition the  transplant several times before it "took".  However, I was seeing 20/25 at 6 weeks post surgery. Even now, I sometime see 20/25, other times, it is 20/30- a work in progress.  I have no idea what my vision was immediately following the DSEAK, only that I went to my opthalmologist (not the DSEAK corneal specialist) on a weekly basis, and it seems that I did improve sometimes weekly, but there was a week or so where it didn't change.  I know that I was frightened, but I suffered from terrible corneal edema, and couldn't see much of anything thing when I had the surgery, and I felt that it was too goood to be true that I could see again.  Several days post op, I remember feeling like a child at Disneyland, when I could actually read a menu in Starbucks.  You must know that you are not that far along, very early in the game, and I don't think that everyone's journey is the same.  When your surgeon looks at your eye, he can tell if everything looks good or not.  What was your vision prior to to the DSAEK?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Please put things in perspective. With the "old" penetrating keratoplaty (full thickness corneal transplant) the final result often too 12-18 months to heal and stablize.

The DSEAK is a wonderful operation, safer and much quicker healing but not in very short short short timeframe you are talking about.

Cheer up and get some specific information from your surgeon next visit.

JCH III MD