Superficial Keratectomy

[Shirl47]

At my yearly eye exam my eye Dr. saw what he called a tiny spec at the corner of my left eye.  He said it should be monitered.  It did not hurt nor could I see it.  We moved to another city and I forgot about it.  Late August all of a sudden I saw something in the corner of my eye and thought it might be a bad contact.  It did not hurt, itch, nothing but wanted it checked.  I immediately saw an optomitrist and he said he'd never seen anything like it and sent me to a cornea specialist.  This is on top of the cornea and is not attached to anything.  They did tests and he looked at it and said he was stumped and wanted to watch it for a month.  Four weeks lost. He then said "it" had grown but did not know what to do so sent me to another cornea Dr. at a university, waiting another 3 weeks to see him.  He too said he'd never seen anything like it nor the other drs. that saw me.  At first he wasn't going to do anything right away but then on talking to another Dr. and the fact that it continues to go across the cornea they decided I should have a scraping (superficial Keratactomy" and see if that would help and send what is removed to pathology.  I worry that maybe another type of treatment would be better or the use of lasik would not be as painful and better.  I am also concerned about infection, pain afterwards all the things I am free of right now.  I do want my sight back as this "veil" has reduced my sight by a lot but wonder if this is the way to go.  Any thoughts would be helpful.  An explanation of this surgery would be helpful so I will know what to expect.  Thanks

[hsirehc67]

A related discussion, What if superficial keratectomy doesn't work? was started.

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

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[Shirl47]

Thank you so much for your answers.  It really helped to have you explain the procedure and I will let you know what they learn from the pathology report.    Shirl47

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

You have a condition that is unsual, is getting worse and affecting your vision and has every ophthalmologist that has seen you worried. Getting a tissue diagnosis and removing it is appropropriate.

LASIK will not help in your case.

A superficial keratectomy is usually done under topical anesthesia (drops or ointments that numb the eye) and usually no shots or injections are needed nor is it done under general anesthesia. A special knife is inserted partially through the cornea and a disection carried out to remove the growth. This leaves a raw spot on the cornea and a bandage contact lens is generally worn for 7-10 days while the tissue heals. Pain varies but usually is not severe and relived with medication roughly equal to three aspirin or tylenols.

The tendency to reoccur or whether additional treatment will be necessary often depends on the tissue diagnosis.

Get more specifics from your Eye MD corneal surgeon.

You can also use Google Images and get pictures of a keratectomy.

Good Luck. Let us know the tissue diagnosis and how things go.

JCH III MD Eye MD