Getting your eye crossed linked

This Wednesday I will be going to the doctors to take part in a study to slow down the effects of a disease called keratoconus. The actual procedure involves the doctor cutting the top layer of my eye so that it is exposed and then applying riboflavin to the eye for 20 mins then finally shining a uv light into my eye for a set interval till my eye is saturated enough. This is all fine with me the part the worries me is that the doctor said that my vision in my eyes will become worst for the next 3 months or so till the eye repairs. It will appear like my eyes have a film over them that makes my eyes cloudy. So I was wondering if anyone else either has had this procedure done or something like it and how the experience was after the surgery.

@kylekrueger: I also have keratoconus. My optometrist recommended not getting the corneal cross-linking surgery as my eyesight is still ok, although it gets pretty bad when I'm tired. How bad is your condition, are you still able to read at reasonable distances? The problem is that the surgery is still in the experimental stages and basically anyone that gets it done is essentially a test subject. I agreed that it is too risky as we don't know any sort of long-term effects or statistics on the procedure's success or failure rates. Also, as a biomedical engineering student, I would recommend against going for experimental surgeries, it's just not worth the risk. Unless you are nearly clinically blind I would not get it done until we have some real statistics on the procedure. Sorry.

Also, you're the first person I've talked to that also has keratoconus.

Although, I still wouldn't undertake the procedure myself, this review seems to indicate a reasonably low failure rate of the procedure.

http://www.ojoonline.org/article.asp?issn=0974-620X;year=2013;volume=6;issue=4;spage=8;epage=11;aulast=Messmer

Some longer term studies have been performed but the statistical power (ie the number of subjects) is still fairly low in my opinion, making the conclusions less significant. This review does seem to suggest that the results of the procedure are quite promising though. After giving it a quick read through, I'm a lot less concerned about the procedure than I was in my first post, but I still would not get it done unless my vision suddenly became much worse. I'm not sure about your situation, it may turn out to be the right way to go in your case.

@rollingzeppelin: My right eye is a lot worst than my left eye to the point it hard to see anything out of it. But I just figured I might as well take part in the study since it's been going on is Europe since the 90's there and seems pretty legit. Just learning that it will take 3 months to see if the surgery even took is a bit worry some.

@kylekrueger: Yeah, that would be quite nerve racking. It sounds like your right eye is in pretty dire need of the surgery though. It sucks that the treatment options for this are so limited. Good luck man, when you're feeling up to it, I'd be really interested to see updates on how your recovery is going.

Good luck with it. As someone who hates having things near my eyes what you're going through Wednesday sounds like hell.

@rollingzeppelin: ya after the surgery and stuff maybe I'll probably write something about my recovery and stuff.

@bane122: ya i never have had problems with that kind of stuff but I guess ill see how i feel once the surgery actually start lol.

@rollingzeppelin: @kylekrueger:

I actually had this procedure done a few years ago. The first few weeks afterwards were the worst.. And the couple days after were very painful. My eyes were extremely sensitive to light for these few weeks and my vision was definitely a little "hazy", though this wasn't too too bad. My eyes haven't gotten worse since having it done, as they almost definitely would have had i not had the cross-linking done, and even came out of it a bit better than they were before it.

If you do think you'd like do have it done, the earlier the better. You definitely have a point about being a test subject though, zeppelin. I just found the alternative in which my corneas continued to degrade even less appealing.

@kylekrueger: @killacam:

Hey guys, I was wondering how your vision has been in these last few months any major changes? I'm starting to consider getting the procedure done as my left eye is getting pretty blurry and my night driving is being greatly affected.

@rollingzeppelin: Sorry for the late response, but no nothing major over here. I probably need to get my eyes tested again, but they have not exploded yet. I'm definitely happy I had the procedure done.

@killacam: awesome, that's good to hear! Thanks for getting back to me.