Well a lot has happened since my last post. My right eye was fitted with a scleral lens and I have comfortable 20/20 vision with it. My left eye got to the point of being completely contact intolerant, and has long been intolerant to prescription glasses. So on May 10th I had a cornea transplant. I'm now at the 2 month mark and I'll be going back for my monthly follow up next week. Although a bad astigmatism has set in (which is common) the uncorrected vision in my left eye is now 20/60 compared to 20/200 before the transplant. It should continue to improve for the next 10 months until all the stitches are removed. I will also begin to have it fitted for a prescription next month and my doctor is confident I will achieve 20/20 vision. If all goes well I may meet the requirements of a first class medical before August is through, things are looking promising.

Well the astigmatism isn't a result of KC, it's from the transplant itself. The donor cornea isn't the exact same size/thickness as my healthy cornea would be. So as it heals in to place it's not uncommon for it develop an astigmatism. They remove some stitches as they monitor it's progress to help it heal as perfectly as possible and to lessen the affect of the astigmatism. I have 3 small sutures left which may come out soon and the large one that goes around the entire cornea. The large one is usually removed around the 1 year mark. Although it can be removed as early as 6 months, as late as 2 years and sometimes its left in permanently. Afterwards Lasik is an option to remove the astigmatism and usually improves vision to 20/20 or better. But CXL would be of no use since the new cornea has a healthy thickness and is not diseased by KC.

I was very interested in it, I wanted to avoid a transplant at all costs. But my left eye had deteriorated to the point that it was to thin to safely have CXL done. Now my right (scleral) eye, I was originally planning on having cxl done on it after my left eye fully recovers. But the results with the scleral have been so good and there's been no signs of progression, it doesn't seem necessary at this point.

As far as using CXL before a transplant and lasik is concerned, that's not something I've heard of before but it doesn't surprise me. So far my doctor only really advocates CXL for someone who's just starting to develop KC. And the only way I could receive CXL is through a clinical trial to treat KC (and similar cornea damage). So far that's it's only official use in America. I did start looking in to receiving treatment in Canada, but cost was the deciding factor. So far all my treatment to date including my old RGPs, my scleral lens, my transplant and my prescriptions have all been 100% covered by my insurance.

After factoring in the cost of the procedure, travel, the number of follow-up visits, prescriptions etc. It didn't make sense. My doctors more or less discouraged me from that route as well.