15 y.o. son - cxl done - BSCVA 20/125 - now what? - www.KCFreedom.org

ccormier77 · Member

RE: 15 y.o. son - cxl done - BSCVA 20/125 - now what?

drgoren · Veteran Member

Hi Charmaine,

As you have noticed with your son, visual acuity often changes after CXL. Many doctors wait at least 6 months before performing tPRK or other procedures to further enhance visual acuity. The tPRK for keratoconus patients is limited to 50 microns. This is not only because of the decreased corneal thickness that is observed in keratoconus, but also to limit the loss of cross-linked stromal tissue. Performing CXL after PRK could negate the benefits of having PRK in the first place as it is impossible to predict exactly how the corneal topography will change after cross-linking.

Regards,

Peter

DEFPOTEC · Veteran Member

HI Charmaine,
Very sorry to hear what has befallen your family and even more so your son. As it has been intimated by these vary capable and knowledgeable members, there is HOPE.
With this disease becoming more and more prevalent in today society, there has been a more urgent approach to solving or treating this debilitating disease.
I encourage you to read and research as much as you can so as to make the most concise decision on how to deal with this problem. Nothing is guaranteed, however, during research, risks of each treatment option and most importantly the UNKNOWN can be mitigated.
I too am a KCer that has undergone CXL and Topo PRK (not sequentially). My right Cornea had an original value of 375 Ums. Five months post cross linking, the value improved to 407. So there is a chance that son maybe eligible for Topo Prk. Who really knows.... Send your information around to Ophthalmologist and with that, they can advise you on what may be a viable option.

I wish you well... and please feel free to ask anything you d like.
You have a number of blogs available for you perusal. I must say that they were instrumental to me.

All the the best,

Kevin

alihekmat · Member

Hello ccormier77;
yes ,I had sever keratoconous when I was 23 and I managed contact lens
on both eyes. I am now 58 and had my both eyes grafted twice, not because of rejection but due to developing irregular astigmatism after 10 years from first grafts which led me to LASIK procedure for correcting irregular astigmatism that was completely unsuccessful and damaged both corneas and I had to re-graft both eyes. My recommendation is that considering the age of your son leave the transplant as the last option, but not disregard it at all. Corneal grafting can be very successful and give very good vision in the beginning but nobody knows about long term stability of vision.
With my best wishes