Amniotic membrane transplantation

[DESTINY]

Hello everyone,

I am going to Florida tomorrow to get the surgery done! I am excited but at the same time nervous! I hope everything looks and feels better! I wish that I could have spoken with Adam who posted last year regarding his surgery, to see how things are going. I did speak to someone eho had the surgery and he says that it has changed his life! He couldn't drive and he was about to get fired from work because he had to keep calling in all of the time. He had severe Conjunctchallisis ( I don't know how to spell it) and he says that this really works! He says he rarely has to put in eye drops anymore! I will let everyone know if this is really the miracle cure!

Destiny

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Destiny,

Best of luck with your procedure. Do keep us posted on your progress when you get a chance!

[Delilah]

AM surgery

Destiny I am really thinking now if I should get this surgery, 4 years I've been suffereing from extremely dry eye, MGD and these horrible mucus strings, I've been to numerous doctors, specialists, tried almost every eye drop and nothing is helping? It sounds very scary though, I hope your surgery goes well and welcome to the site. Delilah

[DESTINY]

Amniotic Membrane Surgery

Hello Everyone,

I am back from Florida and I am recovering from the surgery. I had it done in both eyes and as you can imagine it doesn't look pretty! Dr. Tseng took all of the conjunctiva in the inner corner of both eyes and cut it out, then he said he put some Mitomycin C around the edges and replaced all of the conjunctiva he took out with the membrane. He said that when you cut the conjunctiva it naturally folds back to the back of your eye and that is where you want it to go so you won't see any scars.

The surgery took about 2 hours and I have been taking it easy ever since. Right now my eyes look very red and wierd. My right eye looks worse than my Left. It looks as if it has blood under the membrane. The Left eye looks very smooth and clear with a yellow membrane over the top of it. The left eye had a Ptergyum removed as well. About a year ago I had the Ptergyum in my Right eye removed by another dr. and that is why I think it is worse. Dr. Tseng told me that when the Dr. removed my Ptergyum he only cut out the lesion and then he used stiches to pull the bad tissue together. Well as you can imagine my eye only got worse after the surgery because the Dr. didn't fix the whole problem he only fixed it half way.

I hope that by all of us telling our stories that people can skip the bs and find a sollution to their eye problems and not have to make the same mistakes with crappy Doctors. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. It has been 4 days since my surgery and I will keep everyone posted. Delilah, thank you for your post and hopefully this will work for me and maybe this will be something that can help you as well!

Destiny

[Delilah]

Rest Up

Destiny Im so glad to hear everything went well. It sounds a bit scary, do you have any pain at all? Can you see clearly? How long will it take before your eyes are back to normal? Dr. Tseng is a highly intelligent doctor to be able to perform such a difficult surgery. Does insurance cover it? Does your conjuctiva have to be really bad before he does the surgery? Sorry for so many questions, get well and I will pray for you. Also did he put you to sleep the whole time? Ciao D

[Jay Cee]

Hey Destiny! Hope you are doing well and that your eyes heal beautifully!

Jay Cee

[DESTINY]

Amniotic Membrane Surgery

Jaycee,

Thank you for your support. I really apprecite it! Iwill keep everyone posted if they want to know about the recovery of my eyes. Today is one week after surgery and my eyes aren't as sore anymore. The only thing is that they look really bad still which makes me nervous. Every morning I wake up and go directly to the mirror to see if they are better and every morning they look the same. I am trying to have realistic expectations and tell myself that my eyes will never be paper white and 100% clear. So anyways the pain of this surgery is 100% bearable. To be honest it was a very easy procedure and worth it so far. I will let you know how the healing goes and the cosmetic aspect of things as well. Thanks and take care. Delilah thank you for your support as well. This really is a horrible life altering disease. It's nice to hear that people understand that because all of my friends and family think that I am crazy! It really does take a hold of your life but that is why we are all here to share stories and hopefully cures!
Destiny

[DESTINY]

Amniotic Membrane Surgery

Delilah,

Sorry I forgot to answer your questions.
Destiny Im so glad to hear everything went well. It sounds a bit scary, do you have any pain at all? NO, THE FIRST 4-5 DAYS WERE THE WORST BUT IT WAS COMPLETELY BEARABLE.
Can you see clearly? YES, MY VISION WAS ALWAYS OK AND I COULD SEE CLEARLY THE NEXT DAY AFTER SURGERY.
How long will it take before your eyes are back to normal? DR. TSENG SAID 3 WEEKS TO LOOK NORMAL BUT 2 MONTHS FOR A FULL RECOVERY.
Dr. Tseng is a highly intelligent doctor to be able to perform such a difficult surgery. Does insurance cover it?YES, MU INSURANCE COVERS 90% OF THE SURGERY. WHICH WAS $9,000.
Does your conjuctiva have to be really bad before he does the surgery? YES, I DO BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE A CHRONIC PROBLEM BEFORE HE WOULD CONSIDER THE SURGERY. HE SEEMS TO WANT TO FIX ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS BEFORE HE RESORTS TO SURGERY.
Sorry for so many questions, get well and I will pray for you. Also did he put you to sleep the whole time? DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE QUESTIONS THAT IS HOW WE ALL LEARN. YES I OPTED TO BE PUT TO SLLEP FOR THE PROCEDURE. I WILL KEEP POSTING. TALK TO YOU SOON!
DESTINY
Ciao D

[Delilah]

Thank-you Destiny

I just wanted to say Thank-you for answering all my questions, I think the biggest problem I have is the severe dry eye with the mucus strings coming out day and night I have been on Restasis for about 4 to 5 months now this is the 2nd time I have tried it. The dry eye is worse in the morning, now that I think about it I don't think my eyes are that severe to have this surgery, my conjucitiva looks really good besides the dryness and mucus strings my eyes are never red and many say they can't even tell I have an eye problem but I do, my shcrimmer tests couldn't even wet the paper

Anyway's Im going to give the Restasis another year, by next year if my eyes are not better I will probably go see Dr. Tseng. I am happy to hear that your doing good. I am also happy to hear that you didn't have any pain. Take care and eat some chocolate, it always helps me lol, oh I know what you mean about family and friends not understanding, I tell them I'd like to give them my eye problem for a couple months so they can see what it is like. Anywho I've gotta run, God Bless Delilah

[DESTINY]

Recovering from Surgery

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to report how my recovery from surgery is coming along. Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I had the membrane inserted into my eyes. Things seem to be healing very well. My eyes don't hurt at all anymore and besides the appearance of some broken blood vessels and the thinning membrane my eyes look like in a couple of weeks they will be really nice! When I get close up in the mirror and look from the side my conjunctiva looks very smooth. This is a huge difference because it has always looked very dull and red and not smooth (for lack of a better word.)

My eyes also appear more wet (I am on Restasis two times a day) and I find that I am not putting in eye drops as much as usual and for right now light sensitivity seems better as well. I am however still using steroid drops every two hours until tomorrow then it will be 3 times a day so this could be why they look so good. So I guess I would say for right now my eyes seem to be feeling better and looking better but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in the next two weeks! I'll keep you posted for anyone who wants to know.

Destiny

[np1981]

Did Dr Tseng tell you how long after surgery you will have to wait before noticing the full benefits?

[DESTINY]

Surgery

Np,

He told me that after 3 weeks my eyes will look almost normal but he said that they will be 100% at about the two month mark. Right now I am at the two week mark and my eyes are getting better each day. Personally I don't see my eyes being 100% better in just a week but I have to admit last week I was really scared about the way my eyes looked and this week I feel better about them. We will see.

Destiny

[Delilah]

Destiny

Hello it's D just wanting to say Im happy your recovering so fast and I wanted to tell you that I appreciate you answering all of my questions. It's very hard to deal with eye trouble like everyone on this site including myself and I am so happy that I found this site. Everyone thought I was out of my mind and said it was a just a "bad habit" from me cleaning out my eyes so much but they didn't understand what I was going through. This year will be the 4th year I've been suffering from severe dry eye/mgd and these mucus strings. I was thinking of ordering some more of those castor oil eye drops from the compounding pharmacy in California but they only helped for awhile, I thought I had found my cure, then in about a month things were back again?
Life is hard enough and when people have to suffer with medical problems it puts more stress on the person. Lucky there are doctors like Dr. Tseng to perform such amazing surgeries and provide relief to others. I really wish I had the money to fly to Miami and see him so he could give me his perspective on how bad my eyes really are, until then take care. Delilah

[DESTINY]

AMT Surgery

Hello everyone, I just wanted to report my progress to anyone who may be interested in having the surgery. I am 4 weeks post op and my eyes are healing very well. My left eye is wonderful! It feels great and is white with no red. You can still see the membrane a little in this eye but everything seems to be on the right track! My right eye is a little worse than my left. There is a little feeling of a burning sensation and also a dot like red piece of conjunctiva. I am going to see Dr. Tseng next week and I guess he said he will fix it. I don't no how but that is what he said. He said that all redness will eventually go away. I still have a month to go and I would say that my eyes are 80% better! My husband tells me that my eyes are 100% better and I am just being picky! We all no how that goes. I will update you all on my progress as time passes and feel free to ask any questions!

Destiny

[khasler]

membrane surgery results

Glad to hear you are recoving Destiny. I wish I had the same results to post.
I am 9 weeks post-op for the Amniotic membrane surgery and my eye is not healing well. It is still red and has a white ring around my eyeball but the rest is still inflammed - more so than it was before! The only thing that have improved is the burning sensation. I still am in a lot of pain in my "good eye" and my operated eye feels better - it just looks bad.
I go back tomorrow so I will post any updates!
Kim