Concerned re eye surgey

[Janis]

Just saying hello and hoping to get some info
re surgery for Dry Eye

(Not sure if this is the correct thread to post)

Next week I am having eye surgery - when my eye will be
scraped to remove the corneal scarring and hopefully put
an end to my frequent corneal ulcers/abrasions that I have
suffered with for more than 5 years with many trips to eye
casualty at the hospital.

Has anybody had this treatment? Is it successful?

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Janis & welcome.

I know a lot of people who have had that done successfully, though there's not a lot of discussion about it here on the boards. No surgery is 100% successful and I think the most common complaint after debridement is that its benefits might not last. Personally I think it's a reasonable thing to do if you've not had success with the non surgical options and it's really affecting your life a lot. However, I think that a lot of people (and doctors) are not aware of all the possible options to manage and prevent RCEs non surgically. If you're concerned about the prospects then, I'd encourage you to read up in our RCEs forum and also read the blogs of some of our RCE members like liz56 as there is a lot of first-hand experience here that may be beneficial.

[ringo]

Hello and welcome.

I have had this problem and was considering this type of surgery, but thankfully my erosions healed with a non-surgical treatment.

I am writing this to you although I am aware that if you are considering surgery that means for the past five years you have been through all sorts of medications and treatments and it has not helped.

I was begging my doctor to find out through research or colleagues, or any means, something that has worked without surgery. After he did some research on medical publications in the hospital electronic library, he printed out an interesting article, which basically described the treatment regimen I was put on successfully.

The article said that after surgery corneal erosions may recur, the surgery is invasive and after the procedure you must take strong steroids and other medicatins for a long time. It also said that patients have been successfully treated with virtually no recurrence of the corneal erosions with oral doxycycline, FML eyedrops/steroid ointment and a hypertonic ointment at night for one month.

At the time I was hospitalized with severe erosions in my right eye. I did not believe that something so simple might provide a permanent cure. But thank God, it worked, my erosions healed adn they have not recurred.

If you have not tried this treatment, you may try it before you go for the operation.

[Lucy]

I've had this surgery which is called debridement. It did not do what we had hoped. It was a few years ago. Lucy

[ringo]

Lucy,

did your have recurrence of the erosions after the surgery? DId you have to use strong steroids after the procedure? how did all of it impact your eyes?

If you had recurrence, what do you use to treat the erosions? I would appreciate you sharing.

Thanks,
Dani

[Rebecca Petris]

DId you have to use strong steroids after the procedure? how did all of it impact your eyes?

I may be wrong but I would think there's a very wide range of practices in terms of steroid use after debridement, judging from PRK practices. On a related bulletin board (lasermyeye) we have a lot of PRK patients whose steroid regimens post-operatively are all over the map - both doctor-specific and patient-specific differences.