Corneal Ulcer - Eye & Vision Message Board

salle47 · 05-06-2007, 11:35 AM

Hi new to this site. I had a very red and sore eye, which resulted in me being admitted to hospital, it was a corneal ulcer with a lot of corneal thinning. I was put on steroid, anti-bacterial and artificial tear drops. I am still on these drops. This was 6 weeks ago, last week I was told by the specialist it is no better. I am having real problems reading, and at times it is still a bit blurry. My other eye now feels a bit irrated and is red at times, although apparently is clear.
They could not find a cause from the tests done and were surprised how the cornea had thinned out 70% more than it should have been.
I have been told there might be scarring as its healing in a zig zag pattern.
Anyboby had a similar experience and how has it worked out? Would appreciate any info or thoughts
Thanks

Evie4 · 05-09-2007, 09:57 AM

Hi! I posted to your post on the RCE thread. I have had a corneal abrasion that has left my vision considerably worse. Each time I have a new erosion, it takes cells of the cornea (I can see it in a mirror) and the bluriness is even worse--as it heals over--it gets better again. My injury happended about 10 months ago. I don't think my vision will ever be what is was before the injury.

It sounds like you might be having erosions. One good thing you can do is use the artificial tears a lot. I have to wear a contact lens at night, my eyes get so dry that I'll wake up in the middle of the night and unknowingly try to open my eyes which results in an erosion. The lens keeps the lid from scraping my cornea. I'm able to keep these erosions to a minimum this way. If it get worse or more frequent I'll have to talk to my doctor about options.

I don't know anything about thinning corneas. There was another poster who had corneal loss. You might want to search this board for "thinning cornea".

salle47 · 05-10-2007, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evie4

Hi! I posted to your post on the RCE thread. I have had a corneal abrasion that has left my vision considerably worse. Each time I have a new erosion, it takes cells of the cornea (I can see it in a mirror) and the bluriness is even worse--as it heals over--it gets better again. My injury happended about 10 months ago. I don't think my vision will ever be what is was before the injury.

It sounds like you might be having erosions. One good thing you can do is use the artificial tears a lot. I have to wear a contact lens at night, my eyes get so dry that I'll wake up in the middle of the night and unknowingly try to open my eyes which results in an erosion. The lens keeps the lid from scraping my cornea. I'm able to keep these erosions to a minimum this way. If it get worse or more frequent I'll have to talk to my doctor about options.

I don't know anything about thinning corneas. There was another poster who had corneal loss. You might want to search this board for "thinning cornea".

salle47 · 05-10-2007, 07:21 AM

Hi thanks for your thread, we may have different things but similar, an ulcer is a hole and can be caused by various things, infection, virus, fungus, some underlying illnesses, but they did not find a cause in my case.
Today I have had a test by my optician who say's she thinks I have the same in the other eye now. It means going back to the Eye Specialist which I will do soon. My eyes are blurry and I am sure you feel the same, but it make me feel ill.
Anyway let you know what happens
Take Care Salle

Mark Antony · 05-23-2007, 06:11 AM

Oh, GOD! I am having a similar problem here and its terrible and quite frightening.

I am 23 year-old male from Bulgaria. I have asthma and severe allergy to mites and pollen.

I've been putting antihistamine eye-drops regularly but a few months ago my eye turned very red, I had the feeling that something was in my eye.

It stayed like that for a few days and then I saw a thin white layer starting to cover my cornea peripherally. It was then that I realized it is something much more serious than my allergy.

I when to my GP who said I had conjuctivitis but send me to an opthalmogist for treatment.

When they looked at my eye the doc exclaimed, "that's not very good"....

I felt like I was going to die or something. They told me I had a corneal ulcer. I didn't know what was that at the time so I remained relatively calm.

They rushed my to hospital, some professors saw me and sealed my eye with a cream and put a bandage.

But when I got home I read a lot on corneal ulcers on the Internet and realized that you could actually go blind as the scar starts to form.

I cried for hours on end and thought about suicide.

I had to put a medication every half hour!
1.antibitotics
2.artificial tears
3.veal protein to help heal the ulcer.
4.some other anti-inflamatory eye-drops
5.my allergy eye-drops!

IT WAS INSANE...

My ulcer was very large but fortunately it was not central but peripheral.

The ulcer healed within 24 hours leaving an ugly scar on my cornea which I still have today.

Nobody said what caused it.

I visited F I V E different opthalmogists for help. I paid large sums of money, even bribed a doctor from the Military medical academy in Sofia to take care of me.

This is what the docs said:

First one said: injury to the cornea...???

second one said I hat rosacea! (a terrible skin condition)

third doc said: dry eye!

fourth doc said: TOO MUCH STRESS!

****ing unbelievable.

I felt terribly confused. Started educating myself and went to the clinic again where they examined my eye for bacteria. None was found.

After my ordeal I concluded that I have whats called a 'an allergic marginal ulcer" - a rare but potentially devastating erosion of the cornea.

I went to my doc and told my diagnosis. She was stunned and treats me with great respect ever since!

I take my medication regularly but since my allergy is severe sometimes I need to use corticosteroids, which have terrible side effects but are my last resort.

I've spent hundreds on eye drops, oinments and allergy medication.

I've managed to control this terrible condition.

I've been experiencing recurring small erosions since my first incident but I quickly put an oinment with vitamin A and the erosion closes in minutes.

It's like a tiny hole in the cornea, its terrible.

I am lucky because if I take care of my eyes I wont go blind and wouldn't have to kill myself.

Also, I find it hard to work with a computer because it dries my eyes. I worked as an editor in an online news agency! I left my job beacuse of my condition!

Life just sucks.

Currently I am taking Xyzal tablets for my allergy, Opatanol eye-drops and Systane artifcial tears. I also use Oculotect when I see I have ane erosion.

My advice to the poster is that HE IMMEDIATELY SEEKS PROFESSIONAL help and demand additionl tests and visit other doctors if he is not satisfied with the treatment.

Its important to find out what cause your erosions. There is a great risk of going blind from these and once the scar covers the cornea, a corneal transplant is your only option.

Its terrible I know but we'll have to go through this. Good luck!