Corneal Ulcer

02-20-2006, 07:14 PM

Hi 4 months ago I developed a serious corneal ulcer in my left eye (due to bacteria behind contact lens). The ulcer cleared up about 2 months ago but has left me with a 4mm round scar right in the centre of my cornea and my cornea is now 50% thinner. My vision in that eye is pretty bad but apparantly not bad enough to warrant a corneal graft and due to my cornea being so thin, any kind of laser surgery is not recommended.
Corrective lenses are only able to restore my sight to 20/30.
-The eye is still really sensitive to light and sometimes I can hardly open it.
Does anyone know whether this will get better over time and how long this might take
- Also are there any other options to remove the scar
- I am especially interested in hearing from any scuba divers who have experienced any problems with diving after a corneal ulcer, as I am experiencing discomfort when diving to a depth of 20 meters and no one seems to know what is causing this or whether I am putting my eye at risk by diving.

Many Thanks

02-20-2006, 08:33 PM

Has your doctor given you any steroid drops to reduce scarring?

02-20-2006, 08:51 PM

I doubt steroid drops will do anything at this point.

02-20-2006, 08:58 PM

Well hopefully he was given some as soon as the ulcer healed. I was on them for several months after I had my corneal ulcer and I never developed a scar. It might not be too late to start.

What abour surgical scar removal? Can that be done?

02-21-2006, 05:01 AM

Yes, I had steroid drops all the way through and was told to stop about 3 weeks ago. Do you know of any surgical procedures possible with a 50% thinner cornea?

02-21-2006, 08:14 AM

Can they do any sort of lasering on the scar? What about getting a corneal transplant if it is really that bad? I assume you are seeing a corneal specialist, right?

02-21-2006, 10:21 AM

One thing is that your vision might not be bad enough in that eye to qualify for surgery. 20/30 isn't great, but it might have to worse to justify a surgery.

02-21-2006, 12:40 PM

After I had my ulcer it took a long time for my vision to return to normal. 20/30 is not bad at all for it only having healed two months ago. It might get better as your eye continues to heal itself. Is the vision only blurry in the direct line of the scar, or is your whole eye blurry? (In other words, do you have one blurry spot where the scar is and clear vision otherwise, or is the whole eye blurry?)

02-21-2006, 08:14 PM

The scar unfortunately covers the whole of my field if vision. When I look through it, it's like looking through soup. The only reason for the 20/30 reading with corrective lenses is because a tiny part of the scar is a different density from the rest and if I move around and look through that bit, after a while I can make things out through glasses. I think it may not be bad enough for a corneal graft and also a graft is likely to put my scuba diving career on hold for a very long time if not permanently and laser surgery is not recommended due to the thinness of my cornea.
The thing that is really bothering me at the moment is the light sensitivity. I go through periods where it seems to be getting better then it gets bad again. Right now even with sunglasses it is very painful and the eye is stinging and watering. Don't know what is causing the light sensitivity and will this get better eventually?

02-22-2006, 10:01 AM

The thinness of the cornea is causing the light sensitivity. Try darker sunglasses.

02-25-2006, 11:53 PM

Have you tried going to a cornea transplant surgeon? You may not qualify for a cornea transplant, but perhaps he/she can answer your questions about other options and the light sensitivity problem.

Corneal Ulcer

Sign Up Today!

Join Our Newsletter

Whoops,

Thank You