Need to understand

Hi Norma,

He thinks I shouldn't have it done because he says if you line up 10 or 20 people, one of them will end up losing their eye sight because they might get an cold or infection. He even ask a couple of friends of his who are doctors. My reply was are they ophthalmologist. The eye specialist that I see says my right eye is worse and wants to go ahead and do both I agree with him.

I agree with your eye specialist too darlene because if you don't your eye sight will continue to deteriorate.

I'm sorry but I think your husband is taking a very negative attitude.

Should be your choice, after all it is your sight that you are wanting to save.

Good Luck.

As norma54754 said,  cataracts continue to get worse over time until the person is blind in that eye, many people in poor countries are blind due to cataracts. It isn't clear where he got that guess about infection rates.  Cataract surgery is the most common and safest surgery there is, you'd have to line up closer to 1000  people (assuming you are in a modern country like the UK or US) or so to find one that gets an infection (though the statistics vary between studies, they are getting better all the time) and many infections are treatable. Less common side effects that are treatable may be occur more frequently but don't lead to sight loss and are usually treatable. 

 However *any* treatment has some risks, so people do often delay the procedure until their vision is bad enough that it is causing them inconvenience in their life. Many cataracts develop slowly and can take several years to get to that point. Each year they develop better lenses and improvements in surgical techniques and equipment happen so there is some benefit to delaying cataract surgery until it is really necessary, however it *will* eventually be necessary or you will be blind in that eye. 

So the question is, does he merely suggest delaying the operation? You don't mention why you need the cornea transplant, whether it is a condition that needs to be urgently treated or if it is like cataract surgery where it  can be delayed until your vision is bad enough to warrant risking the surgery.  (I don't know anything about corneal transplants, I've only had to deal with cataract surgery).

Hi,

I'm 57 years old. It hereditary I knew when I was 30 years old that I had cornea dystrophy. It just when I turned 53 that I started having more problems. When I turned 55 I made an appointment to see an ophthalmologist and he referred me to another eye surgeon. I had scar tissue on my left eye plus my cornea dystrophy, cataracts, and pre glaucoma. The eye surgeon had to remove the scar tissue first, then I had a corneal transplant and finally he did the cataract on my left eye. My is afraid that I might lose my eye sight in my other eye

It sounds like you husband perhaps may not have an accurate understanding of the risks involved in surgery. Perhaps it would be worth seeing if a doctor is willing to sit down with the 2 of you to explicitly discuss the risks so you have a clear idea of what they are, rather than relying on what may be needless fear that the risks are higher than they actually are. There are various statistics around the net (there may be some on this site) regarding how safe cataract surgery is, but this site moderates posts if you put in in a link so I won't include any now, you can easily search for them. Be sure to check the date for the most recent articles on the topic, and to be sure they apply to your country (I'm assuming you are in a developed country like the UK or US, but there are people on this site from around the world). I know many poeple would feel more comfortable getting the information directly from a doctor who might be able to put the risks in perspective (unless they may have a staff member perhaps who counsels patients on such things).

I don't know anything about corneal dystrophy, however a quick check suggests it may be like cataract surgery where it can be delayed until you think your vision is bad enough in that eye that you really need it   (and non-surgical greatments attempted first). However it sounds like there are various kinds of corneal dystrophy, and I only took a quick check, you should onfirm with a doctor that the only downside of waiting for surgery is that your vision will be getting worse, that there is no harm in delaying it.  

If so, it sounds like the issue you need to decide is when your vision is bad enough to make it risk the of the surgeries. *Only* you can decide when your vision is bad enough to make it worth getting the surgery. No one else knows what it is like to live with your vision. (the one exception is if you need to drive and in that case the rules where you live regarding how good your vision is may also dictate whether you need to get surgery).  If your vision is bad enough to cause you to want surgery, you could also consider doing only whichever surgery your doctor thinks would be the most benefit and delaying the other until you need it.