Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy

Anyone else have this problem with the eyes? For those that do not know there is a layer of the cornea that allows fluid to pass from the cornea to the rest of the eye, with Fuchs that layer does not transfer the fluid as effectively as it should and pressure builds up in the Cornea. Distorting vision and creating a halo effect around any bright light source and blurred vision. Now that Cataract surgery has been done on both eyes vision is still impaired due to the Fuchs which will I guess be another surgery on both eyes.

sounds like a bad deal

It is hereditary as well. My grandmother had it. My mom and some siblings have it. Dr. Gelender in the middle of the home page photo of the below linked site did my mom's and her brother's cornea transplants.

On her last and discharge visit several years ago I asked him what my chance was of having it. I forgot what percentage it was. But we were literally shaking hands and about to walk out when he said, "Hop in the chair and let me look." He asked my age, I think 59 then. He said I was all clear and wouldn't have it.

Now he could have told me to make an appointment on the way out. And I would have. But needless to say I was quite happy with the visit that day. Mom was discharged with her eyesight and I was on cloud 9 knowing I was all clear.

https://www.corneatexas.com/

So just a little clarification, Fuchs' corneal dystrophy affects the inner lining of the cornea, a tissue called the endothelium of the cornea. The sole purpose of this tissue is to pump fluid from the cornea back into the eye making the rest of the cornea clear and give you ability to see through it (small tidbit, the connective tissue of the cornea os the same as the white part of the eyeball and it is the endothelium of the cornea that allows the cornea to be clear). For what ever reason God made the endothelium a single cell layer thick and made these cells not regenerative, meaning when they die they are gone and not replaced. Fortunately we are born with around 4-5x the amount we need for life. In Fuchs' these cells die a little quicker, thus the potential need for treatments or surgeries.

What happens with Fuchs' is you will have loss of cells in the endothelium, something that is visible to the trained eye in the microscope, and this can be measured by a special machine that can count the number of cells/mm2. If too many cells are missing, the first stage of disease is simply a slight haziness or swelling of the cornea which leads to halos around lights and tends to be worse in the mornings and get better at night. Eventually cell loss can lead to a swollen cornea which is difficult to see through and this is when most surgeons recommend a transplant. that tech has gotten really good lately so it isn't what it used to be just 10 years ago.

But don't be frightened by the name Fuchs', it is typically a medical treatment and not typically a surgical treatment.

Hate to say it, but at 59 you can still develop endothelial cell loss so you aren't totally out of the woods, but the majority of patients that would need a transplant would show signs at 59, so that is a good indicator.

It is hereditary according to my Dr. When I had cataract removed from my right eye things went down hill fast in that eye. The Dr. I was seeing at the time had me return for about 3 months and had no diagnosis. He sent me to another Dr. in his office who examined the eye and she sent me to see
Dr. Ken Maverick in San Antonio. Dr. Maverick had much more equipment in his office which was used. He told me what the problem was that day. Later he did a cornea transplant and all was well the next morning. Blessings is what I felt. Since then I have had a cornea transplant in the other eye
Dr. Maverick indicated the problem did arise from the Fuchs disease. Needless to say I have great respect for Dr. Maverick at Focal Point Vision.

All that sounds very familiar. 2 different eye surgeons recommended the cataract surgery which I have had done now. Following those I am seeing better but anything very bright at all has a halo, car head lights and well any bright light I see as a bright starburst to the point I deem myself not safe to drive from sunset to sunrise. During the day sun reflecting off say a windshield sometimes covers the entire car. In the right eye the cells right in the middle of vision are dead and no straight line looks straight. Hopefully we can the the next surgeries done early next year getting me back to better mobility. Also with the pressure raised from the Fuchs the cataract surgeries are healing slower than what is expected. Strong saline drops and gel does help a little but not that much.

Not trying to poo poo another doc but if Dr Maverick did a transplant and you got one in the other eye already, the original doc should have been able to see that plain as day what the problem was. Maybe the doc didn't want to tell you about it and thought it would get better, or maybe they just went brain dead on it, but thats not an uncommon experience, as I have seen many patients in second opinions for bad outcomes following cataract surgery and something really obvious is the cause but the patient had never been told.

Glad you are doing well.

If you want to PM me I can tell you if I know the surgeon wanting to do the transplants and let you know if they are good, if I know them. I know some but not all the folks in the state that do this kind of stuff and some are better staying away from. I hope at least they are talking abut doing a endothelial transplant of some sort (DMEK, DSEK, etc) and not a whole cornea transplant as that is just not commonly needed for Fuchs' these days. It is a tough thing to have to live with, but most patients after a good transplant are doing really well within a few weeks...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

She said DSEK

Kmon, you don't have to give me names but are you in the dfw area?

The original Dr. is very well known in San Antonio, needless to say I don't have much good to say about him. Dr, Maverick did the second cornea transplant some years after the first.

I should have realized something was wrong with the first Dr. Each time I left his office, his staff was instructed to give extra business cards so I could pass them out to my friends.

Kmon1, one of my procedure was Dsaek and the other Dmaek sp. one of them is a olser procedure than the other. You are correct about the brightness of the sun affecting vision. Fortunately that is not a problem now.

Good luck going forward.

Wilhunt, I wish I could say "well known" meant good...but more often than not well known docs are simply advertisers and need the advertising to stay busy. I like to say good docs don't need to advertise, word of mouth is enough.

I think Dr. Gelender did my uncle's transplants one at a time in order to let them heal one at at time. That way he wouldn't be temporarily completely blind.

My mom only had it done in one eye because she is blind in the other eye for a different reason.

My mom has it. Had cornea transplants 6 or 7 years ago. Seems fine now but driving at night is limited. Stitches were the worst part. Hope I don't get it but no one else in the family has it so far. Fingers crossed.