Scleral Buckle Surgery
(For a definition of Scleral Buckle and links to further
information,
see the MD Support Glossary.)
Gary Orndorff:
My scleral [buckle] transplant was a strip of sclera from an eye bank, and attached next to my cornea. Then the eye is turned and the strip is wrapped around the equator of the eye, with the muscles that move the eye being pulled away so the strip can go underneath them. Then the eye is rotated the other way, and the strip is wrapped around the other half of the eye in the same manner. Then the end of the strip is attached adjacent to the other side of the cornea. This is considered a very non-invasive type of surgery, since it does not disturb the vitreous or inside of the retina. If the doctor is thinking ahead, as mine was, he can use a cryogenic wand to 'tack weld' the back of the retina to the eye wall by super freezing it at the corners. This will greatly reduce the likelihood of a giant retinal tear, which we myopes are prone to. In Japan, this operation is not uncommon, being done even under a local anesthetic. I, however, would want a general.
He did one eye first, then the other a week later. You will spend a week taking it easy afterwards. No heavy work, but moving around is okay. I had no significant pain after the surgeries, other than soreness of the eye muscles, since they are not used to be stretched. There are eye rotation exercises you do, and after a week, the soreness is pretty much gone. I don't remember taking any pain meds other than a few aspirin for a day or two after each operation. The stitches that attach the strip dissolve, so there are no followup procedures, other than routine checkups.
The cost was approx $10,000 per eye, about 10 years ago, by Dr. Frank Thompson, in San Gabriel, Ca. The procedure sounds a little gross, and looks worse, but it was no big deal as long as you don't have to watch it performed! This is not experimental surgery. The procedure has been performed for 30 years or more, in Japan, Russia, Europe, and the U.S. I worked for our local electric utility, who had excellent insurance. The administrators (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) at first said no, but my company pays the actual money, being self-insured, so they told BC/BS to pay for all of it. I ended up paying only $65 of the over $20,000. I was very fortunate to have such a compassionate benefits group.
I feel this operation has done more to preserve what eyesight I have left than anything else that could have been done for me at the time. I had laser cauterizing of leaking blood vessels in each eye previously. They were necessary, but very destructive to my sight since they were almost on top of my central vision. At least the scleral operations were virtually risk-free with little discomfort.