Continued patches of Blur in operated eye
Posted , 5 users are following.
First eye done on Aug 30th, could see great out of operated eye for several days. Towards the end of first week, I begin to notice slight blurriness and irritation. Assumed it was dryness of the cornea and perhaps the harsh eye drops required. At first week post-op, surgeon said eye looked fine, but over the next few days blurriness increased, and at some point I noticed it was worse in the morning. Was seen again at the eye clinic end of that week as I called in worried. That doctor (not my surgeon) said eye looked fine but BP too high. Seen again the following Monday where my own doctor again found nothing wrong with eye after dilating it, but did say my peripheral vision was abnormal. Went in couple days later for a field of vision test, but they didn't tell me results. Left off that next appointment is Sept 28th, even though I told them that my vision is gradually, day by day, getting worse and I'm worried.
I stopped the steroid eye drops a couple days later, as I suspected that I may have CSCR (central serous chorioretinopathy) based on my symptoms matching up with what I read about it online. All except the younger age part... I'm older, 67. Stress, combined with steroids, and type A personality. For a couple days after stopping the drops, things seemed the same. Then the gray/blue patch/shadow in the center of my vision seemed not as bad when I woke up in the mornings. Eye seemed to settle down a bit as far as irritation/feeling like something was in there all the time. I had a few days of thinking the blurriness was still getting better in the afternoons, and maybe soon would be gone altogether. But now, my operated eye is Always blurry, and my other eye seems to be starting to blend the blur in with it's view of the world. When I look at the edge of the kitchen cabinets, or a piece of furniture, it looks raggedy, like a mouse has taken small bites out. I have one of those Amsler grids printed out, where you look at the dot in the center. When I cover my unoperated eye and look out of operated eye only, it looks like someone has erased a good deal of it, and the lines in the grid i can see, look slightly wavy (but not as twisted and distorted as some examples I've seen online). Things look very small and far away out of that eye as well, a quite drastic difference from looking out of my unoperated eye.
The eye itself looks ok, except the eyelid seems a bit droopy, like it's not opening up quite all the way. I just can't see right out of it. It was supposed to be my near vision eye, after my other/dominant eye gets corrected for intermediate, but there's no way I could read with that eye the way it is. I'm thinking he's made me way more myopic than I need to be, but even with that being the case, I should have excellent close up vision.
Has anyone had continued blurriness a month out from surgery that eventually cleared up? Has anyone been diagnosed with CSCR? Or any kind of retinal or macular swelling? One of the doctors who was on-call a couple week-ends ago said that she compared my pre-op retinal scans with one they did on Sept 10th, and it did show that my retina or macula (can't recall which she said now) was thicker, so there was some swelling there. Not sure why my own surgeon failed to mention this. If it is CSCR, from what I've read online, in most cases it does resolve on its own, once you stop the steroid drops, but that it can take months. And it needs to be monitored. The so-called professionals at my eye clinic don't acknowledge that there is even anything wrong. So frustrating!
I appreciate any comments or to hear of experiences anyone has had, having to do with retinal or macular swelling, or diffuse patchy areas of blur/blank spots in their vision after eye should be healed from surgery.
I've not yet found a clinic that will take a new patient for a 2nd opinion. Severe labor shortage here of health care workers.
0 likes, 21 replies
RonAKA jettesun
Posted
Your description of what you are seeing when looking at the Amsler grid sounds like a macular issue. Try googling mayoclinic for their description of dry and wet macular degeneration. Buy the timing of it, the cataract surgery would seem like a possible initiation of the condition. However it may also be coincidental. I suddenly developed posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), about 10 months after cataract surgery. It seems it was just coincidental and not caused by the surgery. However, your condition is much closer to the surgery time. I would suggest seeing a retina specialist for a thorough exam.
jettesun RonAKA
Posted
Thank you for this response. My next step is to contact my primary care physician's office in an attempt to get a referral directly to retinal specialist.
I've been seeing the dark patch in center of vision again this morning, which seems to be related to seeing a bright light, as if it's some kind of after-effect that lasts too long. From every thing I've researched and read, this is some kind of macular or retinal edema issue, and shouldn't be left untreated. I don't understand why my cataract surgeon's office is not concerned.
Lunabug jettesun
Posted
This is definitely an issue with your retina. Macular edema can sometimes be a side effect of cataract surgery. The vitreous can get pulled forward during the surgery and cause traction on the retina causing swelling. You need a retinal specialist as others have said, and a new macular OCT scan to see exactly what is going on. Do you have any other symptoms? Dizziness or pain?
jettesun Lunabug
Posted
Not really pain, although sometimes eye feels a bit achy. Nothing like years ago when I had a corneal abrasion; that hurt bad. It's hard to say about the dizziness, as I have poor balance anyway because of right-sided acoustic neuroma, and often feel dizzy. My thought is also some kind of retinal or macular edema. I don't understand why my surgeon didn't do another OCT scan, they have the equipment right there at their office.
Sue.An2 jettesun
Posted
Yes agree Jettsun re seeing a retinal specialist - OCT scan would reveal a lot. Could be a number of conditions and here on the forums at best we may read a lot and provide educated guesses. I am fortunate my optometrist has the equipment to do OCT scans so she was able to do another one for me last week to compare with the one I had done at retina specialist's office for Epiretinal Membrane condition I have had - year after cataract surgery.
Best of luck to you.
Sue.An2 jettesun
Posted
yes agree you need to see a retina specialist. there are some issues that can occur as a result of cataract surgery. I have Epiretinal Membrane - blurring vision and straight lines appear curvy out of left eye. Started a year after cataract surgery. Being followed annually now by a specialist
Lunabug Sue.An2
Posted
Sue Ann, do you have dizziness with the epiretinal membrane?
jettesun Sue.An2
Posted
Did the epiretinal membrane come on suddenly, or develop gradually over time?
I did see on a report from my original pre-surgery measurement appointment, that i have retinal thinning in both eyes. I wonder if that could be related to epiretinal membrane? When I spotted it on report and asked about it prior to surgery, the surgery scheduler told me that the doctor would not be doing the surgery if he thought it would be a problem. No one had mentioned it to me before I asked. Now I'm wondering. I do have very blurry vision in operated eye, and also see wavy lines when I'm trying to do a sudoku puzzle.
Sue.An2 jettesun
Posted
Hi Jettesun - in my case epiretinal membrane came on fast.
Sue.An2 Lunabug
Posted
No dizziness but if I am reading a lot my good eye does get tired and I can tell my brain is tired melding the views. Just need to look away from screen a d rest my eyes every once in a while.
It is amazing my brain chooses the better view or I would end up with headaches a d vertigo
jettesun
Posted
The best my primary care doctor's office could do is get me in with an optometrist at 8:15 AM tomorrow. At least I'll get a second opinion about what may possibly be going on, even if they don't have equipment for a proper macula scan. I've never been to this place, so don't know what it will be like.
Lunabug jettesun
Posted
I am a layperson and can tell you it is your macula. An optometrist probably won't have an OCT scan but can dilate your eye and see if anything can be visualized. When you say lines are wavy, how wavy is wavy? Undulating? Squiggly? Like a fun house mirror? Do you see this with all lines; window shades, bookcases, doorframes etc. Please update us after your visit.
jettesun Lunabug
Posted
you are right. it is macular edema, with retinal exudates seen. no corneal swelling, front part of eye looks good. retina shows signs of edema and inflammation.
as far as the wavy lines: the amsler grid i look at, i can somewhat see the black dot in the middle, tho it is slightly patchy looking. but the area immediately surrounding it looks like its been all rubbed out, washed out, erased, in a donut-shaped circle, with little spots and patchy places of washout further out beyond the circle to the edge of grid. the lines within the small squares look distorted, slightly bent, with darker spots mixed in with light spots. when i look at edges of furniture, cabinets, etc, it is more a raggedy look, like small places where little bits are missing, distorting the edges, making it seem very rough . when i look at family photos on the wall, faces look strangely distorted, with half of mouths turned up and other side down, like a half-smile, and blotchy color to whole picture. i have no contrast sensitivity when waking in the morning and throughout most of day. start to regain a little by nighttime, but then have to sleep again, and wake the next day starting from zero again. I'm gauging that by looking at light green print on slightly darker green print (on side of eye drops bottle). can't see the print AT ALL earlier in day, then can begin to make it out by supper time.
right now, i am still very much dilated, so kinda hard to see to type. slow going.
RonAKA jettesun
Posted
Did the optometrist offer any help in what could be done for treatment?
jettesun RonAKA
Posted
She said important to get OCT scan from same machine as used previously, to help diagnose. She says inflammation and swelling is present, and the likely source of distorted vision, but she doesn't know if it's coming from not treating aggressively enough with eyedrops up front, or potentially a reaction to the steroid drops.
every time I saw my surgeon or someone from his office, I was given different instructions for the steroid drops. the ketorolac (NSAID) drops were off the table from the beginning because of previous allergic reactions to NSAIDS in general (breathing issues). the antibiotic drops were supposed to be for 2 weeks, but he said eye looked good at one week appt and I could stop those. He originally (before surgery) said 4 weeks for the Prednisolone/steroid, then said 10 days from that day (which would've been 2 and half weeks total), then (next appt) said continue to the end of the week (that was 3rd week out). I did stop them 2 days before end of 3rd week, as eye was still worsening and I begin to suspect they might be the cause. If this sounds confusing... it is.
Doctor I saw today wants to have another OCT scan done this coming week, compare it to previous ones done on same machine, then make decision on how best to treat.
RonAKA jettesun
Posted
It sounds like there is some hope it will resolve itself then with the drops and more time. On the drops it seems like every surgeon has their own ideas. I took Vigamox (antibiotic) three times a day for 7 days. I also took Durezol (steroid) once a day for three weeks.