I Need Help With Positive Dysphotopsia and Neuro Adaptation
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I had my cataract surgery done in March of this year. I have a Tecnis 1 monofocal in each eye set at distance. I developed PCO 2 weeks after surgery and had YAG done 3 months later because my vision had deteriorated. Since the day after cataract surgery on each eye I have had positive dysphotopsia. I was told it would eventually disappear, but it is getting worse. In the outside corners of my eye there is a flickering/flashing which has gone from just being there in the morning for a few hours to being there all day, from the minute I wake up until I go to bed. I don’t notice it when I am outside, but I also always wear sunglasses outside. When I am in a store with florescent lights it gets really bad. Some days it can be quite debilitating. I have had my eyes dilated and checked numerous times and in fact just had an OCT scan a few days ago and nothing is wrong with my eyes.
I have done some reading on this and apparently for the majority of people it can take 6 to 12 months for your brain to neuro adapt to this so you don’t see it anymore. However, there are people who will never neuro adapt and will always experience it. Usually people who have had a multifocal IOL will get more positive dysphotopsia than someone with a monofocal. I have read there are probably a lot more people who experience this, but just don’t report it to their doctor.
I read posts on a couple of forums where people reported their doctor told them the majority of people who have PD have light colored eyes. When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense because you don’t have the dark pigment to prevent light from getting in. I have been told by an optometrist dilation of the eye happens faster with people who have light colored eyes, again because of the pigmentation. I have light colored eyes and my eyes dilate very quickly.
I read an article about neuro adaptation to PD and the person stated there are exercises you can do to help your brain neuro adapt so you don’t see this positive dysphotopsia anymore. However, they did not suggest any eye exercises to do and I have not been able to find any. Has anyone heard of or know of any eye exercises that help you neuro adapt to positive dysphotopsia? Or if you have PD have you found something that is helpful. I would prefer not to use eye drops to shrink your pupil as that has its own problems I heard and have also been told wearing sunglasses inside is not good for your eyes. Thanks for any help.
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pershoot karin08666
Edited
Hi.
I too have severe PD (monofocal; single eye surgery). I have found the only thing that helps / works towards alleviation is to keep encountering / forcing oneself through the same type of light combinations which cause it. Eventually, your gaze will start to auto-adjust past it / around it. While that's in-process, try to manually adjust gaze and bring forth everything but the abberations, whilst it is occurring. Try not to put too much effort in wanting to remove the abberations themselves as that is futile, in my opinion, only giving effort / rise to everything else. Hopefully, in due time, for you, those particular ones will start to appear like they are vanishing / vanished (but in reality they are still there, you just are looking past it, somewhat).
This (neuro-adaptation) is not a quick process, in my opinion, and it helps if one is more accepting (what choice do we all have other then a lens exchange for potential reduction) rather then fighting it.