Left eye: Post 6 day OP update and more...
Posted , 6 users are following.
First, back story for future "new people"-
Wife's LEFT eye operation 6 days ago. Operation went perfect. Wife came out of OP all happy and ate the food they provided. Eye looked visually same as before the OP.
We came home by tram. Was VERY windy that day but she was wearing protective glasses. Her left eye vision was completely blurry, I think the brain got confused and right eye (also has cataract) became blurry too! A simple journey home became like I was leading a fully bind person home.
Later that night, eye had very bad allergic reaction to steroid drops and steroid cream, think the preservative or something in it. Her eye lids swelled up big and red. White part of eye was red too! Her eyes were burning as if someone had poured acid into it. Tears were continuously pouring from her eyes. We assumed it was part of the healing process. Inside I was worried, what if it was an infection!!!!
Next day we saw surgeon and he initially assumed that it was reaction to Iodine but once he checked the eye he saw that there was corneal surface erosion. He halted the steroid drops and gave repair creams/gels. Two days later we restarted a different DEX free steroid drop.
Left eye vision stayed blurry for 5 full days!!!!!!!! Once in a while she could see 90% sharp in the operated eye for few seconds and then back to blurry. Left eye would also act like a camera lens trying to find focus. Combined vision was not sharp either. Wife was calm through out but by 5th day she was starting to think that maybe her luck was running out. I was dying inside but trying to stay calm and be positive.
New Updates
Day 6-
Things finally seem to be changing!!!!! Looks like her cornea erosion has fully healed or almost healed. This must have been the main reason for her blurriness. Confirmation tomorrow when we see surgeon again. Visually no swelling or redness anymore, I can't tell anymore which eye was operated.
Her left eye is consistently STAYING sharp today (not just for few seconds). No zooming in and out camera effect anymore either.
Until yesterday she was saying that no way is she going to operate on her "good" right cataract eye!
Today she is fully up for operating on right eye as she is seeing that the left eye shows so much better details, colours and sharpness! She clearly sees how bad her right cataract eye is now. Until yesterday she was thinking right eye was such a good eye 😃
Combined vision is getting better, both eyes are starting to work bit better together but right eye obviously has cataract which is dense by now.
Some interesting things.
Left eye IOL was supposed to be set for around 80cm at the sharpest: -1.25 (glad we did not go for -1.65)
Right eye was going to be set in the next OP for -0.25
BUT on operated left eye, wife is getting the sharpest 100% sharp vision consistently at around 42cm...sometimes also 60cm range. She is able to do her ladies makeup stuff, see her food etc properly. Outside she was able to see stitching on her shoes very clearly too when standing (1m+ distance). In the tram she could see number plates of cars from the window 2m away.
Now question is, if her consistently sharpest point is 42cm, then that means it is potentially 38cm off the target! Will it stay there or move away in coming days/weeks?
It is kind of nice where it is actually so we are not fully sure what we wish anymore nor what to do with the right eye!!!!
I am just happy that she is seeing sharp after 5 days of COMPLETE blurriness 😦
This really drained me!!!! Keeping track of all the drops while wondering what the hell was going on with her eye was such a mind#**k!
Tomorrow we see surgeon again. He has been really good! We still feel we picked the right surgeon. I don't think the other ones would have stayed in touch with us thorugh out this ordeal.
So stay tuned!
2 likes, 27 replies
Sue.An2 W-H
Posted
Really terrific news. So happy for your wife - must be such a relief and now 2nd surgery won't be as frightening to face.
With it being day 6 yes there could still be changes in her vision. Number one reason I think surgeries should be weeks apart. Let first one settle for 5 or 6 weeks. That way 2nd surgery can really be targeted to complement that eye and ensure there is not too big of a difference. When one thinks about it what is a couple of weeks vs seeing the best you can see in the long run.
Anyways - just wanted to say congrats and that I am very pleased she has a happy ending!!!!
W-H Sue.An2
Posted
Funnily she was not even terrified on the day, I was though lol Was such an anticlimax . At least we know which drops to avoid next time 😃
W-H Sue.An2
Posted
So I am looking at some online Diopter conversion chart.
Target for sharpest vision was at 80cm = -1.25D
Currently sharpest point is at 40cm which means a diopter of -2.5!!!!!
2.5 minus 1.25 = Difference of 1.25
So target was missed by 1.25 Diopter????? Hope it moves more away! What a mind twister!
Guest W-H
Posted
Now I am being theoretical again, bear with me 😃
Does this mean that vision gets blurry closer than 40 cm, or does she have usable vision much closer than that?
If vision quickly becomes blurry closer than 40 cm it does not sound that wrong to me.
If a monofocal hits 0.0 precisely, you will normally have have usable vision to -1.0, because even a monofocal have a little bit of range. 20/30 would be normal at -1.0 and 20/30 is considered what we feel as usable.
If the monofocal hit -1.25, you will normally have usable vision to -2.25 (1.25 plus 1.0 range)
And the monofocal will also have usable vision +1.0 to the far vision side, meaning usable vision almost at far vision, just a little bit nearsighted, which does not sound that wrong if she can read a number plate at 2m, that is consideret where the far vision starts.
So usable vision at 40 cm could still be quite ok, in fact it could turn out to be a very good result.
If vision gets blurry quickly nearer than 40cm, I am almost ready to bet that the lens have hit between 1.25 and 1.5 😃
But off course you will know at the next visit at the clinic, they will for sure measure it.
W-H Guest
Posted
Danish my brother, from another mother! 😃 Always positive looking for the silver lining 😃
Wife had tears in her eyes for 3 seconds last night, she was saying can't anything be straight forward for her! Then was laughing at the whole situation and just happy that she is constantly seeing sharp now!
Anyway new day! Start of the 7th day
7:30am. Good morning! Just now I woke her up for eye drops. With left she sees my eyes sharp from very close, my face against her face to 102 cm.
Mobile phone
Blur starts from 0cm to 30cm. Sharpest from 45cm to 52cm.
Readable until 72 cm.
PC screen
Blur starts from 0cm to 40cm. Sweet spot from 52cm to 72cm. Readable until 102cm!
Jager eye test chart
J1 reads straightaway. 1 day ago she had to concentrate.
Seems like her focus point has moved away after sleeping. We want to freeze it now! lol
Command center! Me tracking all the missiles, I mean drops 😃
W-H
Posted
Above photo is from 3 days ago. As I constantly wake up to check her eyes and as I was tired and stressed, I accidentally gave her Yellox without 6hr gap 😃 Felt so bad!
I got confused as 3 of the drops have X in their name.
Now Yellox is kept under a yellow coloured cup 😃 lol
W-H
Posted
Readings using Nidek AR-360 machine...
Left eye reading today i.e. 7 days after operation.
-1.50
Left eye reading 5 days ago:
-2.75 😮
It was almost 1.5 days after operation. Is that big -2.75 number more cornea swelling related rather than IOL position in capsule related?
Deb03 W-H
Posted
I believe so. At my one day post op, dr said "Ignore all the numbers. They are going to change." Of course I wrote them down anyway lol.
What a great result she has! Glad you went with the -1.25!
W-H Deb03
Posted
How much more do you think it could change?
Guest W-H
Posted
-1.5, what did I win? 😃
Thats a great result, maybe it will even move a little bit closer to 0 the next month, but in any case that result is very usable 😃
-1.5 does normally not leave a noticeable gap between the two lenses, if the other lens is set for distance.
Again, the lens set for distance gives usable vision to -1.0, the lens set for -1.5 gives usable vision from -0.5, so they overlap with usable vision between -0.5 and -1.0, therefore you will not feel a drop off in vision in real life.
The cornea is a very important part of the optics in the eye, the cornea and the iol combined is what giving the optics needed to focus the light on the retina.
When doing Lasik and Smile laser surgery, only the cornea is changed, and by doing this both diopter and astigmatism can be adjusted.
So yes, swelling in the cornea plays a big part.
Deb03 W-H
Posted
well mine changed .25. But I presume these autorefractors are rounding so in theory it could have been just under or just over .25. In both cases I could tell as I noticed the decline in my near vision as my eyes shifted more hyperopic. I would think only slight changes at this point but all eyes are different.
Deb03 Guest
Posted
Yes Danish. You won 😃 And I'm not surprised. You are very knowledgeable!
W-H Deb03
Posted
Viking was born holding cataract research books 😃
W-H Guest
Posted
You win 10,000000 Zimbabwe dollars 😃
Apparently doing YAG can change the readings too!!!
Sue.An2 W-H
Posted
Danish I see a career change in your future - haha