Warning over failed cataract surgery and subsequent successful surgery elsewhere
Posted , 3 users are following.
In March 2017 I had private cataract surgery and a multi focal Zeiss lens inserted on one eye at a private hospital near Darlington UK.
On removing the cover on my eye 12 hours later, the vision was extremely blurred but as the surgeon claimed that a dry eye was the cause, I allowed him to operate one week later on the other eye - and this proved relatively successful with clear non-blurred vision.
Five weeks later the surgeon decided to operate again on the first eye and told me that he had rotated the lens but this made zero difference to my perceived vision. Unfortunately this surgeon's account of the whole cataract process on that first eye is very different from that of myself, the patient, which has greatly annoyed me.
Subsequently I saw two separate surgeons in France who expressed surprise at what had happened and suggested the second operation on that first eye should have been to remove the lense. Also they pointed out that the lense was wrongly positioned which the UK surgeon later put down to fibrosis.
The UK surgeon told me in July 2017 that he could do nothing and that removal of the badly positioned lense could be detrimental. He suggested that I go elsewhere and look for laser surgery by others - but in France, it was suggested that laser surgery could cause irreversible harm to vision.
In October 2018, I had surgery in France where the earlier lense was removed and a new lense inserted with excellent results.
I am writing this as a warning that whilst in my case I did accept that no surgical procedure is 100% guaranteed, there is always a potential reason for failure and probably it is wise to do research on the hospital and surgeon.
1 like, 2 replies
Salty0 martin04519
Posted
it's too bad that most of us find our way here after we already had the procedure. I sincerely wish there was a way to get this information to patients before they submit to the procedure so they are informed about some of these issues beforehand.
Sue.An martin04519
Posted
Very good advise. I am not sure surgeons want to admit to errors on their part and often do harm trying to cover their butts.
There is only do much time they can put it down to dry eye and healing. Going to someone else for that all too important 2nd opinion is often worth it.
So happy you finally got a good outcome even if it took time and patience and finding a surgeon will to investigate. Sometimes original surgeon jumps to pco and performs a yag - rendering a lens exchange nearly impossible.
Hope many read your story and gain some insight and encouragement.