Cataract Surgery

Emma Potter said:
I recently had a scare with possible retina detachment. I had bleeding behind my eye, floaters, and flashes 9 weeks after surgery. After numerous eye Dr visits they couldn't find the reason for the blood and retina seemed fine ,and eventually the blood got reabsorbed. I am still a little nervous. Today I am getting my refraction eye exam for my new glasses.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that, Emma. My eye saga started about 2 years ago with a bleed in my eye. It was finally diagnosed as a vitreous detachment that wouldn't fully detach. It was pulling on my retina and tearing small blood vessels. It was not in my line-of-sight so they just watched it for a while, since most of the time these resolve on their own. Of course mine did not resolve so ultimately they did the vitrectomy to release it. I still have the floaters (apparently they are a forever gift) but no more bleeds.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Hey y'all. My surgery went fine; it was like an overbooked assembly line but a nice facility, very attentive staff, and I love my doctor. As everyone said, the surgery itself was a non-event. I could "see" and hear stuff but couldn't feel anything at all. It was like looking through vaseline goggles at vague shapes and colors.

We got home around 2 pm and I promptly fell asleep; woke up at 5. I was "supposed" to start the eyedrops today (3X for each type) but of course I slept through most of the schedule. So I will get 2X and call it good.

Also, my surgeon did NOT bandage or cover my eye at all!! Not even a clear plastic shield for sleeping. I was surprised by that and wish I had kept the shield I got when I had the vitrectomy last January. It just felt safe to cover my eye when sleeping but the cataract surgeon says "pooh." I go for the after-surgery followup tomorrow so I will ask about getting one, or stop at Walgreens on the way home.

Of course I immediately googled the shield thing when I woke up from my nap (with my surgical eye buried in my pillow 🤪). Apparently the consensus is that the shield is useless and most patients don't use them anyway.
Click to expand...
I never heard of no bandage or shield when you sleep. My sister said it's to prevent you from touching or rubbing your eye while you're sleeping. That makes sense to not disturb the stitches.
 
Tony Nathanson said:
I never heard of no bandage or shield when you sleep. My sister said it's to prevent you from touching or rubbing your eye while you're sleeping. That makes sense to not disturb the stitches.
Click to expand...

I know what the shield is for; as I said I had one after my vitrectomy surgery in January (different surgeon). I plan to buy one tomorrow because I often sleep on my stomach and I like the additional protection. Tonight I'm sleeping in my recliner or setting my adjustable bed so that I can't roll over. I'm not an 'eye-rubber' so I don't worry about accidentally rubbing my eye.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Those of you who have had the surgery, how long did it take for the blurriness or "foggy" feeling to go away?
Click to expand...
I think it was a few days. I remember I drove to the grocery store a few days later.:)

The only thing that was bothersome for a time was the bright lights in the grocery store, or walking outside without my sunglasses on. It was the same for my husband. The eye doc said that was normal and would go away in time, which it did.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I know what the shield is for; as I said I had one after my vitrectomy surgery in January (different surgeon). I plan to buy one tomorrow because I often sleep on my stomach and I like the additional protection. Tonight I'm sleeping in my recliner or setting my adjustable bed so that I can't roll over. I'm not an 'eye-rubber' so I don't worry about accidentally rubbing my eye.
Click to expand...

I had an eye cover to wear. There was a clear hard plastic cover with holes in it, and a softer blue with holes in my kit. The plastic one was uncomfortable and irritating. I wore the softer one. They also gave some tape to tape it on my face. It was a pain in the butt to wear at night, but I wore it because I didn’t want to take the chance of accidently getting something in my eye at night; like a piece of hair.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I know what the shield is for; as I said I had one after my vitrectomy surgery in January (different surgeon). I plan to buy one tomorrow because I often sleep on my stomach and I like the additional protection. Tonight I'm sleeping in my recliner or setting my adjustable bed so that I can't roll over. I'm not an 'eye-rubber' so I don't worry about accidentally rubbing my eye.
Click to expand...
I only remember hubby wanted the darkest sun glasses he could find. Looked a bit like a pale Ray Charles.
 
Krystal Shay said:
I had an eye cover to wear. There was a clear hard plastic cover with holes in it, and a softer blue with holes in my kit. The plastic one was uncomfortable and irritating. I wore the softer one. They also gave some tape to tape it on my face. It was a pain in the butt to wear at night, but I wore it because I didn’t want to take the chance of accidently getting something in my eye at night; like a piece of hair.
Click to expand...


I had the clear plastic ventilated type after my vitretomy surgery and I could have sworn I saved it. I'm sure it will appear after I buy another one today. :D It is uncomfortable but seems to prevent any accidental touching of the eye.

Today I have some residue around my eye that I'd like to scrub off so I'll have to figure out a way to gently clean around it, and get the surgeon's initials off my forehead. :ROFLMAO: Before surgery, he talked to me and marked the left eye (with a SHARPIE) so there would be no confusion in the OR.
 
Krystal Shay said:
I think it was a few days. I remember I drove to the grocery store a few days later.:)

The only thing that was bothersome for a time was the bright lights in the grocery store, or walking outside without my sunglasses on. It was the same for my husband. The eye doc said that was normal and would go away in time, which it did.
Click to expand...
Mary Stetler said:
I only remember hubby wanted the darkest sun glasses he could find. Looked a bit like a pale Ray Charles.
Click to expand...

I agree that bright light is the biggest annoyance. Apparently it takes a few days for the 'mega dose' of dilation drugs to finally wear off and the pupil to work as it should.
 
Jacob Petersheim said:
Yes. Dec 10th then about another week for the right eye.

I had a clean exam the last few times and I've had no other symptoms so I think the retina is likely ok. That leaves the issue of cleaning out the "pocket" where a new lens gets inserted. That rear membrane can wrinkle and create visual woes if bits of natural lens remain.
Click to expand...

I thought my 2nd surgery was for 2 weeks after the first, but after reviewing my paperwork I found that it is actually scheduled for a month later. So my surgery date is also December 10. I'm kind of glad it is farther away than I thought since that gives me time to see how well the first eye does.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Those of you who have had the surgery, how long did it take for the blurriness or "foggy" feeling to go away?
Click to expand...
Once the patch came off when I got home, my vision was clear and bright. Only problem was everything was at a 45 degree angle. That cleared up in about an hour. It was the same with both eyes. No blurriness until a couple years later when I had secondary cataracts lasered out. Only problem I have now is unrelated to cataract surgery. It is that left bad glaucoma eye is weak and won't sync with right eye.

Prisms in my glasses correct this for the most part, but sometimes that bad eye goes wonky and causes blurriness. I am seeing specialist eye doc in February to see if anything can be done. Other eye docs say nothing more can be done, but I will get the experts opinion before resigning to times of blurriness or wearing a patch over that eye, which clears up the problem.
 
@Beth Gallagher ..oh my, already tell your experience was not like ours . In the admittance area a clerk used a washable marker to mark initial of Dr on the side they were to operate on. We never saw that mark again, was cleaned off I guess in surgery. The face wrappings were soft and comfortable. The only small nuisance was the bright light for a while.
I found my on sun glasses worked much better than the safety big bulky ones they gave us.
Tomorrow is my last day on the drops--YEA!
 
Faye Fox said:
Once the patch came off when I got home, my vision was clear and bright. Only problem was everything was at a 45 degree angle. That cleared up in about an hour. It was the same with both eyes. No blurriness until a couple years later when I had secondary cataracts lasered out. Only problem I have now is unrelated to cataract surgery. It is that left bad glaucoma eye is weak and won't sync with right eye.

Prisms in my glasses correct this for the most part, but sometimes that bad eye goes wonky and causes blurriness. I am seeing specialist eye doc in February to see if anything can be done. Other eye docs say nothing more can be done, but I will get the experts opinion before resigning to times of blurriness or wearing a patch over that eye, which clears up the problem.
Click to expand...

Hey girlie. I wish I was one of those who had the "clear and bright" experience. My eye is like looking through light fog, though it seems a little more clear today. So far I don't have any glaucoma; my eye pressures seem to stay well in the normal range. I hope the specialist can figure out a fix for you, but at least they can mostly manage it with glasses. I'll probably still need glasses, too.
 
Hedi Mitchell said:
@Beth Gallagher ..oh my, already tell your experience was not like ours . In the admittance area a clerk used a washable marker to mark initial of Dr on the side they were to operate on. We never saw that mark again, was cleaned off I guess in surgery. The face wrappings were soft and comfortable. The only small nuisance was the bright light for a while.
I found my on sun glasses worked much better than the safety big bulky ones they gave us.
Tomorrow is my last day on the drops--YEA!
Click to expand...

Hey girl. Nice to see you even though you're busy with company. It's weird how the different doctors do things but I guess as long as the end result is good that's all that matters.

I go for the after-surgery followup exam this afternoon so we'll see how this goes. My eyedrops are supposed to be used for six weeks! :confused: And of course I'll have the second operation in a month so the drops will go on and on...
 
Today my eyesight is a little clearer but I have that "gritty" feeling in my eye. I have ordered some sterile gauze pads and saline solution from Amazon to clean around the eye. After watching a couple of Youtube videos on caring for the eye I found that I was doing it wrong. Instructions from my doctor were kind of vague and focused on applying the eye drops, but nothing about how to clean around the eye so youtube to the rescue.

At the followup appointment yesterday, the optometrist said I have a lot of swelling inside my eye but everything looks OK. She took one lens out of my glasses but that didn't help much. I do better just closing one eye or the other when trying to focus.
 
Hedi Mitchell said:
@Beth Gallagher = they had him use baby shampoo for cleaning around eyes. For me, they said nothing.
Click to expand...

My instruction sheet says to not get any water in the eye for at least a week. Once I got the sterile gauze pads, I boiled some water and let it cool slightly, then dampened the gauze and wrung it out. I used the warm, damp pad to gently wipe around my eye but not on the lid.

And this just in... I AM TYPING ON THE FORUM WITHOUT WEARING ANY GLASSES!!! littleb.gif
 
Beth Gallagher said:
My instruction sheet says to not get any water in the eye for at least a week. Once I got the sterile gauze pads, I boiled some water and let it cool slightly, then dampened the gauze and wrung it out. I used the warm, damp pad to gently wipe around my eye but not on the lid.

And this just in... I AM TYPING ON THE FORUM WITHOUT WEARING ANY GLASSES!!! View attachment 6460
Click to expand...
That is great news! Did you have the standard lens or the prescription one that can have the prescript changed by a laser?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top