Tag: dry eye

YAG x 2

In April, I had cataract surgery on both eyes with fancy, extended depth of focus implanted lenses.

Things went well and I’m not wearing glasses full-time, which hadn’t happened since I was six. However, I have run into a couple of common aftereffects that I’ve been dealing with over these past months.

One is an aggravation of my existing problems with dry eye, which I whined about a bit here. We are treating it in several ways and it is improving.

The other was that I developed some filminess or cloudiness in my vision due to posterior capsule opacification, also known as secondary cataracts. The treatment is to use a YAG laser to make an opening in the capsule to allow light through and rectify the cloudiness. (YAG stands for yttrium aluminum garnet.)

I had YAG treatment in both eyes earlier this month and I’m happy to report that it worked well for me. The filminess is gone, which is great because we weren’t sure if part of that was due to the dry eye. I do have increased floaters in my eyes which will probably calm down over the next few months.

I’m able to read my computer without enlarging the text for the most part now and, for the first time ever, made it through a choral rehearsal on Sunday without glasses. I do have a pair of glasses that I can use for fine print and low light situations, as those will continue to be challenging even when all the healing is complete.

It’s been a joy to be able to see without devoting extra brain power to assist. Over these past months, I’ve been having to concentrate consciously on visual processing. It’s been tiring. I’m grateful to be able to look around and just be able to see what’s in front of me without extra effort.

One of these days, I might even get a new headshot taken without glasses, even if it takes a bit for me to recognize myself after 57 years of wearing glasses all the time…

dry eyes

I try not to whine here at Top of JC’s Mind, at least not about personal things.

But, today, I’m so frustrated that, in the name of honesty, I’m going to.

In April, I had cataract surgery with fancy implanted lenses, which was really amazing and means that I no longer need to wear glasses all the time as I had for decades.

The problem is that my previous issues with dry eye are back with a vengeance, clouding my vision.

This was not unexpected, as the surgery and all the drops you have to use after it do disrupt the status quo and increase the risk of dry eye, but my symptoms now are worse than they have ever been.

I’ve been back to my optometrist and am doing all the things I am supposed to be doing – preservative-free artificial tears, special hotpacks, taking flaxseed oil – but improvement has been slow. This is also not unexpected, but it is frustrating.

I can still see well enough to drive but close tasks are a chore. I have some over-the-counter reading glasses that help with some close tasks but, because my current state of cloudiness is caused by the dry eye rather than my focusing ability, the glasses magnify but don’t clarify.

This is making it hard to read things that are not printed in a large font. I can usually adjust when I read on screens but it’s hard to read things on paper. Kitchen work is annoying, too. It’s not that I can’t do these things but it is so taxing that I don’t especially want to.

I have another visit with the optometrist scheduled for next week to make sure there isn’t something else going on, like development of a secondary cataract or some kind of inflammation or infection.

Meanwhile, I’ll try to have this be my only whining post…

The eyes have it.

Yes, it is a bad pun. It also illustrates why I almost never engage in wordplay; I am not good at it.

For the past several years, I have been having increasing difficulties with my vision. Last summer, my optometrist told me he could no longer fully correct my vision in my left eye. When I did get new glasses made, I had so much trouble seeing that I reverted back to an earlier prescription. Still, I was having periods where my vision was very blurry and my eyes were often very tired.

I blamed allergies or lack of sleep or some undiagnosed something. After months of frustration, an optician friend suggested that it could be low blood pressure. When I called my optometrist’s office, they consulted my records and said they didn’t think that was it because my blood pressure wasn’t low enough and that it was probably my dry eye and to use these drops four times a day for two months and call them back after that if I wasn’t better.

At which point, I was thinking “what dry eye?” as they hadn’t told me that that was the problem. Or considered that that was why they couldn’t correct my left eye fully. Or thought that that was why I couldn’t see well even with the new prescription.

I was not amused.

While the drops helped, it wasn’t enough.  My parents had seen an article for a new treatment offered by the ophthalmologist who had done their cataracts surgeries. I made an appointment for a consultation. He is busy so it was weeks away – and then he cancelled it right before the day arrived.

To expedite things, I made an appointment with one of his younger colleagues.

She confirmed the dry eye diagnosis and I started on some prescription drops in addition to the over-the-counter ones that I was using. My eye improved quite a bit, but I still couldn’t reliably get through a movie or a chorus rehearsal without my eyes bothering me.

I decided to try the new treatment, which would directly help the root problem, which is that the glands and channels which deliver the lipid components of tears were compromised.

Although the treatment was more arduous than I expected, it appears to have worked. I go for a six-week follow-up appointment later this week and am happy to report that I only have to use the over-the-counter drops a couple of times daily most days. I have even have some days where I did not need them at all.

I’m hoping that I will soon be able to have a standard eye exam and get a prescription for new glasses that I can trust to be accurate.

One less thing to worry about will be good.