Cataract Op #1

[Brian Ellis]

Operation over 2 hours ago. Will see (?) tomorrow how it went when the bandage is removed.

Worst part was the injection of the anaesthetic.

[Fat Tone]

Best of luck Bri

[Dr Mordrid]

Jolly good!! Watch out for the technicolor rainbow - the sudden re-saturation of colors that mute from cataracts.

[Brian Ellis]

Jolly good!! Watch out for the technicolor rainbow - the sudden re-saturation of colors that mute from cataracts.

Indeed!

Problem is ~5° binocular vertical diplopia. Can force convergence but it is straining.

[Fat Tone]

Is that something that Op #2 will fix, or will you be in to prism lenses in your glasses?

[Dr Mordrid]

My doc said that cataracts can reshape the eyeball, and with the new lens things can go wonky for a while. Most or all of it reduces over time unless its severe. Mine were a tad off for a few weeks, so new reading/astigmatism (just .25) glasses weren't cut for a while after eye #2.

[Brian Ellis]

Probably prisms

[Brian Ellis]

Eye #2 done today.

[Fat Tone]

How's things?

[Brian Ellis]

I still have the bandage on from yesterday; it will be removed later this afternoon.

What I did not realise is that the technology used is really state-of-the-art. Without bothering to find out, I assumed that it was all done with lasers but no, they are using ultrasound to break up the faulty lens into minute fragments which are then liquidised and aspirated out of the eye. After the new lens is put in, the surfaces are polished, as is the interior of the cornea, also with ultrasound. This technology is called phacoemulsification.

Lasers went out with the Ark!

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup, that's standard practice here. There are slight differences in area prep after the old lens is out depending on the type of implant, but otherwise....

[Brian Ellis]

I can see! Not 100% perfect as yet but well enough for most everyday tasks. For the moment, I just have ordinary +2 dioptre glasses for reading and working on the computer; I'll be getting a prescription for the definitive ones in a couple of weeks or so when everything has settled down. Distant vision is no problem down to the distance between my armchair and the TV set. I was able to read quite small subtitles without any problem without glasses. Still got slight irritation in eye number two but I'm sure this will disappear in the next couple of days.

Over the whole procedures, the only problem of consequence is that the ophthalmologist prescribed corticosteroids to keep the inflammation of the eye down, in the form of tablets, drops and cream. The tablets were too powerful and were upsetting the dosage of corticosteroids which I take for the two autoimmune diseases which I have. I had to stop them after two doses but I continued on the drops and cream which took my intraocular pressure up to beyond the limit for glaucoma. This will resolve itself with further drops, as I have now stopped the corticosteroids in that eye. I anticipate the same thing will happen with the other eye. The dosage of steroids is very critical and it is like walking a tightrope between the good effects and the bad effects. On the whole, eyes apart, I have been very lucky with them as I have had very little in the way of side-effects such as diabetes (fasting sugar level <90 mg/dL), BP (averaging about 115/70), no stomach ulcers etc. The only unknown is whether I have developed osteoporosis, as I have not had a bone density scan but there is no indication that this has happened and I have been religiously taking the various medications to prevent it.

Old age is a bugger! Avoid it if you can find the fountain of youth!

[VJ]

Glad to hear the operations were a success!

They sometimes say "youth is wasted on the young"...

[cjolley]

They sometimes say "youth is wasted on the young"...

Maybe "they" sometimes say it.
I say it just about every f***ing day

[Elie]

Glad to hear you are ok and doing well.

Hope you can eventually see 100%