Cataract Disappointment

Well after 10 years of getting injections every four weeks in both eyes, my specialist decided it was time to remove my cataracts.

Doctor's advice

They didn’t bother me and I felt my eyesight was relatively good, but being a good patient I decided to move forward because he assured me that I would have even better vision. I was excited because my right eye was actually quite good and I figured it would end up being perfect and the left eye would at least improve.

Everything went black

My left eye was done first and that evening, while I still had the patch over my eye, I did notice that everything was black. Not just when I had the patch on but also when I did not. I’ve had issues before with high eye pressure and thought It had to do with that. The next morning, I went to see him and he determined that yes, my pressure was high and gave me drops and I was to go back the following week.

The blackness left but I was unable to see due to what I would call extreme fog. When I returned to him a week later for an eye vision test, I could only read the large E on the chart. He told me the fog would go away. It finally did but It took three weeks before it began clearing.

Vision got worse

By week five I was scheduled for my right eye to be done. Because I felt I had these issues I was thinking of canceling that operation however everyone told me it would probably be a piece of cake.

I had the operation and expected to be able to see well by the following day as many friends had. Unfortunately this time I could not even make out the letter E, not because I have any blackness I just had no vision. My specialist informed me that everything looked good and I was to return the following week.

The lense felt out of place

By the following week when I was to see him, I told him I felt like the lens was not in the right place because I kept seeing what I believed was the edge of it. I also felt like something was in my eye and irritating it. He told me to be patient and return the following week. I returned to tell him that things were getting worse and I was seeing some very weird things. As an example, if I looked at the light, the light would not be there however I would be able to see all these rays extending from where the light should be plus little sparkles of light, similar to fireworks.

Difficulty with day-to-day tasks

Everything was double and I could see things with that eye that were not there with my right eye. Even looking at the door, it was difficult to grab the door handle because there were two doors! Two of everything. He told me to be patient. I was to go back two weeks later for an injection and he felt it would be better by then. I did go for my injection but nothing was better and again he just told me to be patient. By week six I was so frustrated and beginning to feel I was crazy. I contacted the office and they told me to come in for a vision test.

Finally being heard

When I was in having the vision test before she put the drops in I asked if she could please see if maybe my pupil was permanently dilated for some reason. She looked into my eye and immediately left. She returned to tell me the doctor wanted to see me. He came in and took me for more tests on a machine that I had never seen before. He then informed me that the lens was completely off its location and was located at the bottom of the eyeball. I actually felt good knowing that there really was something wrong.

False hope

A second operation was done to move it back into position. I was lucky because he actually thought I may need to get a vitrectomy. For the first time after this operation I was actually able to see by the following day. I was very happy and then suddenly two weeks later as I was driving, I felt I had no vision in that eye.

When I got home, I tried to test my vision to find I have a very large black circle blocking out much of my vision. Off to the doctor, I go again and he did some tests and said it was because there was leakage at the back of my eye and that may have to do with the trauma. He did feel this might be permanent as is a condition of MD.

Black circle turning into fog

Over the next five months, I found that the black circle seemed to fade, and I was starting to be able to see through it. When I mentioned this to the doctor on one occasion he felt that that was not possible. After the fifth month, the circle was like a heavy gray fog, and although I would not be able to recognize anyone through it at least I knew there was a face there that would also be slightly distorted.

Will it get better?

I never the less felt pretty good. Suddenly on month six I wake up and I again have that big black circle. Will it fade again? I don’t know. All I do know is I am disappointed and if I could go back I would never have my cataracts done. That’s not to say that others shouldn’t but there’s always a possibility of something going wrong. And despite the fact I paid for corrective lenses to help my vision, even my left eye still needs glasses.

Call me very disappointed.