Fahim wanted to get disposable contacts, so we visited the eye doctor. While there, I saw eyeglasses frame with magnetic sunglasses that I liked. That would sure help when I'm out and about in the bright sun. So* eye doctor tests my eyes to make sure my prescription hasn't changed in the last two years and then starts asking me questions about blurring when I step out into the sun, needing to clean my glasses cuz I think they might be dirty, sensitivity to light, steroid use. What??!?!??
Eye doc tells me I have cataracts, and if I don't get my eyes checked by an eye surgeon, that I should come back in 6 months so he can take a look again and see how it's progressing.
Oh great.
White hair is bad enough. Perimenopause is even worse. But now cataracts? What, am I getting old or something?
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You know what occurred to me? You eat a lot of hot chilies. Which give you a rush. All that rushing has sped up your metabolism, causing you to grow old before your time.
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Oh, I'm sorry, quid. (((Quid))) This said, my dad had it quite young too, he had the surgery done and now he sees even better than before.
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Yup, she did. When I found out, I did a search on her thread to read about what she had to say. I don't think she's returned to Hatrack since the surgery. I'm curious about her experiences.
From what I've read, it seems that cataract surgery is the most common form of surgery in the US, it's usually done as an outpatient procedure, local vs. general anaesthetic is used, and it's generally regarded, relative to other surgeries, as not a big deal.
As a writer, I don't really want to have more vision problems than I already have - and I'm not anywhere close to non-functional yet. Eh. On the other hand, it's also conceivable that it may not get any worse. Not likely, but possible. We'll see. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Just a piece of advice : I don't know about the US but in France it is strongly adviced not to do the two eyes the same day, and actually wait for the full recovery of the first to do the second.
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I've seen two cataract surgeries (or was it three?) when I was interning at the hospital and got to scrub in and watch. It was....so cool. And on the surface, really seemed a simple procedure.
The surgery where they took a dude's eye out...that was a bit more complicated. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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If you are under age 40, I think a week should be enough time to recover. That is, IF they are using the latest techniques as they did with me (very small cut, break up the lens, extract peices throug the cut, insert folded, prescription replacement lens). It took about 15 minutes, and all I need are reading glasses now.
Psst - I did return, I've just been posting under my old nickname Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Olivet - I'm glad you're back! It went well, I take it? And your old nickname - it's Olivetta, right? Or am I totally off-base? I was wondering if it was you, but the profile for the two gave two different emails & areas and all that. See, I was wondering how you were doing.
Anna - yep, from everything I've read, it's recommended to do one eye, let it heal, then do the next eye, and generally, it's done a month or two apart from what I've been reading. It makes too much sense to do it any other way, so yes, that's how I would do it, too.
mack - that's strangely . . . comforting. I think I'd be too grossed out to watch. Or squeamish. Or something.
rivka - I have no idea. Probably? There's a hospital here, the Apollo, that's part of a chain of hospitals in India that cater mainly to the rich and the foreigners. It gets a lot of medical tourism dollars - people from North America & Europe come here for various forms of surgeries & medical treatment because it's far cheaper.
I think I couldn't make that decision until I've done some more research and met the eye surgeon. On the other hand, I have time.
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Quid- sorry for the mix-up. Olivet was my first Hatrack name, then I made up Olivetta for laughs in a particular thread, and was too lazy to switch back.
Yes, I am doing GREAT. On top of not having cataracts anymore, I can see the 20/20 line and some of the 20/15 line without ANY GLASSES at all. I need reading glasses, but whoa! Seriously, my prescription was -17.5 before the surgery. I have currently been going around, legal to drive and everything, with no correction for a Month.
My vision is fixed better than LASIK could have done, and my insurance covered it.
Getting cataracts was one of the best things that has happened in my life recently... well getting them removed, anyway. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Olivet - it's not a problem. I was just confused a leetle bit.
I'm glad to hear you're doing so well. Both eyes are done now?
See, I'm not complaining about my vision. I need glasses for distance only - I'm at -0.75. I sometimes go days without wearing them at all. But now that I know I have cataracts, I'm wondering if my eye strain and sore & tired eyes can be caused by the cataracts, and if it's possible that the cataracts influence an increase in auras, ie migraines. I'll have to see an actual opthamologist (spelling may not be correct ) to find out.
I have another question. Some of the reading I've done, it says that there are different types of lenses that you can get. Some will provide distance vision but reading glasses will be required, others provide close-up vision but distance requires glasses. Is there a third option where there's perfect vision for everything? Or would I be stuck still having glasses one way or the other?
And another question. How quickly did your cataracts progress?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quid, I thought I would be, too. But during the surgery, everything turned all clinical-like and I wasn't phased at all.
I say this as someone who gets squicked by spiders. Yes, I am admitting it now. I do not like spiders. One appeared out of NOWHERE on the coffeetable last night and I shouted, "Nathan! SPIDER!"
He said, "You have no excuse now. You're dressed and wearing shoes."
"Shut up and help me."
"FINE. Call me the spider-killer."
"I don't care what you do with it. Just get it AWAY from me."
I think this is why I had my dog trained to eat spiders. I could point from Far Away and he'd go take care of it for me. He was such a good dog. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I don't think mine progressed very quickly. They were small four years ago, when we first found them, and they were not fully 'grown' when they took them out (my risk factors for surgery were very low due to my age and so forth).
Someone told me they are working on a lense implant that would provide distance and close-up vision, but it hasn't been offered here yet, or hadn't a month ago when they did my surgeries. So, PROBABLY, you will need glasses of some sort afterward.
Could it be the cause of your eyestrain and increased auras? Most definitely. That is what I noticed most, was that at night, driving in the rain... every little droplet of water had a huge aura. I couldn't judge distances very well. I was scared to death, trying to get the kids home from martial arts after dark.
I kind of pushed for the surgery because I feared for the safety of my family if we were caught out after dark. No foolin'.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Thanks, Olivet. I have another question for you. Were you under local anaesthetic only, or general? If you were under local, did you hear every single freaking thing that was going on? How was it? I think that would freak me out, and yet, I want to avoid going under general - with my apnea and depressed breathing response, things get more complicated that way. Local is much easier to deal with in terms of recovery.
mack - I had my cats trained to do search and destroy on all bugs. They're excellent spider and cockroach catchers. Well, Tellulah was much better and Oberon's lazy, but I've only got Oberon left, so . . . Anyway, I commiserate. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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*laughs* kq, I hear you. But I need to avoid general anaesthetic as much as possible.
Let me tell you about my last surgery and I think you'll understand why. Gallbladder removal.
I tell them beforehand about my apnea and my need for CPAP, so that's not a problem. I come out of surgery in the recovery room, and I'm breathing like 4 times a minute. A nurse is standing over me yelling at me to breath. Because I'm not. This continues for the next three hours - the nurse yelling at me to breath. I'm on my CPAP already, standard pressure settings for me. But the air flow (8cm) is too high for me to exhale properly past, and not high enough to help me breath. My oxygen drops below 80% (97%+ is ideal) and my heart rate climbs. Don't remember my blood pressure.
I know something is wrong, I know I'm not breathing properly, but I'm too hazy to be able to articulate anything. I'm coming in and out of consciousness, and the only thing that kept me from freaking out about how I felt was that I lacked any energy to freak out. But the whole time, I knew that something was seriously wrong. I knew I wasn't breathing properly, I knew my oxygen was too low, and I knew they weren't doing anything to find out why. I was scared.
Finally, about 10 or 12 hours after surgery, I can breath normally again. Seriously, I can feel it return from fuzzy to clear.
Now, I know what to tell them to do, but that doesn't mean they'll listen and/or follow through. I still want to avoid the situation as much as possible. I need a BiPAP - it provides a higher air pressure when I breathe in, and a lower one when I breath out. Will BiPAPs exist here? No idea.
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quid- My eye was numbed. I was conscious, butthey did give me a few shots of something in my IV, to make me 'not care' so much about what they were doing. It relaxed me, is all.
Improtant note: They made me take a pregnancytest before administering it, as it isn't safe for unborn babies.
I did hear everything, including the little song the sonic machine played as it was fragmenting the cataract. There were moments of discomfort, but wasn't too bad.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Olivet, thanks so much for telling me. That is soooo much better than I would have thought. I like the whole "not care" bit especially. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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That I really can't say. I don't know how reactive the inner eye is to that sort of thing.
You may want to edit the first post and change the title to include begging the Hatrack medicos to advise you.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The replacement lenses are made of plastic. I don't really know much about plastic ingredients. You'd have to ask the eye doctor that, or a medical intraocular lens supply company. Or maybe someone else here knows more about plastics.
If you are truly allergic to them, they can still take the cataract out and just not replace it with a lens at all. Then you'd have to wear thick glasses instead.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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So*, I mentioned to my oldest brother (8 years older than me) that I have cataracts and that I found out a few months ago. He then told me that he was diagnosed with them five years ago.
I guess it is a family thing after all. Maybe. Unless it's a huge coincidence that the two sibs in the family who spend enormous amounts of time in front of computer monitors both have cataracts. Maybe it's actually radiation or something from the monitors that does it. Oh! [/conspiracy theory]
Ah well.
Sometimes, I swear, my brain is just not screwed on tight enough!
Anyway, the bit I wanted to mention is that the fuzziness stuff - where it feels like a fuzzy film over the eyes, but no amount of rubbing actually makes better - is getting significantly worse.
Happiness is not cataracts. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Well, I've heard that if you live long enough, you eventually get them anyway. Sun exposure or something. Getting them unusually young probably is a family thing, though. Also, they are more common in people with light colored or light-sensitive eyes.
BTW, the month after my surgery they announced that they have new sort of bifocal implant, so reading glasses may not be mandatory after surgery. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Did you ever get the allergy thing resolved?
Eye allergies can be really bad, so I'd be careful. I'm allergic to any and all preservatives used in contact solutions and salines, including the ones that are for sensitive eyes. If one of my lenses is rinsed in anything containing preservatives, I have to throw it away because if I wear it, I'll start having a reaction that's very similar to pinkeye.
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Does it help if I tell you that my 13 year old step daughter has cataracts? She has no white hair at all, though she does have this really cool strip of natural red that runs through the back.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Cool new lenses, Olivet! I'll have to check it out. Of course, they may not be available here, but then I'm not going in for surgery yet.
But Olivet, I've also read that there are two basic types - one that gives perfect distance vision and requires reading glasses, the other gives perfect close vision and requires glasses for distance. They usually use the one requiring reading glasses because they figure that's better for most people.
Me, at this point in time, have glasses for distance and can see perfectly fine closeup. Considering how much time I spend on the computer, plus everything else I do with my spare time (cooking, sewing, reading) which pretty much all involves close up work, I'd rather keep the situation I have, that is, needing glasses for distance.
And no, I don't have the allergy thing worked out. One thing I'd forgotten about is that, as my sleep disorders got themselves resolved, my allergies faded a fair bit. It's possible I'm no longer allergic to silicone and acrylic. I need to get tested.
Funny the things I forget, eh?
aretee, I can't even imagine having cataracts at 13! How's she dealing with it? And does she need surgery soon to fix hers?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My husband says it congenital and it isn't affecting her vision. The optomitrist wants her to see an opthamologist just to keep an eye on it. (get it? Keep an eye on...nevermind)
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Personally, I'd be inclined to see an opthamologist as well. Find out the prognosis. But then, perhaps he's already done that?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I heard on the radio some time ago that there is a correlation between the thinning of the ozone layer and cataracts in people younger than 35. Here's a couple of articles that touch on it, although they don't mention the under 35 thing.
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