Cataract Surgery: A Personal Experience

“Cataract Surgery: A Personal Experience” Originally Published By John Mario On Associated Content.

I went to the retina specialist because scar tissue from an old repaired retina tear was beginning to cover the macula of my right eye. My vision in that eye had decreased significantly. The retina specialist examined the eye and told me that the loss of vision was due to a cataract that had grown since my last visit. The decrease in vision warranted cataract surgery. He said that he would determine if surgery was needed to cut the scar tissue away from the macula after the cataract surgery was complete.

I went to an eye surgeon for the cataract removal. I was given eye drops to place in my eye every day and also told to wash my eye lashes with a weak solution of baby shampoo and water every day. The eye surgeon was going to remove the lens that sat behind my eye pupil and insert a new vision correcting lens that would restore my vision to 20/40. He wouldn’t restore it to 20/20 because the vision of my other eye was 20/40.

On the day of the surgery, the eye surgeon gave me a series of 20 or more eye drops. I waited an hour before I entered surgery. The eye surgeon had a bright light shining into my eye and told me where to look. He emphasized the importance of staying perfectly still. I was not even aware of when the operation was complete. I thought he had just started but he informed me that the operation was complete.

The eye surgeon told me not to do any heavy lifting for two weeks. He also told me not to bend down. He said always keep my eye higher than my heart. The doctor gave me several different eye drops to be used for the next six weeks. The eye drops were for various purposes; antibiotic, pain killer, etc. The eye surgeon said that in eight weeks they would remove the single tiny stitch he put in my eye. He told me not to rub my eyes and gave me a plastic piece to tap over my eye when I slept. He said if I got anything in that eye, I should come and see him. I should not try to remove an eyelash or anything else from my eye while the eye was healing.

The worst part of the healing process was that I couldn’t rub my eyes and I couldn’t bend over. Those are the easiest things to forget. I never realized how many times I rub my eyes or bend over in the course of a normal day.

A few weeks before the stitch was removed from my eye, I asked the eye surgeon to give me some Valium to relax me when the stitch was removed. The Valium worked great. I was on cloud nine at the doctor’s office and everyone knew it when I walked around. The stitch was removed without a problem. Of course, my wife drove me home.

Then I visited the retina specialist to find out if I needed another operation for the scar tissue covering the macula. He said it wasn’t time yet to have surgery and told me how I could test for it. He gave me a sheet of paper with many lines on it. When I look at those lines through a tiny hole, I’ll see wrinkled lines if the macula is being pressed by the scar tissue. I think I’ll be going into that operation at the end of this year.