The story of my left eye – so far: Part VI
[Part I can be found here.
Part II can be found here.
Part III can be found here.
Part IV can be found here.
Part V can be found here.]
At the end of Part V, I’d had my surgery and was trying to relax and heal. I continued to be astounded and entranced by the clarity of my distance vision after all those blurry years. All I had to do to refresh my memory, at least somewhat, was to close my left eye and look at the world with my right. My right eye had been my good eye previously, so it wasn’t really a trip back in time, but my vision with that eye was bad enough in comparison to my new left eye that it practically made me gasp.
Reading was another story, but I had expected that to degrade because I’d been given a monofocal distance lens. Before the surgery, I was able to read without glasses with my left eye (close-up vision is sometimes improved with a cataract), although with some difficulty and with the print being fainter than it really was, looking gray rather than black. My right eye wasn’t so good at the task as my left had been, although with some struggle I still could do it. But now, to my great surprise even though I’d been told it would happen, reading glasses actually corrected my left eye’s close vision so that print was not only sharp but dark black. This had not been possible before the cataract was removed.
Our next plan (I was with my ex-husband) was to drive along the west coast and visit various relatives along the way. About ten days after the surgery we made the first stop, which was in a fairly rural part of California. The first day of our arrival we all went for a walk in the countryside near dusk. It was lovely there, and even more lovely because I was now able to see the surrounding hills in sharp focus.
Suddenly I saw a flash in the left of my vision. What was that? Actually, I knew almost immediately what it was, because in 2016 something similar had happened in my right eye. I assumed I was either having a retinal detachment, a retinal tear, or a posterior vitreous detachment. It had been the latter, less serious occurrence that had given me the symptoms in my right eye years ago, so I was quite familiar with that. I also knew from my readings, as well as the release I’d signed before the surgery, that all of these things were possible complications from cataract surgery and are not even extremely rare.
Frightened, I excused myself and went back into the house. And then I realized that I’d also had a sudden increase in floaters, which is a possible sign of all the aforementioned occurrences: detachment, tear, or PVD. I also know that floaters can increase for other reasons after cataract surgery, or can become more visible because of the increased visual acuity that results. In fact, with all the eye doctors I’d seen prior to surgery I’d discussed the post-surgery possibility of seeing the floaters I already had better, and they all agreed that was very possible and happened quite often.
But right after the surgery I’d been relieved to note that my floaters weren’t more visible or annoying, although the light in my eye from my iridotomy was. But now, ten days later, I had new floaters, and one of them was largish, quite dark, and floated across my main line of vision. I knew from past experience that people sometimes had floaters disappear or at least get more tolerable as the brain gets used to them, but I found it depressing to realize that my new and amazingly clear vision was now troubled by this large floater as well as a sprinkling of small blackish dots that had appeared at the same time.
And I was frightened. Was this a retinal tear or retinal detachment rather than a PVD? Would I require more surgery? I was in a strange place, too, hundreds of miles from LA and the doctor. Fortunately, he has a policy of responding quickly to emails or texts or phone calls, and so I called him and left a message and he called back promptly and reassured me that according to my symptoms (no curtain across my vision) it probably wasn’t the more serious possibility of a retinal detachment although I had to go the next day to see an eye doctor. He knew a good one in the city nearby, and told me to call in the morning and tell them I was a patient of his.
He added that he wasn’t particularly surprised that I was having more floaters and a possible PVD, because he’d had to do so much extra work on my eye that it could easily have stirred things up. This was in line with everything I’d been told prior to the surgery, including what I’d heard from previous doctors, so it made sense to me. But I was still frightened.
I spent the next morning at the office of a very nice ophthalmologist who said it was probably a PVD and he saw no evidence of a retinal problem. That was reassuring, but now I had to deal with the floaters. Fortunately the flashes had subsided – with my right eye they’d lasted about a month, so I saw this as a good sign. But now I struggled against noticing and studying the floaters, and tried to start ignoring them.
It wasn’t easy. It still isn’t easy, although it’s gotten somewhat easier over time. It helps that the little black dots are now a much paler gray. I don’t know why that happened, but it’s an improvement and any improvement is a good thing.
My distance sight continues to be good, for which I’m extremely grateful. I hesitate to say it because I still find it so astounding and it somehow feels tenuous. I think when a person has had diminished vision for many years, and it’s suddenly restored, it’s hard to trust it will continue because the whole thing feels like some sort of miracle.
The PVD (or whatever it was) and the resultant floaters were reminders, and continue to be reminders, of the fact that we never know what’s in store for us. All we can do is our best, go to the best people for help, and hope for the best.
This may seem like the last post in the series. But I plan a Part VII to explore further reflections on the whole thing, and lingering questions that I have. So, to be continued…
The floaters!!!
I roll my eyes a few times, and they move out of the way for significant periods of time.
The frightening prospect of setbacks is one of the many fears that bring the full spectrum of human existence into our perspective. These always make me grateful when they turn out to be less than what I imagined they could be, and they make me savor my life experience more than I would have been, without them.
I’m really glad that your medical experience has been resoundingly positive, long may it continue! And thanks for telling us about it.
Thanks for telling this story, Neo, and sharing all the details. I have had poor vision for a very long time, near-sighted and astigmatic, and have worn eyeglasses since sixth grade. I recently learned I have “baby cataracts” and sort of look forward to when I am eligible for lens replacements. I was not surprised at this news, as I find it rather difficult to drive at night as lights blur – especially red tail lights – and make it difficult to judge distance and see surrounding details. I have had floaters for as long as I can remember and most of the time they do not bother me, despite seeming to have quite a few of them. As you indicated, the brain does a pretty good job of dealing with them. But I do see them frequently and sometimes they are annoying. I am thankful that I see pretty well with glasses and that I have not experienced more significant problems, such as you have experienced. I pray that you are able to maintain your improved vision.
My sense about floaters is that – from my own experience and talking to other people I know who have problems with them – how much they bother a person depends on a lot of things, including how dark the floaters are, how big they are, in what part of the field of vision they are, and how numerous they are. There’s a lot of variety possible on all those factors. I suppose that personality is part of it, as well, but I think a lot more important are those other things I mentioned.
My mom in her last few years had pretty much lost her vision in one eye to macular degeneration and in her ‘good eye’ she also had it but it was treatable with shots every couple of months but she had floaters and every time she went to her ophthalmologist she would ask him if there was anything to do about them and every time he would kindly explain that it goes with age and there isn’t much that can be done.
Her eye doctors were a godsend as they allowed her to have a pretty normal life vision wise the last few years.
To think that something might be seriously wrong, after just having an almost- miraculous vision improvement, must have been very frightening. Thanks be to God that it seems to be under control.
Griffin:
Actually there is something that can be done about floaters. Maybe her eye doctor felt your mother was too old, or it was too risky, or her floaters weren’t bad enough, but there’s a surgery for floaters (briefly described here), and also some doctors zap them with lasers although that’s very controversial. The surgery is less controversial but comes with significant risks, but it definitely is sometimes done for floaters.
Kate:
It was indeed very frightening. I am doing okay now with the floaters, but they still bother me – more of an annoyance thing – and I’m hoping that over time I’ll be able to ignore them more and more or that they’ll even go away. I try to focus – literally – on the vision itself, which continues good. Last week I went to a local optometrist and I have some new eyeglasses coming for driving which I hope will help with some of the glare at night. If they don’t, they don’t, but I’m waiting for them before I try any significant night driving.
neo,
Yeah, I think it was a combo of age (she was between 85-91 then) and the fact that this was her only working eye. They always erred on the cautious side like if the treatment could be 8-10 weeks apart they would do it at 8.
Her vision was a constant concern for us because without that eye she couldn’t live independently. In the end the eye made it but the lockdown pretty much got her.
I have enjoyed reading your vivid story regarding your eye surgeries. I too have had my cataracts removed with my left eye being particularly difficult. My initial surgeries were at the age of 37, which is extremely young, however the contrast in vision was as stark and immediate as you capture so we’ll. Now at 63 I can assure you that I daily enjoy the same surprise and thrill at how good my vision is, as it is I believe unchanged.
My last surgery was in 2011 by Dr. Gimbal who spent 2 and a half hours sewing the lens in place after he removed most of the damage from prior surgery. A brilliant and highly qualified Dr., much as your experience.
Griffin:
Yes, I remember the awful effect of the lockdown on your mom.
My mother had wet macular degeneration in one eye that rendered it nearly blind. The fear was that the same problem would affect her other eye eventually but fortunately it never did. She lived to be 98. The last year of her life was very difficult, but not because of her eyes, and she died long before COVID.
Always had floaters prior to cataract surgery, after a few more appeared. Doc mentioned over time they’d ‘drift downward’ and be ‘gone’. Been a few years… reading your experience reminded me. Just checked ~ no floaters : )
Bless you and good luck, Neo
Can’t imagine the horror of this happening as never had this happen to me.
Thanks so much for sharing the whole story. I found it fascinating and gripping. I think it should be published as an article in a magazine, describing the patient’s point of view of a complicated surgery. I imagine there’d be a market for that.
Paul Cox:
It certainly sounds as though you’ve been through the mill. And a 2 and a half hour eye surgery – wow! Glad you’ve had a good result.
An interesting and educational series of posts. Each ending with a cliffhanger. You’ve got the knack of a mystery writer – always keeping us guessing and wanting more.
Although I have my own eye problem and have done some research on the eyes and various problems, I have learned some new things. As I have said before, one of the reasons I am a loyal fan is that I learn so much from you and the commenters here.
Neo, I’m sorry about the floaters but so happy to hear that your clear vision is otherwise enduring. Thanks for this thoughtful, detailed account of your experience, as always measured, thoughtful and illuminating. It’s giving me plenty of food for thought as surgery for cataracts is somewhere in my future.
On your new glasses for driving: I’m guessing they’ll have an anti-glare coating, maybe? A few years ago I had almost stopped driving at night because of glare and “ghost” light images arising from my cataracts. The “ghosts” were the worst: multiple vertical images of every headlight, taillight or other round light, rising in tall, irregular columns of light that made it almost impossible to tell where the real lights were, not to mention the road. Glare coating essentially eliminated them and I can drive at night now, though I get tired and try never to do it for long (patient Mr Whatsit has to do most of it).
One caution: not all glare coatings are equal. The first coating I tried didn’t last long, no matter how careful I was with my specs, so that the glasses lenses soon clouded over and obscured my vision more than they helped it. I changed to a new optometrist (my vision insurance, unfortunately, will only pay for certain glasses-providers, not including my ophthalmologist). The coating he uses is fantastic. I’ll dig up the brand name if you’re interested.
Found the brand name: Crizal.
I had about two months of great vision after my cataract surgeries, before my first PVD. The first flashes were late at night, but as I drove to work the next day, the floater storm happened, along with a drop or so of blood mixed in with the floaters. I had no clue what was happening; I hadn’t been warned. When I got to work, I called my optometrist immediately but got shunted to voicemail. When I didn’t get a callback, I left work and drove directly to the optometrist’s office, and stood at the front desk until they got me an appointment with a retina specialist, that afternoon.
The flashes in that eye continued off and on for about six months. About a month after the PVD occurred, I got enough flashes to be concerned and got an emergency appointment with the retina specialist. It was a retinal tear, which she fixed the same day with a laser. A few months later, I got a PVD in the other eye, but it was nowhere near as troublesome.
The big floaters that come with a PVD are called Weiss rings; I can still see mine three years later. They are an imprint of the blood vessels where the optic nerve connects to the retina, There are other shadowy wisps that drift around the Weiss rings, and they can still be distracting when reading on-screen with a white background. Dark background or “dark theme” works much better but not all software supports that.
So that’s my story. I paid extra to get “Symfony” multi-focal lenses, and they are excellent, except for night driving. Overall vision is about 20/30, so reading glasses are very helpful for work and reading, but otherwise I have no need of glasses. Night driving isn’t so much fun; I get glare around lights, and for a point source of light, many concentric rings around the light.
Neo, thank you for this series! It’s been fascinating to follow your journey to better vision.
When it comes to eyeglasses, there is a lot out there, but most optician shops won’t have it all. The suggestion of Crizal is interesting and I’ve seen the ads but never tried it.
With issues of glare and over brightness, there are the usual polarized sunglass lenses. Here are some extra wrinkles. My wife found the standard polarized lens to be insufficiently dark at about 18% transmission, so I would add another 40% or 50% transmission tint coating on top of the standard polarized lens. Then she had another pair of light tinted sunglasses for the daytime rain, fog and overcast days. Tinting comes in all colors, each of which has its own effect.
I have a pair of polarized Drivewear photochromic sunglasses supposedly intended for auto drivers. They are quite good in their ability to change darkness to suit the environment. They’d be too light in the bright sunshine for my wife, but it’s OK for me. Surprisingly, they lighten up a lot when indoors so they don’t hamper your low light vision much. And you are still getting the polarizing filter.
https://www.youngeroptics.com/default.aspx
What continues to impress me, Neo, is that through all of this, you kept on blogging, and those of us here couldn’t tell. Thank you.
Nice to hear that it has turned out a success. Good luck.
Diane Wilson:
Sorry to hear you had all that trouble. But fortunately it seems as though you’re doing pretty well now. I had asked that doctor in the town I went to whether my big floater was a Weiss ring (I knew the term from the reading I did in connection with the PVD in my right eye) and he said he couldn’t tell.
Neo, maybe you should create a new category: Me, Myself and Eye.
[groan]
Wesson:
I thought of that joke – but I bravely held back.
The Egg and Eye won’t quite work nor will
The Apple and My Eye.
The eyes have it!
I have had floaters as long as I can remember, back to my early childhood. They are part of life for me. Like my other eye problems. My vision has always been terrible though correctible so I guess my expectations are low.
“a 2 and a half hour eye surgery – wow!”
Case in point – my retinal surgeries when I was 18 were 5 and 3 hours, two days apart. Thinking about it I’m probably pretty lucky I haven’t lost vision completely in at least one eye since then (over 50 years now) and my vision is fairly stable. I hope I don’t sound too dismissive of your own issues, neo. You’ve been through a lot, especially with cataract surgery which is now so routine and easy for most people, even me.
Hi. I can’t know whether you will find this interesting but here is *my* story.
I spend most of my career in the optical industry selling frames, lenses, lab work, helped start a LASIK network, ran sales and marketing for a vision insurance company – lots of background in a large part of the industry and in doing so picked up a far amount of knowledge.
3 years ago I opened the back of a tractor trailer, the load shifted, the door FLEW open breaking my polycarbonate lenses – a rare thing – with a shard cutting my cornea. I’m still dealing with Workmen’s Comp. The result a smearing of my right eye vision.
After a month I started getting dots of bright light curving around the peripherary(sp?) of my eye. I visit a MD who tells me not to worry, that it’s a reaction to the accident and will go away shortly 3 years later I still have them, just not as bad.
Sooooo…6 weeks ago I experience what I can only describe as what looks like the after-image of looking at a bright light. This goes on intermittently for days. Then, while driving I noticed that if I close my left high certain objects about a quarter mile down the road disappeared from my right eye’s vision field. Everything else is still visiable, it’s just in the center. In addition, if I looked at pole and close my left eye the middle part of the pole disappears.
At this point I was able to get an immedient appointment with my OD. I go in, get various tests done and when she comes in her first words are ‘I have bad news.’ I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I asked if I had macula degeneration. Luckily, I don’t but I *do* have a hole in the macula and to shorten the story I go into have eye surgery this Wednesday.
The surgery involves taking out the vitreous fluid and filling my eye with gas. Recovery involves laying on my stomach for at least 45 mins out of every hour for nest 7 days – a friend is lending me a massage table with the headrest, which should help.
And to address something in your experience – I’ve gotten contradicting info and remarks from the doctors involved. The MD who said the light flashes would go away – they haven’t. The OD said the hole was caused because a floater became attached to the macula and pulled away, creating the hold. The surgeon said this was ‘nonsense’. There are other examples. And to make matters worse for the 7 recovery days I can’t read because the right eye – even if covered – will track as the left eye reads. Add to this me having quadruple by-pass surgery 10 weeks ago! Ugh. Thanks for your time, love your blog!
Well, this sucks. I edited my post and the mistakes are still there. I love technology.
Mark A Faby:
Good luck to you!!! I hope it goes well.
Strangely enough, I know someone very well who underwent something recently that sounds very much like the surgery you will be getting. He didn’t have the same sort of injury and I’m not sure what his diagnosis was, but it had something to do with puckers and wrinkles on his retina making his vision very very poor. He had the vitreous removal, the filling with gas, and the requirement to stay on his stomach – in his case, if I recall correctly, it was even more time than in your case and I think it was for 10 days (not sure though, but it was long). He got a lot of books on tape, and also I think a relative of his rented some sort of special bed or something that had a space for his face. I could find out more if you’d like. It made it somewhat more comfortable for him.
After that it took 2 months for him to know whether the surgery was successful, as the gas bubble slowly receded and he started being able to see. That time is almost up, and he has very good news – he can see much better! Not perfectly, but much much better.
Oh, I now see that you already have the type of table or bed that he had. So that’s good.