It has been a little over 12 weeks since the surgery. Things are a lot better but I have yet to achieve crisp vision. There is some minor ghosting in the left eye and major ghosting in the right eye. This is probably due to corneal hazing (I am approximating haze grade 0.5 on left, 2.0 on right). It could also be due to the cornea still thickening and smoothing out.
Apart from the technical details, things are getting better every week, but at the usual snail pace. I can drive comfortably during the day and night now but at times I wish things were a little crisper and clearer.
A little over a week ago I had another follow up appointment. It was supposed to be with another doctor I did not see before since my main doctor would be on leave. Lucky for me, when I arrived there, I saw him walk out of his office and seeing other patients. I requested they let me see him since he was back in the office now (he had a change of plan in his leave schedule).
The follow up was good news. Corneal hazing density has decreased and I was instructed to stop using the dexamethasone eyedrops (strong corticosteroids) and was switched to Fluorometholone (FML) instead, which are weaker corticosteroids. Based on the booklet I received after the surgery the standard practice is to start the FML eyedrops 4 weeks or so post surgery. Again, I’m special, and only started using them 12 weeks post surgery.
I started with FML 2 drops in the left and 4 FML drops in the right eye per day. Every week, I would reduce the frequency by 1 drop. Just yesterday I started with 1 drop left/3 drops right. So in 3 weeks time I should be off the FML and healing should speed up (corticosteroids slow healing but prevent inflammation and reduces corneal hazing).
On the not so great news (which I was expecting due to the extended use of the dexamethasone drops), intraocular eye pressure (IOP) in both eyes was elevated. I was given new eyedrops to use twice a day around the same time as the FML drops to reduce eye pressure. These drops sting every single time I place them in my eyes but their purpose is quite important. Elevated IOP is not a major issue if it persists for a short time, but longer periods can cause glaucoma (retina detaching due to pressure, can lead to blindness!!) So yeah, these pressure reducing drops are VERY important, and frequent follow-ups are just as important to monitor IOP,
I am scheduled for another follow-up on Saturday Sep 24. Hoping for greater news, faster healing and clearer vision! Patience is key, and I am hoping with time I will achieve vision better than pre-surgery where I had significant astigmatism, keratoconus and had to wear glasses which made the world smaller and shifted.
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4 comments:
Hi I enjoy reading your posts. Just curious, what is your vision reading after surgery?
Is it close to 0 with no astigmatism?
I believe my vision reading is close to 0 with no astigmatism.
Whenever I have a follow up with the eye doctor, I can read every line when using the pinhole (I believe it helps avoid the corneal hazing issue). I also noticed that I can see very sharply if I look at objects through a narrow slit (If I leave a small gap between my index finger and thumb, everything between them is very sharp when I look through it).
It seems like it is just the corneal haze that is making me see ghosting around everything.
Hi its me again. Im at post op 3 months. I had similar astigmatism power as you did before the surgery and I can see very clearly through pinhole. But when they take vision measurement with a machine, it comes out to be +1.25 with -1.25 astigmatism for both eyes. I was wondering if you know the readings or just assumed it was 0.
I just assumed it was zero. I will ask for the machine read next time I see them (which is in 1 month). Hopefully I won't forget to ask them about it by then.
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