A Tale Of Two Cataract Operations
I have now had two cataract operations.
There was a few weeks between the operations and in the interval they changed the machines.
- The first was a Leica and the second was a Zeiss.
There were no problems with either operation, but there were differences, particular in how I felt afterwards.
- With the first, I was slightly more uncomfortable and had a slight amount of pain in my left eye. But the pain was nothing that a few ginger biscuits couldn’t cure.
- With the second, I’ve had no pain at all and the eye looks less red. I was able to take the dressing off in the evening and go out the next day, which I couldn’t do after the first.
Now fifty-four hours after the operation, my eyes are back to normal. I can even type this without putting on my glasses.
Conclusion
I would suggest that before you have a cataract operation, you make sure the surgeon will be using the latest machines.
My Second Cataract Operation
I had my second cataract operation today and the procedure was little different to my first, that I talked about in My Cataract Operation.
But there is one big difference.
- My tight eye was and may still be my master eye.
- So I decided to have the first operation on my weaker left eye.
- This meant that after the first operation, I was able to use my stronger right eye backed up by my improved left eye. It has been a combination that has served me well for several weeks.
- Now, I’m typing this with my improved left eye, as I have a patch over my improved right eye, which makes it temporarily useless.
At least by using my browser at a higher scale, I can read it back with my improved left eye.
Conclusion
If you’re having two cataract operations, discuss the order properly with your surgeon or several people who’ve had a double-cataract operation.
The Operated On Left Eye Is Working Well
I have just completed The Times Deadly Killer Sudoku in forty minutes on the phone using only my left eye. It certainly works better than it did.
I’m actually doing most typing on my phone using the left eye as it is much better than the right.
The wonders of modern surgery. And all paid for by the NHS in a private hospital.
A Simple Solution To The Tricky Problem Of Eye Drops
Since the cataract in my left eye has been removed, I have supposed to be putting drops in my eyes seven times a day. It’s four of one and three of another.
But it has all changed since the District Nurse brought me a pair of these shields.
The bottle with the drops is poked through the bottom of the shield and the cut goes over the eye. To get one drop, you squeeze the bottle gently.
I find the best place to be drop the drops, is lying on my back on my Chinese carpet, with my head on a cushion that C embroidered.
My father would have liked this device.
In his printing business he specialised in creating special cards and forms for the office systems of the 1950s and 1960s. So he would create guides and spacers out of wood in his workshop, so that his staff could perform complex operations quickly and efficiently.
It has certainly made putting the drops in my eye a lot easier.
Conclusion
The hospital should have given me a shield with the drops. The wholesale price can’t be that expensive.
The District Nurse Takes Control
As I said earlier my only problem was putting in the drops.
I told my GP yesterday, and saw him send a message to the District Nurses.
Today one of the organisers phoned me and an hour later she turned up and gave me an assessment.
She also put drops in my eyes and came back later to repeat the dose.
She had all the attributes one associates with District Nurses. She was professional, competence and well-turned out. The only difference from the stereotype was that she was probably younger than thirty.
She or one of her colleagues will come back tomorrow and she is trying to source a device that will enable me to do my eyes myself.
It is good to see, that with the pandemic still raging, I can get good care like that from the NHS.
I Have Just One Problem With My Cataract Operation
I have no pain and I can see very well out of the operated left eye. In fact, it’s better than the right.
But I have one problem. I can’t put drops in my own eyes.
By the look of the GP’s face when I tried in front of him, I’m probably one of the worst he’s seen.
My Cataract Operation
It was all very simple and painless.
After the procedures, where they checked that they had the right patient and that everything else was in order, after some local anaesthetic was put in my left eye, I just laid on my back with my head in a rest.
A cloth shield was put over my face and my right eye and my left eye, from which the cataract would be removed was left looking through a hole in the shield.
I was asked to focus on a bright light and I held it there for what must have been about ten minutes.
I held my head and eye still and I felt nothing.
Then the shield was removed, I was told it was all over and I was led out of the operating theatre.
I was in no pain and the only difference in my appearance was the shield taped over my left eye.
How many people hold off their cataract operation because they think it will be painful?
I left the hospital within two-and-a-half hours of my arrival at nine o’clock this morning.
It is now over twelve hours since the operation and I can honestly say, I have had no serious pain. Although for some reason my right eye has developed an itch in sympathy.
Conclusion
If you are told you need a cataract operation, get it done sooner rather than later.
Back Home After The Operation
I’m back home and now wearing a fetching eye-shield.
But why are both eyes and my nose running so much?
I’m not in any pain, but the right eye seems to be the most uncomfortable and that wasn’t touched.
But then my left eye was always the most sensitive and every time, I get a fly in it, it is always a visit to A & E.
I seem to have calmed things down a bit, by drinking lots of tea and eating M & S gluten-free ginger biscuits dunked in the tea.
But then as a child, I was always dunking ginger biscuits in tea.
Whilst I was married I didn’t, as C thought it was a bad habit.
I’m Having My First Cataract Operation Tomorrow
I’m having my first cataract operation on my left eye tomorrow.
So posts might dry up for a few days!
People With Coeliac Disease Are At Higher Risk For Cataracts
The title of this post is the same as that of this page on Ocli Vision.
This is a paragraph from the article.
In a recent study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that people who suffer from celiac disease are at a much higher risk of developing cataracts than those who are not diagnosed with the disease.
On Monday, Boots identified that my cataracts had got worse and signed me up to a private hospital that could do them free on the NHS.
It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The Anonymous Widower 