I was glad I got the 2nd opinion, even if it meant getting dilated and being blind as a hoot owl til morning.

The Dr. told me the implant may be a bit too small, and that widening it out with laser, if my Dr. agrees, should help (fix?) the starburst! This stands to reason, as it is always worse at night when the pupil is more dilated, and the reason I don't see it in daytime when it is smaller. It must be "peeking" around the outer edges of the lens at night.

Now, why didn't my doctor tell me this? Very good question! My Dr. thought it was some inflammation of the retina. He also said he could give me some drops to keep the pupil less open. I wonder why not do the easy thing and simply widen the lens? I will find out when I see my Dr. next time, I suppose.

Anyway, he will send a letter of his findings and opinion to my Dr. and we can take it from there.

I do also know that once a laser is done, it can't be undone, so I will approach this slowly and only after seeing what my Dr. thinks. After all, I didn't have this until a laser in the first place!

Hi.
Glad you got an explanation finally! It would really be great if they could fix that by widening the lense! I would venture to say, that must make you feel a whole lot better, that there may well be a fix in sight! Keep us posted.
And hope you're doing ok otherwise!
Faith :)

Hello, Faith-

Yes, I am glad to know the truth for a change. That IS a breath of fresh air.

I hope my Dr. agrees to this.
Anyway, I will try to keep ya'll up on it all.

Tony

Tony, that is wonderful news! I am so happy for you! You finally got an answer! It does seem more logical to me to just replace the lens, but I guess that would mean putting you through more surgery and they might not want to do that unless there is no other way around it.

How is your doctor going to feel about getting this advice from someone else? Does he know that you saw someone else? I just want you to be prepared for him possibly not being too thrilled with this. I think you did the right thing by getting a second opinion, but doctors don't always like it when patients second guess them.

"widening the lens"???
please keep us posted.
I finally got bifocals that allow me to see close and middle (like when someone holds a printed page between the two of you and expects that you can both see it).
What a relief!

Hi Tony. Like SP, I'm thinking, "widen the lens with a laser?" Huh? I'd like to find out the details of that. I'm wondering if the capsule that holds the IOL is starting to grow around the edges of the lens and clouding that area. But, then, you've had the problem right from the get-go, so maybe not.

K.

Abilene, Abilene....prettiest town I've ever seen....

Greetings~

Yep, it would be as easy to replace my brain as a lens!! :eek:

I can't predict my doctor's reaction, but it is me who should be upset, not him, because I wasn't told the truth about this. He WILL know I consulted another physician when he gets this one's letter. I did this before, and he wasn't upset, just asked me how Dr. "Doe" was doing. He has no right to be upset, as I have stuck with him through thick and thin, and guess who got to do the surgery and get all this money!? Yesss! So, no one can scare me regarding my doctor's reaction. I feel like I'm a criminal, but in reality I'm a patient with certain rights to have the best care I can get. If anyone should be upset, it is me, having acquired a starburst from a laser that I didn't have prior.

Tony, I wasn't trying to scare you or upset you. I totally agree with you! Of course you should have the best care you can get. I'm glad that you went for a second opinion. You are right on all counts - it is *you* who should be upset. But some doctors are a little thin skinned and think that if another doctor gives a second opinion or second guesses them, their toes are being stepped on. Some of them get offended. As your friend, I am telling you that I've had it happen before where I've gotten a second opinion and gone back to discuss it with the first doctor and then been told that if I want another opinion then I can just go back to the other doctor for good. Some doctors think they are God, and they're not.

I understand, Sis Elyse. Sorry for my sleeved feelings showing there. This is just such a sensitive thing for me. Even the nurse seemed to have more knowledge about why one eye has a blue tint and the other didn't. If I was told to stay with the other doctor, I would feel fine in that, but knowing Dr. Teague, I think he will be okay with this.

Blue tint is typical in a recent-post-cataract-surgery eye.
I, however, always living outside the norm, saw a pink tint.
It goes away.

Howdy, SP-- Sounds good. Maybe mine will level off as time goes on. It isn't near as bad as right after the surgery.

Well, may not anyone read this, but just for the record, I got up with super-blurred vision in the left eye, so that problem is still around. I truly wished this town had a neuro-opthalmologist, because with these big swings in acuity, I can't help but feel there is a brain problem involved here. My eye isn't that dry either, so it can't be blamed on that.

Is the left the one that had surgery?
If so, it's normal to have 2 steps forward, 1 step backward at this point. And sometimes the step backward seem to be into a pothole.

Howdy, SP! Yepper, it's that ol' cataract eye. I appreciate hearing this is just part of the "territory". May will be six months, so I can better handle it knowing this just goes with the road to recovery. I do seem to have more better days, so I guess I'm gettin' there.;)

Tony when do you have to go back to your dr and discuss with him what the other dr found?

Howdy, Purp.

Well, I see him tomorrow, Monday, but I don't know if he will know about my "cheatin' on him" (:D) by then or not. (There's a country-western song there somewhere.:D

I hope he will know I went to the other one, because the starburst ain't goin' no place.

Will you bring it up yourself and ask him if he received a letter from the other guy yet? I hope you get some answers.

Tennnn-FOUR!!

Hope I get answers too, but the other one already told me the lens needs widened. I'm about to decide when he nuked it for the wrinkle, is when it may have shrunk the thing.

Hi everyone!! :bouncing:

Tony - I'm so glad to hear that you got a second opinion and that there may be a solution to your starbursts! :) I hope that your appt. with your original doctor went well today. Hopefully he will agree with the other doctor. If not, you could always get a third opinion to see what someone else thinks!

Elyse - How have you been doing lately? Last time I was reading on here, you were having those problems with eye pressure. Did you and your doctor figure out how to get it back down? Did you have to stop some of your medicatoins completely? I've been thinking about you alot lately...I really hope you were able to get the pressure under control without having to give up too many of your dry eye treatments.

Hi Faith! I hope that you are doing well too! I am about the same...still pretty up and down. This last week has been up though...very up! It has been the best week in months for my eyes, so I'm happy about that. The week before it was one of the worst though..I'll just never understand these eyes of ours! I hope everyone is doing well!

Michelle :)

Hi all!

Sorry I haven't been around the past few days. Been busy busy busy.

Tony, what did the doctor say when you saw him? Does he agree with the new guy or not?

Michelle, thanks for thinking about me. How are you feeling?

My doctor and I finally figured out that it was the Tobradex ointment on my eyelids causing the pressure to go up. I came off of it and the pressure is between 12 and 15 now. Thank GOD!!!! The other day I had a really bad headache behind my eyes all day and it hurt to move my eyes. So I was worried that the pressure had gone back up. But I had an appointment to get it checked that afternoon anyway, and it is still fine. Probably just my sinuses.

My eyes feel fairly decent lately too. Since going back on the Flarex drops I can see a marked improvement. He is still monitoring my pressure closely and I seem to be doing OK at the moment. You know, this doctor of mine, the wheels are always turning in his head. He said that he has been thinking about me and how I could feel better, and he thinks that I get the optimal benefit of the Flarex drops in the first week that I am on it, then it dies off a little. (Because I felt remarkably better the first week that I went back on it, then not so great after that.) So, he decided that I could possibly get the optimal benefit from it if I do one week on, one week off. That way my eyes don't get too used to it and the effects don't lessen and wear off. So he wants me to try using the Flarex for a week and then switching to a different steroid drop altogther for a week. This week I'm using Alrex (which has a much milder steroid, not the same one as Flarex) and next week I'll go back to Flarex, then continue switching from week to week to try to get the optimal benefits from both drops. I'll see him a week from saturday to check the pressure and let him know how this new program of drops is making me feel. He's such a smart cookie.