A friend went into have cataract surgery.. not only was eye blurry ( typical and expected response) but after six months of being told the blurry vision would clear up, he cannot SEE out of the eye any longer. The surgeon says it has nothing to do with his surgery.. possibly attached retina problem. He was been referred to another opthalmologist opnly after they tried vision testing his left eye and he saw nothing(. It seems they really didn';t blieve he couldn't see anything when he told them)

I am wanting to know if anyone has had this procedure with these results. I am wondering if it really has to do with surgery or not.

thank you
I joined this health board because of his probem and because I had a problem with my eyes after this surgery but not to this extent. That will be another post!! :)

Good morning....I am having cataract surgery tomorrow and believe me wish I hadn't seen this. Not your fault. My surgeon told me that all is good to go. IF there should be any problems after surgery it would have to do with my retina and that would be taken up with another eye specialist. He also made it clear to me that he has no way of seeing certain problems in the back of theeye until surgery. I can't tell you if the surgery had anything to do with your friend's blindness BUt thought I would share what I was already told. I am a diet controlled diabetic and seem to have problems that others don't experience.


ICC

A friend went into have cataract surgery.. not only was eye blurry ( typical and expected response) but after six months of being told the blurry vision would clear up, he cannot SEE out of the eye any longer. The surgeon says it has nothing to do with his surgery.. possibly attached retina problem. He was been referred to another opthalmologist opnly after they tried vision testing his left eye and he saw nothing(. It seems they really didn';t blieve he couldn't see anything when he told them)

I am wanting to know if anyone has had this procedure with these results. I am wondering if it really has to do with surgery or not.

thank you
I joined this health board because of his probem and because I had a problem with my eyes after this surgery but not to this extent. That will be another post!! :)
Hello Drake, I too am having a problem after cataract surgery, blurry vision after surgery 16 months ago, now I can barely see out of the eye. I've seen other doctors and have been given drops but they all seem to worsen my vision. I was told by my current doctor that I have a fluid build up in the back of my eye and it need to be removed with drops, (xibrom) after only a few days of using the drops 2x a day my vision is worse than before in that eye. I'm so afraid I'm going blind in my left eye and I don't know what else to do. The doctor that did my surgery in Baton Rouge should have been sued, I found out afterwards I didn't even need cataract surgery. He wanted to do the other eye the following week and thank God I didn't let him touch it. I have 20-20 vision in that eye and probably had it in the other one also. I will check this site regularly so if you have any questions please feel free to ask, thank you

Hi Cheyenne.....I am curious why you had cataract surgery if you didn't need it. Were you having vision problems?


ICC

It's DETACHED retina, not attached retina, but of course I don't know if your friend has it.

Isn't it pretty obvious he should change doctors "yesterday", "immediately if not sooner"?

Swelling in the back of the eye is called Edema, and I had a steroid injection for it in each eye, Kennalog, which is rather risky but I have a skilled woman retina specialist. She never even inflicts any pain.

Surely there's an eye doctor in your area who's the best-known, who could examine your friend or maybe just would know from his description what kind of specialist he needs, could get him in as an emergency. If you don't know of anyone in town, how about consulting a hospital? Just a thought.

There's also a membrane that can form after cataract surgery, can't remember if there's a name for it, and I had a "capsulotomy" in each eye for that., separate occasions, in office, no hospitalization. For every procedure you have to sign a rather frightening consent form, so be sure to have caretakers you can trust.

They make a peep hole just behind the pupil using the laser, so they can see in and the patient can see out. I had mine almost immediately. With some people I think it could take a year. That may have happened but the people treating him certainly should have known about it!

I'm very long-term diabetic too, type 2, and hypo thyroid, just came online to look up whether that can cause asthsma, which my dad had, so it's probably familial, and saw your post which is an emergency.

You don't give any clue where you are, and probably that's against the rules.
If in the Detroit area, there's the Kresge Center downtown, and U of M in Ann Arbor and on Haggerty. I go to some people in Southfield, Tele and 12 Mile. Let us know how this comes out.

BTW, usually they give deadening drops about three times before a doctor starts a laser procedure on you. But some of the help might claim you only need that one time. Don't believe them, especially if it's a pretty big procedure, lots of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, for which they seal of the extra blood vessels that form and can cause blindness. Retinopathy happens after about 20 yrs to a lot of people, nothing to do with their control, just the length of time they've had diabetes. Good control helps, of course, to slow it.

Cataract surgery gave me the sight that I only dreamed about having. I began wearing glasses at the age of 3, we use to call them "coke bottle' glasses.

At the age of 40 I had a cataract removed from my left eye and it's amazing how beautiful the world looks and now I only need glasses to read.

On the same note please tell your friend that a person with sight in only one eye can do anything a two sighted person can and sometimes even be better at.

Just don't ask a one sighted person to draw a line but if he or she is like me..I can't even do it with a ruler.

Drake, I just read your post again where you said it's been 6 mo. after your friend's cataract surgery and he can no longer see out of the eye.

My capsular membranes formed even faster than that. Some people take a year or more. I'm pretty sure that's his problem.

I haven't had detached retina yet, don't know anything about that. I have proliferative diabetic retinopathy, for which they have to seal off extra blood vessels from time to time with the laser. So I couldn't have multifocal lens implants and it's really maddening not being able to do things without going to get my glasses, and I need a large reading surface, no bifocals. We adjust, of course. The multifocal lens implants have extra things on the sides I think to keep them in place. There's also such a thing as epithelial membrane, they just watch for quite a while to see if it gets bad enough to try to do anything about. I think that requires vitrectomy, removing the gel "stuffing" of the eye and replacing with either saline solution or a gas bubble which I hear takes quite a while to dissipate, may require some face-down healing. I've heard that does a number on your neck. Someone at this board has had it several times.

Do keep us informed how he does. You're a true friend. Good luck to you both.

Eagle

Did Kennalog Steroid Injections helps bring the swelling down with your edema. I have the same thing and I am being treated at Kresge Eye Institute with pred forte and acular eye drops. If the swelling does not go down (I've had it all year) then I am thinking they may do the injections. Seems like it should have went down by now, even though I have read and have been told that it takes a long time to resolve itself, but evenually it usually does. I am beginning to run out of patience.

Sharon

Eagle

Did Kennalog Steroid Injections helps bring the swelling down with your edema. I have the same thing and I am being treated at Kresge Eye Institute with pred forte and acular eye drops. If the swelling does not go down (I've had it all year) then I am thinking they may do the injections. Seems like it should have went down by now, even though I have read and have been told that it takes a long time to resolve itself, but evenually it usually does. I am beginning to run out of patience.

Sharon

Yes, the Kennalog worked beautifully for me. The Pred Forte and Acular and another kind of drops I forget the name of are used at cataract surgery time, before and after, everyone.

I don't THINK they're for macular edema at all! But what do I know?

We're under a severe thunderstorm watch, as you know, Dancin', being in my area, so I'm hurrying. Good luck.

Hi Eagle

How long did you have the swelling? Did they try any other treatments for the swelling before they did the injection?

Dr.A at Kresge has me on the pred forte and acular because they are for reducing swelling due to the edema. So far I don't think the drops are working. I go back downtown on Monday .

I also had a cataract removed in July and was using the predforte after that. All this year I have been using acular 4 times a day and then after cataract surgery Dr. A told me to continue taking acular and also the predforte drops 4 times a day. I don't know what the next step will be. Maybe the injections.

Because of the swelling I did not experience the elated feeling of seeing wonderfully after the cataract was removed. If and when they get the swelling down, hopefully vision will improve. I can see out of right eye but details are not real clear, since the edema effects your central vision. How long after you had the injection did the swelling go down and your vision improve?

Sharon:rolleyes:

I think the results were immediate.

My woman retina specialist was so pleased, she wrote to the young cataract surgeon about it. She'd evidently had no guarantee it would work so well, and I didn't feel a thing.

You know the deadening drops? They always gave them three times before she did any procedure, and to me it seemed they had a cumulative effect. (Recently at a place in Taylor where I'll probably not be going any more because men like to haul out their biggest laser, had to cut his power down three times and it was still intolerable, a prep girl who may have been new and is no longer there insisted I only needed the deadening drops one time, and no waiting time to take effect, just right when he came into the room to start the procedure. A woman once told me of another male doc who'd have patients screaming and crying, and she even had some damage, they told her at U of M, from his using too big a laser! They were able to fix it. )

What do I know, but seems to me the drops you're using are only TOPICAL, to prevent surface infection where the incision was, and do not get to the macula, the heart of the problem, internal, at all, plus don't you want to read up on side effects? After doing that I think I'd get a second opinion, as you've done before.

I always do an internet search as soon as possible for possible adverse side effects. You too?

One of the young guys wanted me to keep using one of the bottles of drops a while, I forget which one and why, and I protested, so he said But you'll have an opthalmologist WATCHING it. Those young guys no longer have an office in my city, may have goofed a lot with a lot of people. I wasn't going to "blindly" trust. I'll always feel badly that he implanted the old-fashioned mono-focal lenses without giving me the option of multi-focus, and my vision will never be as good as with my natural lenses, which I've now heard, too late, some woman in Trenton (?) will still keep for you. I've mentioned that before. If something goes wrong in these implants we're up a creek. It's dangerous to try to remove and replace them. He wasn't the least bit apologetic about my mourning the loss of my vision. Not at all. In fact I had the distinct impression "spoiled brat". Good luck and please let us know how you get along.

Sure hope Drake lets us know how his friend's doing.

I will have to question them on Monday concerning the drops. If you read what acular and pred forte is used for you will find that it is to help with swelling in the eye. That's what I have been told all along that the drops were to help the swelling go down.

Did your vision improve immediately after the kennalog injections took the swelling down?:confused:

Yes, vision improved.

Maybe you have some kind of surface of the eye swelling, rather than macular edema?

I'd look up online possible side effects of the drops you're still using. Have found that doctors do not seem to ever bother checking. There were some that frightened me, but naturally I can't remember now what they were.

FWIW, I don't know if I'd trust them to do the Kennalog injection either, if they didn't think of it on their own. BTW, I think I did feel the liquid squirt in, for one eye, but no pain, and felt nothing when the second eye was done.

Could be you don't have macular edema (swelling), which would be inside. Once your incision's healed up there would be no way drops could get to it. Maybe they told you some other kind of swelling(?)

Later on, other things can be happening, like diabetic retinopathy, for which they have to seal off hundreds of tiny extra blood vessels that can cause blindness.

Drake didn't say if his friend's diabetic, right?

I have total confidence in Dr. A. What I believe he is doing is giving the drops a good long time to see if they will reduce the swelling before he jumps into something else.

Actually I like his approach even though it seems to be dragging on. I would hate to have injections or surgery if it wasn't necessary. I think before long, perhaps on Monday he will suggest different treament if he does not see any improvement. He is the director of Kresge Eye Institute, so I feel lucky to have him as my Dr.

I also had that epiretinal membrane (wrinkled macula) (vitrectomy surgery) last October, where they peel back the membrane. He said it wa one of the thickest membranes he had ever seen and recently he told me that some of that membrane still remains and possibly they may need to repeat the surgery to get the rest of it.

That also may be the reason this swelling is taking so long to go down. All I know is I am sick of going to Doctors. What I want is to have something resolved, and I have to admit I'm getting pretty discouraged with the whole thing. I know that Retina Dr. where you go didn't do me no good. He just blew me off like I was a hopeless case.

.................

I know that Retina Dr. where you go didn't do me no good. He just blew me off like I was a hopeless case.


I go to a woman doctor, always remember, and I've been just politely answering whatever you ask me, didn't recommend anyone.

You told me several months ago that Dr. M, who've I've barely met, was very nice, and I'm not here to argue doctors, but having just been dx'd with something new myself, asthma, and the steroids for that cause osteoporosis, which they say I also have, plus making my mouth sore, I sure know how you feel about having to go to various doctors.

Blue Cross is probably going to get behind too. IOW I've just "been there". I'm completely worn out.

Have to go for more laser Monday morning. A man Dwnr was trying to do it, but they often like to haul out their big guns, and the girl wouldn't give me the usual amount of the anesthetic drops. He had to "cut his power down" about three times and finally just give it up. Would like me to go to a hospital for it. No way. I've never had any pain no matter what the procedure with the woman doctor, and if I do this time I'll know it's necessary. Heard about another famous one, Dbn Hts I think, who's had patients screaming and crying, did some damage, I may have already told you, and they had to go to U of M to get it repaired. Were told he'd used too big a laser.

Where you go is up to you, but there's yet another option. Not saying go there, just want you to know about it since you live near the Haggerty Rd Kellogg Center PROBABLY. I'm not sure if the person went there or to Ann Arbor. Not familiar with that at all.

Good luck Monday, you and me both.

Sorry if I came across that I was knocking your Dr. I certainly was not. I think you have lady Dr. M. From what you have told me about her also from what I have read about her, she sounds like a very educated, qualified Dr. She looks nice too!.

Man Dr. M was the first doctor I saw at your place when I was first diagnosed with a retinal problem several years ago and he was very nice. It was Dr.W that I did not like. He had no bedside manner whatsoever and came across cold, uncaring and no compassion. He left me with the impression that there was no hope for me as far as improving my problem. I left there feeling depressed and without hope.

That is what led me to Kresge Eye Instiute. At least they are trying to help me. I will stay with Dr. A for the rest of the year and if by then I feel like I am still spinning my wheels, I may indeed check out Kellogg in Ann Arbor. That is even a tad closer and for sure a better neighborhood.

Don't you get sick of not having closure on a problem you're dealing with. I'm so sick of going downtown. I am pretty sure that before long Dr. A will come up with another plan, perhaps injections. I think the reason he hasn't mentioned that just yet is because he wants to give these drops a good long time to see if they will bring down the swelling. ( I hope they do)

The thought of having more surgery to peel back more of that membrane makes me sick,but if they could guarantee improvement, I wouldn't mind. I know there are no gurantees in life, only hope. Sounds like you sure have had your share of trials and tribulations. What did you say the laser treatment was for? Let's hope we both have some encouragement coming our way on Monday.

Sharon

.............. She looks nice too!....
Yes, she looks like Barbara Mandrell, a little, I think. And this sentence in the middle of a quote was supposed to be in color. ....

..........It was Dr.W that I did not like. He had no bedside manner whatsoever and came across cold, uncaring and no compassion. He left me with the impression that there was no hope for me as far as improving my problem. I left there feeling depressed and without hope......... He must be the one in charge of finances, maybe owner of the place. (Scrooge?) So sorry he made you feel bad, and I'll sure avoid him.............

I may indeed check out Kellogg in Ann Arbor. That is even a tad closer and for sure a better neighborhood. .........That's what I was thinking. I just do not go to Detroit for anything any more, certainly not by myself. I'm not at all sure if Kellogg is right in Ann Arbor or, I thought, on Haggerty....You live out there so you should know.

............. I think the reason he hasn't mentioned that just yet is because he wants to give these drops a good long time to see if they will bring down the swelling. ( I hope they do)..............

I think I've heard of people having to just wait a long time for swelling to go down, that doctors are reluctant to do the injections, I guess.......

Just don't forget to look up possible side effects, okay? It's just caring, reminding you of that.........

The thought of having more surgery to peel back more of that membrane makes me sick,but if they could guarantee improvement, I wouldn't mind. I know there are no gurantees in life, only hope. .......It'd probably work, if the first part of the procedure helped......

.... What did you say the laser treatment was for? ....

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The Dwnr guy said there's about 3000 of the extra little blood vessels in my better eye, that he only got about 1/3 done, has sent my records back over to the Telegraph Ofc, nearer my home but no retina specialist. He knows I'm hoping the woman in Southfield will do it.

He may have meant 300 instead of 3000, surely. She hadn't done a dye test lately, (Fleuroscan?) maybe was planning to do one TOMORROW, and thought it was all scar tissue from her OWN laser treatments I think. She hates to make scars and hates to have to inflict any pain, never has, so far. Very delicate hands and caring. I just really like her a lot. And in the van on the way to and from, the woman driver calls her an affectionate nickname, shortens her last name. I'm the first on the route to be picked up and the last to be dropped off back at home, usually by 10:30.

Do remember to let me know if you do check out either of U of M's (two?) locations. I don't know if they're both called Kellogg. They may have a web site. All I've heard is they were able to repair damage that a man doctor had done by using too big a laser, and the woman who told me this seemed to feel lots more secure. Yes, the uncertainty gets to you. I haven't talked to her in a long time. Good luck. .............

Let's hope we both have some encouragement coming our way on Monday.

Sharon

Vaya con dios.

How did it go?

I didn't get anything new done, did you? It was "too soon" to do another dye test (fleuroscein angiography) to map the proliferative retinopathy. I've already seen one another doctor did, who neatly fixed one problem that I think a prep girl had told my regular doctor was just a floater. I"m very anxious to see how fast the neurovascularization is progressing, but I forgot to ask how often you can have the dye test, and can't find it online. Can't think of a precise search term. They evidently don't expect patients to ask. She said yesterday it's not time for another one yet.

Would be oversensitive to patients expressing desire for "Second Opinion". But I had a big problem the girl had presumed to diagnose herself as just a floater, so it was ignored. I'm very soft-spoken and all my life have had a problem ever getting my points across to some. (I'm still trying to break that habit, and know how you felt about Dr. W. brushing you off. We have good reason to be in a panic. Although she's done a lot of procedures, without even any pain, that all worked well. I just don't think she got my desperate message, because of the girl, hadn't thought that thru until I got home, too late to make a bigger scene.)

Hi

When I went on Monday I was told vision had ever so slighty improved. I think I told you that last October I had vitrectomy surgery which is a membrane peel. What I had was called epiretinal membrane which is a wrinkled macula which causes distorted vision. It has been explained to me it's like having cellophane over your macula.

I also still have the swelling from the cystoid macular edema. Dr. A told me at the beginning of the summer that he still detected some of that membrane still on my eye. He said I had multi layers of thick membrane ( one of the thickest he has seen..just my luck!) and there is still some there.

The membrane is still the problem that is causing the swelling to be so stubborn going down. He gave me 2 choices (1) just watch it for a while, although he doesn't think it will resolve on it's own) or (2) do another vitrectomy to get the rest of the membrane. There is a dye they are waiting for that should be available to them soon. Here's what I found out about it online: Trypon blue and tracyanine green dye for staining macula for better visualization for eperetinal membrane. And then it goes on to say colorizing tissue aids in easier visualizing of membrane and also judging completness of peeled membrane.

Dr. A still sticks to his opinion that once the entire membrane is removed it should gives me significant improvement in vision, although he said that it may not be as good as left eye being that it has been going on for a long time. I am willing to take that chance with another surgery ( out patient) as long he he thinks it will help. Using the dye that they are waiting on he tells me will allow him to be able to absolutely get every bit of the membrane removed.

For now he wants to keep taking the acular and pred forte 2 times and day and come back to see him in 3 months. He said he could call when the dye is available which they are expecting soon. I don't know about you, but if I need to get something done that I'm not looking forward to, I want it done as soon as possible. I want closure as I am sure you do also.

Don't be afraid to ever get a second opinion. Who cares what "they" think. It's your eyes and your problem and you deserve to talk to someone to clarify you questions. I had that same test as you had at the place where you go. Could you call and ask someone there how often the test is repeated? Keep me posted.

Sharon

You're sounding very relieved. Wonderful.

I was thinking and thinking, and wanted to tell you maybe they're waiting for the membrane to definitely stop growing, if it's getting thicker or anything like that. Good luck if you go ahead and have another vitrectomy.

About the dye test, Keela C just told me that only one doctor she knows of feels it's not safe to have it too often, so I'm sure my woman doctor knows that too. Don't know if that would apply also to your dye, a new kind. I always look everything up if I haven't had it before.

Today I had a call to come in tomorrow for some laser, as they just obtained my dye test report, that I signed a release for on Monday. Now maybe they believe me.

I don't remember if I told you a prep girl had been adamant that the large inkblot I was seeing, just like the first one in Aug. 2005, was just a floater, and I realized after returning home, she probably wrote that down for the doctor instead of what I told her. So now they surely see I was right to go to another doctor like for a second opinion, that patients can know when they have a problem and employees shouldn't be diagnosing. The "other" doctor fixed the very large blob, showed me the picture, but when he started on my other eye which had a lot more small ones, he used too big a laser, so painful I was afraid he'd do some damage. He "cut his power down" three times! Doesn't that sound awful? And the girl there had refused to give me the usual three times deadening drops. Theoretically just one is supposed to work, but wherever I go I've always had them at least three times, as they wear off, and for me, maybe not for anyone else, they seem to have a cumulative effect.

If You'll have the vitrectomy in office, that'll sure be better than having to go to some far-off hospital. Tomorrow's appointment is much later in the morning than usual so I'll probably be dilated the rest of the day. But I'll be thinking about you. Keep me posted.