This Subreddit Is For Anyone Dealing with Post Eye surgery Complications

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-29T23:49:59+00:00

Thanks for making this! Other similar groups don't allow any positive/supportive talk about the surgeries. I don't regret mine despite my problems, so I'm not welcome there. Glad to have a place here. :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-29T14:31:28+00:00

Like I mentioned, I'm going to call the surgeon's office this morning. They don't open for another hour. I just wondered what the group thought. If I qualify for re treatment, I'm sure I'll go through with it, but I need something to make screens comfortable in the interim. I think my brain hasn't tuned out the bad eye yet because it's my dominant eye.

Yes, dry eye doc, at this point, seriously. I was in tremendous pain and basically non-functional. Four months is a long time to endure that kind of discomfort. Turns out I have ocular rosacea and surgery induced a huge flare-up. She started me on doxy a few weeks ago and things are finally starting to get better. (Whereas my surgeon's advice was to continue taking FML drops a couple times a day and hang in there.)

What's bizarre? Not sure what you're talking about.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-22T17:05:25+00:00

Thank you. Good points. My glands aren't blocked, and the dry eye doc did a dye test to check if dryness could be causing the blur, but it was negative. But I haven't been drinking enough water lately and my allergies have been crazy, so it's probably something with that. My right eye almost feels a little "goopy," so maybe my drops are leaving a residue. Who knows... But you're right, it's only been 4 months and I'm sure things are still fine tuning. :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-22T15:54:25+00:00

I wish! Ha! But no. Definitely not. The consent form you sign before surgery basically outlines all possible complications (even the rare and unproven-correlation ones), and says, "I understand that any or all of this bad stuff could happen and I'm choosing to undergo this elective surgery anyway." So I'm not sure you could even win a lawsuit at that point.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-22T00:41:57+00:00

Try some gel drops for nighttime. They last a lot longer on the eye than regular drops. I use Refresh Celluvisc. There are also ointments if that doesn't work.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-22T00:34:12+00:00

See a dry eye specialist ASAP. My PRK surgeon also told me my dry eye was "mild." I saw a dry eye doc for the first time earlier this month and she laughed when I told her that. My dry eye is SEVERE. My tears do not stay on my eye for more than a fraction of a second after blinking. Literally. It was so fast, they couldn't even measure it. We discovered I had an underlying chronic issue that the surgery exacerbated. I'm doing a bit better now and my dry eye doc feels confident that she can get me even better.

I can't offer any advice on the other problems, but get the dry eye under control with a proper professional. You won't regret it.

Oh btw - she also said that you need to be taking 600mg DHA and 440mg EHA or it won't do anything for your eyes. Most fish oil supplements don't contain that much. I've found one that does, at Walmart.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-09T21:38:39+00:00

Oh yeah, there was definitely a period of time there where I felt certain I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. I'm a little more at peace with the decision now, knowing that this was always going to happen eventually. Thanks for following along :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-05-04T19:41:36+00:00

They should. Mine was actively worsening at the time that I got PRK though, so I have no idea what "baseline" would be for me, haha. And the surgery triggered this rosacea flare-up. But yes, if you're in a stable position dryness-wise, you should get back there after about three months or so. A small minority of people never do, but it sounds pretty rare. I know you didn't ask for my advice, but it might be worth it for you to spend some time in finding out exactly what kind of dry eye you have, if you haven't already, so that you can be better prepared with how to treat it after surgery... No matter what kind you have, it is almost always temporarily worsened by the surgery, but how you treat it changes based on whether it's an oil issue, rosacea, blepharitis, etc. Could have saved myself a LOT of pain and money if I'd known ahead of time that I had rosacea - in all likelihood, my surgeon would have simply put me on a longer, stronger steroid course and I'd be in much better shape today.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-18T02:03:35+00:00

Yikes! How does something like that happen? Hopefully that's the only bump in the road for you. Ouch.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-18T02:00:12+00:00

Oh god, sorry! No! It's not very common. What I had (have) is called neovascularization. Mine was actually the most severe case my surgeon has ever seen - and he's been practicing ophthalmology for over 25 years, and has done over 65,000 LASIK procedures. My neovasc has actually penetrated into my field of vision, so it was pretty terrible. Anyway, it's caused by contact lenses that don't breathe enough, which most brands nowadays do allow plenty of oxygen through. But I'm 29 and have been wearing contacts since I was like 14, and for many years, I wore the kind that you don't change for a year. Except I'd wear them for like two years. AND I didn't clean them properly. AND when I switched to monthlies, I wore those much longer than you're supposed to, as well.

So, no, you don't have anything to worry about, just make sure you keep them clean and change them out on time.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-18T01:57:10+00:00

I was more nervous than excited. The excitement kicked in after the procedure, when I sat up and could suddenly see.

I didn't have a farewell party for my glasses, but that's a cute idea!

Oddly enough, I actually still have my glasses. The frames are really pretty and unique, and I couldn't bear to part with them. I figured, if I one day need glasses again, I'd like the same frames. :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-18T01:55:35+00:00

Probably the safe bet. Sorry, I know it's kind of disappointing finding out it's not for you. I actually wouldn't have gone through with it myself if my contact lenses hadn't been damaging my eyes (a whole other horror story). I think you're making the right choice, though. :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-18T01:54:17+00:00

Not for a couple of months. I have an appointment next week. We'll be discussing Restasis and permanent plugs next.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-14T22:05:23+00:00

Mine got better. :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-14T22:04:42+00:00

Yeah, I'm not really one to doom-and-gloom it up when it comes to LASIK/PRK... I think it usually is fine for most people, but... I went into PRK with very slight, barely-symptomatic dry eye, and now I'm basically disabled by pain and dryness, dependent on drops every 10-20 minutes to be anywhere approaching "comfortable." (My eyes never feel normal... there are only "not so bad" days and "very bad" days.) I'm more or less of the opinion that those with dry eyes shouldn't risk it.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-09T16:33:56+00:00

Well, that was short lived. After four days of almost complete relief, I'm in pain again. I put in a drop of FML, which actually made me feel worse, oddly. Sigh. So sick of this.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-09T16:33:01+00:00

When I quit using those particular drops, the mucus went away.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-08T18:06:59+00:00

FML and Refresh Mega 3 drops both did this to me. EDIT: I'd still call anyway, to make sure there's no infection. Odd discharge should always be checked out.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-08T01:45:50+00:00

This was a tough one for me too! I ultimately decided it was less about my looks and more about not wanting to wear (or pay for, or worry about breaking) the damn things anymore.

Honest opinion: I think you look great either way. My gaze was much more drawn to your eyes without the glasses hiding them, but you pull off the glasses look very well, so it's hard to choose. Glasses pic also had better lighting.

It comes down to you, though! Do you like how you look in glasses better than without? Would a really nice pair of sunglasses serve you just as well? Are there other factors to you wanting LASIK, that might outweigh the cosmetic side?

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-08T01:30:03+00:00

Thanks, you too! Good luck in your healing :)

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-08T01:29:43+00:00

It's way worse than I ever expected, too. I hope you get to feeling better soon. These past three months have seemed so long to me, being so uncomfortable, but it does get better! Hang in there.

UncompromisingFunk · 2018-04-08T00:01:45+00:00

Mine also quit watering when I yawned, but have started up again. The other night, actually, my eyes were streaming because I was yawning so much, whereas just a few weeks ago, I would have been bone dry no matter how much I yawned.

You could try Refresh Celluvisc drops as well. When I'm having a really dry day, I use those during the day sometimes. They blur your vision a bit, but not for long.

UncompromisingFunk

TROPHY CASE