July 2010

Since my last posting in January of 2010, I have seen the Strabismus Specialist in Toronto (April 2010) and unfortunately he is unable to help with my sight, however, he did suggest that I rethink the macular hole business again. I am seeing 2 retina specialists in Ottawa in June to get their opinions and will then decide if I want to go ahead with this procedure a second time. The fact that my original surgeon does not want to do the surgery himself does leave me with some trepidation as to the next step.



In April 2010 I recently had a YAG Laser Capsulotomy on the lens of my eye - a result of cataract surgery where there is a build-up of film on the posterior side of the implanted lens. Apparently this is a rare complication, about 10% of people suffer this side effect after cataract surgery. I have also become photophobic (sensitive to both indoor and outdoor lighting) which I thought may have been alleviated by the laser procedure. Not the case.

Both retinal specialists have decided that there is nothing more they can do to help improve the sight in my eye with further surgery - this being confirmed by several tests, although one specialist did suggest that I consider using coloured non-prescribed contact lenses to help with the photophobia I suffer (sensitivity to light) and I find they give me some relief, however, in my good eye there is a lot of blurriness I have to deal with.  Your eyes aren't deceiving you - the pic below has 2 different coloured green contacts - just playing around!  Decided to go with the lighter green on my right eye.

I am now wearing coloured contact lens to help filter out the light from my iris thus allowing me to be less sensitive to the sun and certain indoor lighting. My optometrist thinks that if this route works then it will alleviate the need for a special prosthetic contact lens to be made for my bad eye (saving me in the range of over $350). Going to give the coloured contacts a try for a few weeks before determining if I require a special prosthetic contact lens. Never thought I would wear contacts - especially for cosmetic reasons - nothing I would consider doing.

Next appointment is with a surgeon in September who specializes in eye lid reconstruction - something that I require due to the mis-positioning of my eye for a year and the stretching of the skin around my eye lid. Stay tuned for more!

It's a New Year with hopefully News about improving my Sight

It's been a while since my last post but not much has happened in the way of scheduling a second strabismus surgery to correct the positioning of my eye and my sight. After my Ottawa strab surgeon cancelled the surgery scheduled for June 2009, I was referred to a Montreal strab surgeon who basicially said there was nothing more he could do for me but did suggest I take a look again at having another macular hole surgery to see if that improves things. The problem with correcting the vision is that the macular hole poses a bigger issue for the surgeons. A huge decision to make. After running this by my retinal surgeon in Ottawa he suggested he could refer me to his colleagues but he would not do a second surgery himself, so as I said lots to think about.

However, I finally got an appointment with the top gun in strabismus surgery who works out of Toronto and see him in April 2010. I have been waiting 10 months for this appointment so hopefully he can do something to help.

What is happening now is I am having more double vision as the eye gets used more and have a black floater now that is very bothersome and annoying. I am very limited in what I can use my sight for and use it wisely, taking several eye naps a day to rest the eyes. I will post again once I see the specialist in Toronto.

Where it All Began

I am wearing sunglasses (not to look cool & show off my new hair cut) but because I was awaiting corrective eye muscle surgery in December 2008 & have had double vision for the last year that hopefully will be fixed. NEVER EVER take your sight for granted - even though I have yearly checkups I developed a macular hole in the retina extremely quickly & the vitrectomy surgery to attempt to correct it (which was unsuccessful - I have no central vision), I suffered an extremely rare complication from the retrobulbar block to freeze the optic nerve which left me with paralysis in the bottom muscles of my eye (inferior rectus and lateral rectus muscles) - therefore the double vision. None of the 6 ophthalmologists I have been referred to have seen this in their 25 plus years of practices. I was never told of the complication of suffering a puncture to the eye muscles when performing the block by the anaesthetist although my research proves that it does happen. No matter how rare a complication, I strongly and adamantly believe I should have been told of this complication - if I had, I would have elected for general anaesthetic.

So see your optometrist if you have any type of change to your sight - I didn't ignore the change in my sight - thought it was a stated side effect from new meds I was taking, or that my distance was deteriorating and I needed glasses for that because I have only worn glasses for reading. Click here to read my correspondence with MedHelp.

In the near future I will be stating my case and statistics about eye paralysis after retrobulbar block so you can be informed if you are considering eye surgery in the future. I will also post pictures of my eyes and let you know where I stand now with my sight. I have had one unsuccessful strabismus surgery and was scheduled for a second recently that the surgeon cancelled due to tests performed to track my eye movements that proved "disturbing".