I'm going blind -- but it's the nest kind of blind

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I first noticed vision problems in October with trouble reading my computer screen. I just made the text size bigger and moved on. But my vision got worse pretty fast.

It started to get dangerous for me to drive. THEN it started to get dangerous for me to walk accross the street in under some conditions. I was geting pretty terrified. A reasonable person would have gone to an eye doctor by November or December at the latest – so I’ve leaned my first lesson from this ewxperience – I am not a reasonable man.

I denied and deceeived myself and others until my boss virtually ordered me to see a doctor in mid-January. Even though everyone around me could see that I was having problems, and they weren’t quiet about it. Every day I heard multiple"See an eye doctor", but I had convinced myself the problem was stress and fatigue, since it had appeared in the middle of a 6-week stint of 60-hour work weeks mostly staring at my monitor. I figured it would get better since the stress had gone down, but it didn’t. It got worse.

So anyway, I finally see an opthamologist YESTERDAY, because even when I told them I had suffered a drasic loss of vision over the past 3 months, I still had to wait 3 weeks for an appointment.

And it turns out I have cataracts, and I had no idea people my age, 48, get them. And after doing some research, I have to say that, as far as progressive blindness goes, I hit the lotto.

Because it is basically entirely curable. They replace my clouded lenses with arifical ones, and I should see BETTER than before, because while they’re at it they will correct for my nearsightednes, and I may be able to get rid of the glasses I’ve worn since age 10. It’s like getting LASIK thrown on for free, and my insurance covers it.

I haven’t got an official briefing yet on risks, etc., so any reliable information you can pass along will be appreciated. The doc did tell me this was the most frequently performed surgery in the US and very low risk. amd I have learned that I may have some UV sensitivity issues afterward. Wjat else?

2

Actually, they typo in the title is a symptom. I have a lot of trouble reading. That should be “Best kind of blindness.”

3

I have no information to share but I want to wish you the best of luck, I’m sure your sight is very precious to you. How great that they can make your sight better than before!
I did have an ocular migraine once, and it scared the crap out of me.

4

Ehm… congratulations?

I know several people who’ve had cataracts. My grandmother should have had the surgery ages ago but with the excuse that “he’s my eyes” (he being gramps) she’d avoided it. After the latest scare with gramps health, she figured she might need her actual eyes after all but thought they wouldn’t do surgery on someone 93yo. Mom went to the GP with her (in Spain you can’t go to the specialist directly), GP asked “when did you have your last bloodwork?”
“oh… last century”
:dubious:
:halo:
“OK, so, complete bloodwork and an ECG, lab tomorrow, hrm… eye doctor next week, let me schedule it for you…”

She had the surgery two weeks after seeing the GP. Now she complains that she’s got wrinkles that weren’t there when she started losing her sight, dangit! She’s sewing again, which she’d stopped doing about 25 years ago.

The general experience is like this landlady I had years ago. Her house looked like a lamp store: lots of lamps, all of them lit all day long, even if it was sunny. This being in Miami, “sunny” was a serious amount of light! So, she got the first eye done and when she got home she exclaimed “ohmyGOD, it’s so BRIGHT!” Yep. I’m sure her power bill went down :smiley:

5

It can come even earlier. My sister and dad both developed cataracts in their early 30s.

6

Mom had them when she was very young (early 20s). Dad had them before he passed. Both my grand mothers had them. I’m told that I am likely to get them.

But from everything I know the operation is non-invasive and low risk.

Good luck, sending supporting thoughts your way.

7

Sorry to hear you’re going blind, but glad they can help you. Will the docs use artificial lenses, or lenses from an organ donor?

8

I glad my optometrist does regular tests for cataracts and other eye damage when I see him. Can’t imagine how it would be to progressively lose sight. I’m bad enough being myopic.

All the best to you for the op, Boyo Jim, and to its success.

9

Sounds like artificial since he’s getting the vision correction at the same time. I’m not an expert on this (I work in an ophthalmology department but cataracts/lenses aren’t my area), but every lens replacement that I know of, even non-corrective lenses, used artificial.

I’ve heard the physicians I work for describe cataracts as being so common these days that they barely consider them to be a “disorder” any longer, but closer to an expected process of aging. As other people noted, family history can make it more likely that you get them or get them earlier, and various other things can be risk factors too.

Sorry that I don’t know much about the surgery proper. You should probably expect to have some antibiotic drops to use - definitely after and possibly before you even come to have surgery. Ocular infection when the eye has been “punctured” is nothing to screw around with, so pay attention to the “if you experience…” part of the talk and call the doctor if you notice any of those symptoms.

10

I almost had a cataract scare this year, too. I had similar symptoms - blurriness, lack of vision, etc. Turns out it was merely a bactetial infection, not pinkeye though.

Please get your eyes checked out regularly!

11

Yoiks. I had no clue cataracts could develop that quickly! Was there any predisposing factor that might have triggered them? e.g. long-term use of prednisone? some illness or injury? recent instance of blasphemy against Cthulhu?

On the plus side - I’ve heard that your vision is better after the surgery was, than it was pre-cataract (as in, improves nearsightedness or whatever). No cite for that though, it was a word-of-mouth thing.

12

I had no idea that cataracts could develop that quickly- just in what, three or four months? Glad it’s something treatable.

13

Uh…I have a stupid question.

Would cataracts be something that your standard exam guy at the eyeglasses place could see?

My vision started to get wonky a couple weeks ago, and very quickly progressed to where I could hardly see out of my right eye. Close right eye? Everything’s fine. Close left eye? Blurry. Made an appointment with an optomatrist (sp?) but it was so bad I decided I could not wait that long, and stopped in at an eyeglass place. The gentleman who gave me my exam was very thorough, and told me that my problem was resulting from not blinking enough, which causes a film to develop over the cornea or something. They gave me glasses and told me I’d be fine.

However, my right eye seems to still be quite blurry, even with the glasses? All my friends who have glasses are telling me this is normal and I will get used to them (it’s only been about 4 days with them), and I do definitely see better with them than without them.

Thoughts?

14

Will the doctors have a chance to fix the hairy palms as well? :smiley:

15

If your glasses place has someone who can write out a glasses/contacts prescription, an optometrist, I suspect most all of those types of eye doctors could recognize a cataract. The ideal exam for that is a slit-lamp exam - it’s the kind where you put your chin in a chinrest and the doctor sits on the other side of the equipment, looks through an eyepiece, and shines a light into one eye and the other. That exam lets them check out the outer parts of the eye, especially the cornea and (important in this case) lens.

If your cataracts are really bad, anyone who looks closely at your eyes can see them. If you’ve seen elderly people, or even pets, with a hazy or milky appearance where the black pupil should be, that’s almost certainly a cataract.

For the “not blinking enough” part, you might want to try natural tears-style eyedrops (not the get-the-red-out kind!) and see if that helps your vision. Some are more like a gel which may allow them to be effective for longer. Read the directions to see if you have the kind which should be refrigerated.

(IANAD/N, etc.)

16

Yes, but an opthamologist is a specialist and deal more with eye diseases.

Talk to the optometrist first. That happened to me once and what had happened was that the glasses were cut the wrong way.

19

Welcome back, Deson/Bendarr. I’ve temporarily removed your posting privileges because of our “one account per person” rule:

When you get a chance, contact TubaDiva at tubadiva@aol.com, and she can get you squared away with a merging of your two accounts and payment for a year-long registration.

20

Wearing proper sunglasses is the best way to prevent cataracts. As I’ve been taking prednisone daily for the last 4 years, I’m at risk, so I try to protect my eyes from UV rays, as much as I can.

My husband had cataract surgery almost two years ago, and he’s thrilled with the results. His vision was corrected at the same time, so now he only uses glasses for reading.

Good luck to you, Boyo Jim. I opened this thread in order to find out about a new kind of blindness. :slight_smile:

21

I used to work for an intraocular lens manufacture and have observed the surgery. This was about 15 years ago so things may have changed some. The lenses are 5-6mm in diameter with centering loops like this. The surgeon will clamp your eyelid open then stitch your eye to the clamp to keep it still. a 5-6mm incision is made at the edge of the cornea and an ultrasonic emulsifier is used to remove the old lens and a new artificial lens is inserted. I think the procedure I watched lasted about 90 minutes, but I may be mistaken.

While employed there, one of the perks was free lenses for any family member who was having the surgery. Nobody in the family needed them at the time though.

Enjoy your new vision.

22

I developed early onset cataracts 3 years ago - I’m 40. Apparently the ones you get when younger develop much faster than older people ones. Mine left eye went from a very slight haze to can’t see anything clearly, just light, in one year. I’ve had that one done and the opthamologist said that the other one might not develop until I’m 70 - I was hoping for this, but alas no, the other one is getting quite bad and I’m on the waiting list to have this one done.
There are two types of artificial lenses - one standard one and a newer one which is more like a bifocal (this one wasn’t offered on our national health system, so I didn’t get it).
The plus side is that I can see slightly more clearly than before the cataract formed in the distance now but the minus side is that my bionic eye (as I like to call it) is much more light sensitive and I now have to wear reading glasses.
I had mine done under a general - apparently younger people are not very good at keeping still under a local and worry far more - but they do prefer locals. The woman opposite me in the hospital had been having hers done up North, when she moved at the wrong time and pushed the cataract deeper into her eye, had to be rushed to Auckland to have it sorted - bleurrrrrk!
It is a mystery why mine have formed early. People who are diabetic, long time steroid users, lots of exposure to ultraviolet light and have hereditary early onset cataracts, get them early.
We all have them, it’s just that many people die before they develop.