Mrs. C just had Laser Surgery to replace the lenses in both eyes (for catatracts), with spectacular results and minimal discomfort.
During a followup exam today, the Doc asked MrsC “so the sutures haven’t been bothering you?” It was one of several apparently routine questions, MrsC’s answer being “What sutures?”
Doc said that since MrsC wasn’t aware of them, she’d hold off answering that question for a week or two, rather than give MC something to look for and obsess on.
But the curiosity is killing me. Assuming this was a routine Laser Lens procedure on a 69 year old woman, where would sutures be used? I’m guessing something to do with the eyelids.
Can’t answer for sure, but I had lenses put in to correct very bad nearsightedness. Essentially the same procedure, but they don’t take out my natural lens. For that surgery, they EXPECTED the eye to heal itself and didn’t suture it during the surgery. That’s how it worked out for my left eye, but for my right, the incision didn’t heal. I had problems with my eye being watery and my vision wasn’t near as good as I had expected. When I went in, the doc said my eye had the consistency of an over-ripe grape. They had to put a couple of stitches in to close it (and inject some king of fluid in to “re-pressurize” the eye. Once in, I didn’t feel anything, but they had to remove them and it was less than pleasant. As gross as that all sounds, I would do it again in a heartbeat–best money I’ve ever spent.
Lens replacement is done via the cornea. The surgeon cuts where the cornea joins the sclera (the white part), making an incision long enough to remove the natural lens and insert the replacement. That incision is then stitched closed. The sutures are very fine, nearly invisible.
Glad to hear MrsC is doing well and is comfortable!
A quick google search turned up the fact that most lens replacements don’t require sutures but that some surgeons use them and they are left in permanently. And not the eyelids, the incision made in the cornea to break up the old lens and insert the new lens.
The results have amazed us even though we were told what to expect. MC’s eyes were done one at a time, a week apart. She had the first eye done on a Tuesday morning; Thursday morning, 48 hours later, her vision in the “new” eye was better, without any glasses, than the vision in her other eye with glasses. We live in amazing times.
In six weeks the same surgeon is doing the same procedures on my eyes, for extreme astigmatism and one cataract. Mrs. C served as my “taster” by going first, but don’t tell her I said so.