Here are some photos of my eye before and after the surgery:
Pre-surgery
|
Day of Surgery (eye shield)
|
Day 1 (red and swollen)
|
Day 2
|
Day 4 (less red but still swollen)
|
Day 5
|
One Week Post-surgery
|
Two Weeks Post-surgery
|
Three Weeks Post-surgery
|
This week was an interesting week. The redness and swelling in my eye is going down and it is starting to look normal again. My vision is still blurry, and when I look at a bright light source I see multiple instances of the image slightly off center from one another. I probably notice 15 or 20 if those images. I’ve been told that this will go away over time as the eye heals and as stitches are removed.
Even with the double-double-double vision, I’ve noticed many positive improvements in my overall vision. While at work today, I was sitting with a colleague at her computer. Before the surgery, I was unable to read screen text from more than standard reading distance. I would always have to lean in closely toward the monitor to see something over someone’s shoulder. Today I was sitting behind her about about 5-6 feet away and was able to read text in an Excel spreadsheet. I also noticed that I’m able to read larger text with my “bad” eye from a distance, and I am able to read close-up text (3-4 inches away), which is something that I can’t even do with my “good” eye. Night driving is still bad, but a little better.
I still have no pain in my eye. I just go through moments of dryness when I need to use artificial tears. I’ve also noticed that I have light sensitivity for a short time after taking my drops. I am very glad that I had this procedure done in the winter, when the days are mostly overcast. We’ve had a couple of sunny mornings, and taking my drops before I left for work made the commute extremely uncomfortable. Today I took my drops after I arrived and I had no problems with light sensitivity. Learning the order of things has been interesting.
Today was my first day back to work. My eyes are still a bit irritated and my vision is blurry, but things are definitely better with light sensitivity. I have no problems driving and getting around. I was able to take it relatively easy today, since I had to sift through the backlog of e-mails and get caught up on corporate news. It will take me a little bit of time to get back into the swing of full days… I was able to take a nap during the day and rest my eyes while I was off for those two weeks.
I’m doing a lot better today. The swelling in my eye is going down and I feel less irritated. I got out of the house for a while today. I went to visit my parents and went to an evening movie with my wife. We saw “Up in the Air” with George Clooney, a very good movie. It was interesting being out at night to test my vision. My eye is blurry, but there didn’t seem to be much glare, which was the big problem before the surgery. I have mild Keratoconus in my right eye, so I still have a problem with distortion and glare, but I could notice an improvement in my overall vision. I’m looking forward to the day when I can getting a new prescription to see what my new eye can really do.
I started noticing some swelling below my lower eyelid. There seems to be a lot of swelling and fluid on my eye… I call it the “gooey eye”. My eye doesn’t look round at the bottom; it looks almost like a partially deflated water balloon. I doctor suggested that I bump up my steroid drops to 6 times a day. I don’t have any pain, my eye just looks bad.
Today was my one week follow-up appointment. The doctor said that everything is going as expected. My vision is still blurry, and will be for a while. My eyes are still red, but the eyelid swelling is going down. I am also doing better with light sensitivity, so I don’t feel the need to wear the eye shield anymore. I’m starting to feel closer to normal.
Things have been going well over the past couple of days. I am still dealing with the swollen upper eyelid, but the redness in the eye is going away and the light sensitivity is less severe. I can tell that the swelling is going down, just not as fast as I’d hoped. It feels like my eye is being pinched in the outside corner, and it’s difficult to open my eye all the way. I spend about half the day wearing an eye shield and the other half of the day wearing my glasses or sunglasses. My vision is blurry, but it is better than it was before the surgery. I take a picture every morning… I’ll post them soon.
I’ve been trying to work computer use back into my schedule, since I will be returning to work in a week. I found that I need to pace myself, since my eyes get tired after a couple hours of on-and-off use. I also ventured outside today to test my reaction to natural sunlight. If you’ve seen a movie that has a nuclear blast scene… where the sky turns a blinding white… it felt kind of like that. I understand why I’m not supposed to drive! My life as a hermit, with the shades drawn and the lights dimmed, will continue.
My one-week appointment is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
