2-month post-op update

Ok, it's not quite 2 months, but due to scheduling stuff, I had my 2-month post-op with Dr. Rumery today.

Stuff we discussed:

My current meds

1. Tobradex Ophthalmic ointment - 3x/day, this is for comfort and as an antibiotic
2. Atropine - 1 drop daily before bed, this is to keep my eye dilated*

*Why are we keeping my eye dilated? Great question! This helps to prevent synechia. Basically, after surgery or other eye trauma, it's possible for your iris to become sort of stuck to your lens (in my case) or cornea. This is bad because it can cause pressure that can led to glaucoma. Keeping my eye dilated means my iris is a bit more withdrawn from the lens, at a position where it's at a slight distance from it and therefore less likely to become stuck.

My vision

Pretty good! With glasses for correction, my right eye is at 20/20, which is expected. My left eye is still not back at 100%. I've been worried about this, but this visit reassured me a bit.

You're probably familiar with an occluder (see image below), even if you don't know it by name: it's the thing you use to cover one eye so you can use the other for a vision test. They had a nifty one at my eye doctor that had a flap that rotates into place over the eye of interest, adjusting the opening from a Sacagawea dollar-sized hole to a series of pinpoint openings. This is awesome because it reduces the amount of light entering your eye. Meaning...

*drumroll please*

It simulates your eye in a non-dilated state! In other words, looking through the occluder with this flap engaged meant I was seeing as I would if my eye weren't dilated. And hearteningly, this improved my vision a LOT. While I'm not at 20/20, I'm close. This alleviated my worry that maybe I wasn't recovering well, or that my cataract was already brewing.

Fancy occluder

My retina and overall eye health

Pretty good! Nothing in particular of note, in either direction.

My cornea moisture

After putting a drop and some yellow (fluorescein?) dye in my eye, Dr. Rumery examined it using blue light, with which the dye is most visible. The idea is that the yellow dye attaches to areas of lower moisture on the cornea, meaning those areas are dry and perhaps indicative of poor corneal health or recovery. Good news: while I had a couple of areas that showed up under the blue light, they were small and faint. This isn't worrisome.

Bonus: for those who looked at the surgery pics, there was one where I was not at all sure what layer was sewn shut. Well, mystery solved: it was the conjunctiva, which is a layer on top of the white part of your eye (the sclera) that helps with lubrication. It doesn't normally extend over the iris/cornea, but was stretched to do so during the time I was wearing the plaque (apparently). Anyways, ♪♫ The more you know! ♫♪

I've gone back and updated the photos post with this info, too :)