Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

Corneal Edema (swelling) after Cataract Surgery

I finally got my second eye (RE) done a week ago Tuesday.  I went into the surgery pretty confident but unfortunately got some cornea swelling.  My vision was in a complete white haze, 20/200, pretty much for  4 days which was pretty scary since my first eye was great after 2-3 days.  It wasn't until Sunday I noticed big improvement.   By Monday fog lifted, I had an appointment that afternoon and interim eye doc found most of the edema gone, just specs of guttae left.   However my vision is still blurry, like 20/30 at best, worse far.  I can't seem to find my best focus, I was supposed to be targeted at -0.5 (very little myopic).   Just wondering if there is still hope things will clear up? What the timeline is for recovering from Corneal Edema?   I'm no better than I was pre-op.  I got a toric monofocal put in..
1 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
177275 tn?1511755244
It's not possible to tell you how long it will take for the edema (swelling) to go away.  Post operative swelling is not rare especially with hard/large cataracts or people with corneal guttattae or Fuchs' Dystrophy.  Probably 98% have cleared 2-3 weeks post operative.
Helpful - 0
4 Comments
Thank you for your response Dr.  As noted above, by Day 6 post-op the white haze completely cleared out and interim doctor says very little edema left.  However I have still have blurriness at all distances, there has been no change since I last saw the doc and it is now almost 2 weeks post-op.  Should I have seen at least some gradual improvement at all in visual acuity by now?  
I generally tell people not to make decisions until 4-6 weeks post op and remember the bottom line is how well you see with glasses not without.
What do you mean by decisions 4-6weeks post op?
Don't make your mind up about how 'successful' the surgery has been until its been 6 weeks since surgery on the eye.
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Eye Care Community

Top General Health Answerers
177275 tn?1511755244
Kansas City, MO
Avatar universal
Grand Prairie, TX
Avatar universal
San Diego, CA
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Discharge often isn't normal, and could mean an infection or an STD.
In this unique and fascinating report from Missouri Medicine, world-renowned expert Dr. Raymond Moody examines what really happens when we almost die.
Think a loved one may be experiencing hearing loss? Here are five warning signs to watch for.
When it comes to your health, timing is everything
We’ve got a crash course on metabolism basics.
Learn what you can do to avoid ski injury and other common winter sports injury.