Post Cataract Surgery Problems

[Zierke]

I had cataract surgery on February 3 of this year.  I did everything exactly as they directed and thought things were going ok.  I did notice after I took the patch off, I could not see much, if any better, than I did before the surgery.  I was ok with that as I have always wore glasses and figured I would be able to correct this with new lenses for my glasses.  After each visit, I was told everything was healing fine.  I then started to notice that things were not clear at all and mentioned this to my surgeon who then a month and a half later performed a YAG on my eye due to "wrinkles".  I could tell a difference that day when I walked out, but still had some issues seeing.  Driving is the worst as it takes too long to focus on things.  So after many trips back to the surgeon as well as an optometrist, and trying to explain that when I look at letters through this eye on their eye chart, part of the letter is missing, I got this for an answer...  "Well, you will probably just have to get used to it as I don't know what is causing it".  Unacceptable!  Could there be something wrong with the lens they put in?  Could it be something else now and they need to be looking at that?  Who do I go to to have this diagnosed, since neither the surgeon or the optometrist seem to think there is a problem?  I am at my wits end as my past time is taking photos and I can't even tell when I have my camera dialed in for a clear shot any more.  I wish I had never had the surgery done now.  Please give me some ideas to go on, as I am new to all this (healthy and never go to a doctor) and do not know where to turn to.  Thank you for reading and any answers you might be able to give me.

[DonW66]

If you are having part of the letter you are looking at missing, then you should get an OCT of the retina by an ophthalmologist or a retinal guy.

To brush off missing part of the letter is really not acceptable.

[CBCT]

I have experienced dysphotopsia, and it don't think that your symptoms describe this condition.  Self evaluation with a free download of an amsler grid is simple to do and can be easily repeated over a day or several days.  Remember, your surgeon is looking IN and your are looking OUT.  His view is objective -- he sees a centered and clear IOL.  Your view is subjective --  you see blurry areas.  The amsler grid sets a common standard with which you can communicate your perceptions to your doctor.  Good luck and let me know about your progress.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

re: "neither the surgeon or the optometrist seem to think there is a problem"

With some visual artifacts after surgery, doctors label  the issue   a "dysphotopsia" due to the optics of the lens that you might adapt to and don't consider it  "problem" at first since with many people it goes away with time (due to healing and neuroadaptation). However in this case the disappearance of part of a letter isn't like anything I've seen mentioned as a dysphotopsia they might expect you to just adapt to, though I suppose its possible they think something say in one eye being blocked will eventually be tuned out and you'll just see that bit of the world only through your other eye (like the blind spots everyone has in each eye which we aren't aware of).  I'd suggest having them explain clearly   what they think the cause of it is and why they expect you to just adapt to it. (phone or email might get an answer faster, presumably they don't need an exam to tell you what they already found)

re: "could it be something else now"

Obviously It sounds like there maybe something blocking part of your vision. I don't know if a wrinkle of the capsule could cause it (I'm just another cataract patient who has done research, I hadn't looked into that) , or some issue with the YAG, which would lead to that. It is possible some eye health issue arose unrelated to the surgery or YAG, since coincidences do happen.

As the prior poster suggests, it sounds like a glitch in some part of your visual field, so the question is what part of it is being blocked. That is  assuming you mean it is like something is blocking part of the letter, as opposed to merely a small letter being blurry and perhaps your brain trying to interpret the blur leaves off part of it? Is it always in the same place in your visual field, the same angle, or is it say all letters on that line on the chart, i.e. the same small size? Can you see this visual glitch yourself trying to look at a book?  It seems like more tests at a doctor are required to determine what it is, but more specifics might help if you wanted to see if anyone on this site had encountered the issue before.

If our current surgeon and optometrist can't give you a satisfactory answer (and you can post again to see what people think if they try to explain it, and in case someone else ever has that issue), I would suggest trying to find another surgeon to get an opinion. I don't know what city might be near with a good doctor, but some cities have magazines that publish 'best doctor' lists as rated by other doctors (perhaps search for "best doctor" and your city name and "cataract surgery"), or you could search the cataract surgery trade literature, like CRS Today:
http://crstoday.com/

for the name of your city to see if there is a doctor that others in the industry thought worthy of asking for their opinion for.

[CBCT]

I suggest you download an amsler grid to determine if you have visual distortion.  You might also ask for a visual field test.