My Cataract Surgery Update/Story

This is a bit of a read, for those interested in the details of my recent cataract surgery.

On October 21 I went for my (light adjusted lens) cataract surgery on both eyes.  Everything went smoothly on my left eye.  The right eye had undergone a few detached retina surgeries (including a vitrectomy) in the summer.  The cataract surgeon discovered that half of the threads that hold the lens in place (called zonules) had been inadvertently cut.  There was no mention of this in the retina notes from that clinic.  He got on a call with one of the retina surgeons and explained what he had found.  He then removed my scarred lens and said it is now a retina problem.  

I had a follow up with the cataract doctor Oct 22, the next day.  By that time I had gotten a consultation appointment with the Retina specialist for the morning of Oct 23.  Anyway the cataract doctor told me I might have a choice of going with a LAL lens like the one now implanted in my left eye or with a traditional mono lens.  It seems that any new lens would have to be attached to the eye wall (sclera) since there are no threads anymore to attach it to.  

Husband M did a lot of research that night and decided that the traditional mono lens is the way to go, it has a more secure hold in the eye wall than the LAL lens.

At the consult Oct 23 the retinal specialist gave me the option of just getting eyeglasses or contact lens to fix my problem, requiring no surgery.  But I decided to go with the mono lens.  He said my cornea is cloudy likely because I just had surgery.  He will see me in 2 weeks to see if it has cleared.  If not, I will be referred to someone else for that problem.  If it has cleared we can schedule the lens surgery.

I still have to go to the cataract doctor to continue treatment for the LAL lens now in my left eye and coordinate with what is going on in the right eye.

I have to look forward, not back.  Cataract surgeries are mostly very routine, this was not to be the case for me. I am in good spirits, taking all the regular cataract eye drops and some saline drops to help the cloudy cornea clear.

Life goes on.  The vision in my left eye is already amazing.  I did find out that you can still see even if you have no lens in your eye, the cornea enables some vision.

I did ask the doctors if they thought the surgeon had made a mistake when he severed my zonules.  They said it was a complicated surgery and things cannot be guaranteed, or something like that. As I said, no looking back.