Wednesday, June 24, 2009

From Cloudy to Clear

No, "cloudy to clear" doesn't refer to a change in the weather. In 2007 Dr. Liu told me that the lens capsule inside the eye tends to become cloudy after cataract surgery, at which time a simple laser procedure could be done right in the office to clear things up. When I asked him when the cloudiness would be likely to appear, he told me it would probably happen in a year or so. Two years went by, and I thought maybe I would be one of those lucky people whose lens capsules stay clear forever. Probably the clouding was something that just happened to "old" people, not to a young 51-year-old like me.

A few weeks ago I began to notice a distinct lack of clarity in my right eye. When I closed my left eye, everything looked blurry. Uh-oh. I went online and Googled "lens capsule clouding" and "lens capsulotomy." I found out that clouding of the lens capsule happens to almost everyone who has cataract surgery, and it usually happens more quickly in younger people. (Hmm, maybe I'm not as young as I thought. It took two years for my right capsule to cloud up, and the left one is still fine.) One website compared it to "looking through wax paper instead of Saran Wrap." Yes, that was an apt description of what I was going through. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I was able to view a video of an eyeball undergoing the procedure. Zap, zap, zap, and you're done. It didn't seem too bad, but I was still nervous.

In a lens capsulotomy, the eye surgeon uses a laser to open up a hole in the back of the lens capsule. There's no need to remove the capsule altogether--just open a window and you're fine. The clouding can't come back if there's nothing for it to stick to. I called Omaha Eye & Laser to make an appointment. Dr. Liu was on vacation, so I had to wait a few weeks to come in for a checkup. The exam revealed what I already knew--it was time for a lens capsulotomy in my right eye. "They do those on Mondays," the appointment scheduler told me. I took the last available opening on Monday, June 15 at 12:45 p.m.

On the appointed day, I showed up a few minutes early. A staff member put a hospital bracelet on my arm, even though the procedure requires no anesthesia. That spooked me a little bit. Did they think I was going to pass out? How bad was this going to be?

I sat in the waiting room pretending to be calm until my name was called. Then I walked back into the surgery area, where Dr. Liu was waiting. He greeted me and asked if I had any questions. Just a couple: "Will I feel anything?" No. "Will I notice any differences besides better vision?" More floaters, but they usually settle down in time.

The actual procedure reminded me of a glaucoma test: sit down, put your chin in the chin rest and press your forehead up against the forehead thingie. An assistant put some gel into my right eye and inserted a special contact lens to keep the lid open during the procedure. (You don't want to blink when the doctor is shooting laser beams into your eye.)

Was I nervous? Yes. I had to swallow a few times, and each time my head moved up a tiny bit. It's hard to swallow when your chin is pressed into a chin rest. I tried to make sure each swallow occurred between the laser pulses. Dr. Liu politely inquired if I was okay, and I said, simply, "Yes." (Scared shitless, but otherwise fine, Doc.)

There was no pain, and the procedure took only a few minutes. Dr. Liu told me to expect some cloudiness for a few hours, after which my vision would be clear. I was instructed to put a drop of Acular in my right eye four times a day for the next week, then come in for a follow-up exam. Acular is a special eye drop for people who have gone through laser eye surgery. The retail price of the medicine is $143, but thanks to my husband's insurance we paid only $29. I don't know how much the procedure cost, but Tom's insurance covered part of it. We had to pay a deductible of $500.

A few hours after the procedure I was marveling at the improved clarity of my vision. Wow! I had forgotten how good the distance vision had been in my right eye. The lens clouding had happened so gradually that I had accommodated to it without really noticing.

When will the left eye decide to cloud up? Who knows. When it does, I will be a lot less nervous.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

New hairstyle?

It happened again yesterday. Someone who had met me before my eye surgery complimented me on my new hairstyle. I used to wear my hair chin-length, and I got a shorter style about a year before my eye surgery. I've been wearing my hair the same way for almost three years, so this is not a recent change.

I think casual acquaintances recognize that something is different about me, but they don't know what it is. Instead of noticing what's NOT there (glasses) they notice my hair. At any rate, the comments have all been positive!