Should my vision be clear by now?

It has been almost 3 months since I had tube shunt surgery and my vision is still blurry. Should I be worried and/or managing my expectations now? I haven't seen any improvement in the last 3 weeks.

[Helen_GlaucomaUK Administrator]

Hi there. It can take some time after tube surgery for your eye to settle down. As long as you are being monitored closely by the hospital and they are pleased with the results, don't worry. Don't hesitate to ask them questions when you see them next and ask what is causing the blurriness and when you can roughly expect it to clear.

[Hidden in reply to Helen_GlaucomaUK]

Thank you for the reply. My pressure went very low after the sutures dissolved. Now my eye feels a lot stronger and healthier but my vision is not good. I'm worried that this is it from now on. I have an appointment tomorrow though will take your advice.

[Longwalks3 in reply to Hidden]

I will be very interested to hear how you get on. I had tube surgery in January and March of 2020 but still needed to take some drops (Tiopex and mono post) after as my pressure was still too high. This unfortunately caused me problems as I found them very difficult to tolerate. I think in retrospect this was probably because my eyes were very dry and could have been managed with the right advice. However, because it was the start of the pandemic I wasn’t seen face to face by my consultant after the second operation for about 4 months - I saw a lovely optometrist instead and had telephone consultations with my consultant which obviously wasn’t ideal. Anyway, I too had blurry vision for months. I think in my case this was a combination of very dry eye / reaction to drops. I stopped taking the drops in the autumn of 2020 and I had an aqueous shunt put in my right eye in December2020 because the pressure was much too high again. This was done under a GA and at the same time I had Cyclodiode laser treatment in my left eye. Eight months on the vision in my left eye is not blurry at all now but unfortunately my right eye is and I’m not sure what is causing this. The aqueous shunt had to be removed after 5 operations to try and stop it leaking so I am wondering whether a cataract has developed and is causing the problem. The other problem I experience is double vision. I only get this outside when looking at things in the far distance and it seems to be worse when I am tired. Do you have a problem with this? I have a clinic appointment on Saturday when I am hoping to discuss all this but I’m pretty sure I won’t see my consultant on a Saturday so I may not get many answers! Good luck with your appointment and let me know how you get on.

[Hidden]

Thank you for your comment. You have definitely been through the wringer and I hope your coping alright on a mental level. I was also affected by the pandemic as my initial appointment was cancelled when I just had a bit of blurry vision in one eye. It went away so I just got on with life and work. This was a huge mistake as I didn't know it at the time but I had very high pressure and had already lost a large amount of vision in my right eye. My left eye had very good vision until after the surgery when the sutures dissolved and the pressure dropped to 2. That was 6 weeks ago and has been blurry on and off since then in between 3 rounds of injections and having my cornea straightened. Annoyingly the right eye went low for a bit then got to around 10. I had some positive news today the pressure in the left eye was at 6 but vision still nowhere near what it was pre-surgery. Yes I have trouble focusing on items in the distance and vision is definitely light sensitive. On the drive home I commented to my friend who drove me to the hospital that I could see everything perfectly as one town we drove through was overcast but as soon as we hit the sun again everything became distorted signs were too bright colours of vehicles looked different. E.g., the car in front of us looked pink to me but my friend insisted it was red. I also get double vision reading text, at times it's very bad other times mild. I haven't noticed a difference when I'm tired but definitely do at night with lights on vision goes patchy. Thank you for your support, my appointment did not go badly which is always a win. I hope the same for you if not Saturday then as soon as possible.

[Longwalks3 in reply to Hidden]

I do hope the pressure in your left eye goes higher so that your vision improves. Glaucoma is such a complex condition isn’t it? Sometimes it seems to me to be almost impossible to decide what the best course of treatment will be as outcomes are so unpredictable. I have moments when I feel really angry about what has happened to me but then I think I can still see and function in most respects and I have received treatment by a great surgeon recently so I am grateful for that. Onwards and upwards!

[Hidden in reply to Longwalks3]

I hope your right eye improves also. I was informed that I would need cataract surgery early I think he said in a few years but can't recall exactly so that could possibly be the culprit for you. I have gone through all the emotions from anger at the indifference of the initial consultant I saw and her risk assessment and the awful prediction she gave for the future of my eyesight after which I refused to let her do the surgery to hope at the news from a far more experienced surgeon that it can be stopped to disbelief after the surgery before sutures dissolved when the pressures were managed using drops alone making me question whether the surgery was even necessary to the hysterics of googling all the time and the grim statistics. I've wasted a lot of years not enjoying life even when my eyes were fine. Best to do the things you enjoy in day-sized compartments.

[Longwalks3]

Absolutely!

[Astilbe]

I had aqueous shunt surgery in my left eye nearly 4 months ago. It dropped my pressure from 21 to 10. I had double vision for 2 months. My vision is still a little blurry and my sight on the eyetest chart has deteriorated by 2 lines. At my last appointment 3 weeks ago I was advised to keep using Dexafree steroid drops (I notice that some people on here only used them for about a month or two). One assistant told me that I should go to an optician, get my eyes tested for new spectacles. Then the consultant came in and said that I had a cataract and maybe that was causing the blurriness. It could be operated on. A cataract hadn't been mentioned prior to the operation though. I can read ok although not as well as before the operation.

It is a worry but what choice do we have. I was told that if I didn't have the operation then my vision could 'drop off a cliff' suddenly and that they couldn't predict who that would happen to. I had already lost a bit of field vision with waiting a year for the operation due to Covid cancellations.

I will post again after my next appointment in a week and a half's time.

I just try not to worry and be grateful that I am getting treatment because I know two people who didn't bother using drops and having treatment and their sight is now terrible. So at least I am pretty sure that I will keep my sight even though maybe I will need new specs.

[Hidden in reply to Astilbe]

Well said it sounds like you're in a good place of mental strength ay. I have really bad days especially leading up to the appointment but I'm going to work on this with a counselor. I have suspected for some time that my vision might be slightly blurry from now on I think it's time I just accept this and be happy I got the surgery. So have you had cataract surgery already or still waiting for that? I I just woke up after a mammoth sleep and the text on my phone is very blurry. It improves when I enlarge it to the point of being almost normal. That's terrible about people neglecting their drops. Look forward to your update.

[Astilbe in reply to Hidden]

No, I haven't had cateract surgery yet, it was mentioned on my last appointment 3 weeks ago as maybe a cause of blurry vision. I will ask about it on my next appointment in a weeks's time. I have started to enlarge text on my phone as well. Do you have the blurry vision in both eyes or just one? I have found that moisturising eye drops improve it slightly, I get them prescribed because a side effect from Timolol is dry eyes. I use Hylo-Forte, although not in the eye that was operated on at present. I was also told a couple of years ago that an eye mask that you warm up can be useful for encouraging the moebian glands to produce more moisture. Although I haven't tried that yet so don't know if it would work. I hope that your counsellor will be able to help with the anxiety. I do some relaxation techniques (mainly breathing/relaxing ones) at least once a day.

[Hidden in reply to Astilbe]

I have the blurry vision in my left eye, my right eye has very low vision which is very annoying as if I'd been seen at my initial appointment that was cancelled that eye would be doing fine now. I asked about dry eye at my last appointment but they said I don't have that it's the low pressure causing the blurry vision. It was a junior doctor so I'm not 100% that this is correct. The eye mask sounds like it's worth a try. I went to a mindfulness coach before my surgery and try to meditate every day although on bad days I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself. Today is a bad day for me I think subconsciously I was hoping to be off the drops by now but still on atropine and steroids for at least another 3 weeks.