preserflo shunt after 6 weeks

[Bec8891]

Hello

I had the preserflo microshunt in both eyes recently. The left eye was 6 weeks ago. It is still really sore. Stitches have not disolved yet.

for the last 4/5 days, my eye has felt like an intense ache and back to feeling gritty like the first week after the operation. It constantly waters and have to keep it closed. It feels like this for a few hours before wearing off but then starting again a few hours later.

I did go back over a week ago and pressures are now 3/4 from 46 and consultant happy with progress vision still blurred but he said this can take 3 months and I have to be patient

Has anybody else experienced anything similar with the intense ache/pain/watering after 6 weeks.

My right eye was much better after 4 weeks, I only had 4 werks 3 days between each op xx

[Toby_from_London]

Hi Bec,

I had a microshunt inserted around a year ago.

My understanding is that the stitches are not dissolvable as the surgeons need to maintain control of the pressure in the eye, which they wouldn't be able to if the stiches dissolved on their own over time. The stiches can be removed at a later date if they do start to irritate the eye; mine are still in.

Also 3/4 IOP is still quite low so it may need to climb slightly higher before the blurriness improves, although of course every eye is different. I believe the "standard" target IOP is 12 - 21, so you still have some way to go.

For me personally the recovery was the most challenging part of the whole thing. I wasn't prepared for the weeks and weeks of drops and clinic appointments and found it quite difficult, so you are not alone.

Take care and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Bec8891 in reply to Toby_from_London]

thank you, Toby

they don't dissolve? Really im shocked at this as I've never been told this. My right eye was done 10 weeks ago and I can no longer see them like I was able to so I presumed they had dissolved? I was certain that was the case.

I haven't been given much info to be honest. just around 3 months until full recovery.

My right eye is also down to 6 from 46 IOP and my vision has come back ok in this eye. Tad blurry by the end of the night when tired but nothing like the left. Full cloudy still but it's the intense ache and watering all of a sudden after it was improving what has thrown me out. Xx

[PeteJones in reply to Bec8891]

Hi Bec,

If your search my posts around the time of the procedure you will see that I try and help users of this forum prepare for both the surgery and recovery process by sharing my experiences. I was told very little before hand and want to pass on what I have since learnt to as many people as possible. My consultant tells me that I know a lot about it; I was forced to learn!

From memory my IOP was 6 when my eyesight started to improve; I don’t think it’s anything to do with the stitches. Obviously I have no medical training (!) but I can see why the stitches can’t be dissolvable; pressure needs to stabilise in the eye and stitches disappearing at an uncontrolled rate would probably prevent that from happening.

I know it’s really hard to be patient but I’m sure your eye will improve over time. If you want to reach out their are “buddies” that you can speak to who have been through the same experience. Just contact Glaucoma UK and they can put you in touch with someone.

Take care x

[Bec8891 in reply to PeteJones]

Hi Pete. Thank you very much.

I will take a look at your posts.

It's not so much the blurred vision yet that worries me as I am aware it's only been 6 weeks and I know I have to be patient on that front.

It's that the eye has been improving in terms of I have been able to open my eye etc for longer periods, but all of a sudden it's back to this intense ache that I can no longer open it and it waters constantly. It hasn't been like this since week 2/3. It's gone back to looking really swollen and the the swelling had originally gone down. Just wanted to know really if after having been improving it's normal for these symptoms to start after 6 weeks.

I'm not due back to the consultant for 5 weeks yet. Xx

[frankthebank in reply to Bec8891]

Yes great advice from Pete, stitches don't dissolve, I had trab surgery about 3 months ago and I still have 4 stitches in, which because of previous complications due to a low IOP and having corrective surgery done because of this, the surgeon is going to leave them in. This results in my eye often feeling sore and like something is stuck in it in the evening. On surgeons advice I use dry eye lubricant regularly throughout the day and this helps a lot. Also I would say that pressure of 3-4 is too low, which will be causing the blurriness (have you had any scans of the back of the eye done)? Mine was lower than that at 0-2, so obviously worse and my vision was terrible because of that, which resulted in the corrective surgery, now it is still only 6 but my vision is now like it was before and the eye a lot more comfortable. Your surgery is obviously different from mine though, so I'm not sure what the procedure would be for you to raise the pressure. Best wishes

[Trish_GlaucomaUK Partner]

Hello, I can see you have responses to your question, which is great. But my concern is the pain you are experiencing, which shouldnt be happening.

I would strongly recommend that you make your consultant aware today rather than leave it until you are seen in the next 5 weeks.

[mx20378]

i didn't have any problems with my preserflo (although i would say it took 6-9 months before my eye felt "normal" again), but when i had a vitrectomy a few years before i had a horrible time with the dissolving stitches - at about 6 weeks post-op, they had partially dissolved but the end of one stitch started scratching the inside of my eyelid and was painful every time i blinked for a couple weeks until it finally dissolved enough to completely disappear or fall out

it's worth getting an appointment to find out exactly what is causing you pain - iirc i went to the eye hospital a+e a couple of times during that vitrectomy recovery

[Hollyberry3]

Tube surgery might differ, depending on the consultant. Mine was done in two stages. Firstly, a lot of scar tissue was removed from previous surgery and the tube fitted. I had a lot of dissolvable stitches and there was one stitch put over the tube to stop it working initially as my consultant wanted the eye to settle and heal. About 4 months later, this stitch was removed so that the tube was up and running. I did have discomfort and a watery eye. This was caused by a few of the dissolvable stitches sticking in and causing irritation. On two occasions these were easily removed when I attended check ups.

If you are worried between appointments, phone your glaucoma clinic.

[eye4thefuture]

Hi. My preserflo surgery left eye was done last November at the Brighton eye hospital and I was told I had dissolving stitches and they did dissolve after just over 2 weeks my eye was uncomfortable some times but no pain as such please get back in touch with the hospital and get this checked out. Good luck and best wishes. Geoff

[24Arbutus]

Yes I think it would be a good idea to go to Eye Casualty as soon as possible. I have had a similar experience twice. In December, I had a Preserflo Microshunt put in which initially appeared to be successful. Then in April my eye started to water a lot especially at night, I started to experience vision problems (light flashes, narrowing of visual field). It turned out that it had broken in my eye and pieced a hole. I had emergency surgery the same day and the surgeon repositioned it. In September I had the same symptoms and went to casualty again. This time I had emergency surgery to remove the microshunt. I’m now back on eye drops. The surgeon explained that my eye is too thin to tolerate or support the device. I understand that taking eye drops for years can cause this thinning but it can also be due to aging. My eyesight was affected for four to six weeks after each surgery but has settled down and nearly back to normal now. I hope this helps but please don’t delay going to eye casualty - also ask them to check that it hasn’t broken because the first time I went it took quite a few hours for them to realise because the on duty doctor didn’t have much experience of this condition.