Deep sclerectomy

[hirsey12]

I was told yesterday that I’ll need either a trab or a deep sclerectomy to keep pressures under control. I opted for the second procedure. Has anyone else had it and can it be done under general anaesthetic? Don’t fancy the local anaesthetic as I’m squeamish about eyes.

[Walrus71]

Hi, I had a Deep Sclerectomy in 2017. I had a general anaesthetic because that was what my consultant wanted. I've since had a range of other procedures under both general and local anaesthetic, and I have mixed feelings about which I prefer! It takes me much longer to physically recover from a general as it makes me feel rubbish for days after, but there isn't the worry about needing to stay very still for a long time.

[hirsey12 in reply to Walrus71]

Thanks for the reply. How did the op itself go and the recovery time? Glad to hear the general anaesthetic was possible.

[Walrus71 in reply to hirsey12]

The op went well, my eye was quite uncomfortable after but improved very quickly over the next couple of days. I think it took about a week to feel completely better, but that was mainly due to the side effects of the anaesthetic rather than eye issues. The aftercare was a bit of a nuisance for a few weeks, with all the drops and keeping water out of the eye when washing. The surgery was successful for around 18 months, but eventually failed due to excessive scarring.

[RunnerWithPG]

Hi! Can’t comment about deep sclerectomy surgery, but I’ve had trabs in both eyes in the last year, both under local anaesthetic. My experience of surgery under local anaesthetic is positive. Undoubtedly, the injection into the eye is unpleasant- but it’s not excruciatingly painful, and it doesn’t take long. Once anaesthetised I found the trab surgeries very comfortable - I was very relaxed & chatting to the surgeon.

[hirsey12 in reply to RunnerWithPG]

That’s very brave, I don’t think I could bear the injection into the eye. What was the recovery period like and are the trabs still working?

[RunnerWithPG in reply to hirsey12]

Recovery wasn't too bad, and both trabs are still working. Unfortunately, my right eye suffered pretty severe damage before the trab was done, so I have limited vision in that eye, but it does seem stable now. My left eye still has very good vision and is also stable. Both eyes generally have an IOP of 10 - 15 mmHg - I have an iCare tonometer to keep tabs on the pressures. The trab in my left eye did fail after about 10 days, and needed needling, but it's been fine since. (My pressure spiked at 56mmHg when it failed!) I was working from home a couple of weeks after my right eye trab, and a couple of weeks after the needling in my left eye. What I would say about the anaesthetic injection into the eye is that it is unpleasant, and a bit uncomfortable, but it's bearable - they do give you anaesthetic drops beforehand. It wasn't as bad as I feared!

[Astilbe]

I have had two operations, both eyes. The first (presserflo shunt) was done under general anaesthetic, the second (trab) under local (at my request, since I found it very unpleasant not being able to eat or drink for nearly a whole day before the op which caused severe headache, and the effect of the anaesthetic as well which took me a couple of days to recover from).

I prefered the local. After the numbing eye drops were put in I barely felt any injection at all. I had no headache and no after effects from the drops.

[hirsey12 in reply to Astilbe]

Thanks for the reply, were you aware of what was being done to your eye during the op? I don’t think I could lie still for an hour without some form of sedation.

[Astilbe in reply to hirsey12]

No I wasn't aware of what was being done to my eye. The surgeon told me when I had to lie still, which wasn't all of the time. Also I had my head in a sort of cradle which held it still so it wasn't so much of an effort.