I have been getting lucentis injections to treat diabetic macular odema for the past 3-4 years.
On the past 2 occasions , I’ve gotten a scratched cornea from it on my left eye. At the same time, I’ve gotten injections in my right eye and there’s been no problem at all.
The consultant appears to not want to explain why this is happening and I’ve lost trust in the consultant as a result.
What could be causing this to happen ?
Thanks for reading
Hello D_omeara,
The following excerpt is from our Pain after injections factsheet. It could be used as a discussion point with your ophthalmologist:
"The eye can develop significant discomfort or severe pain about one hour or more after the injection. This may be due to one of a few possibilities, including a scratch on the cornea - the clear glassy part of the eye (called corneal abrasion) which may result in the skin in front of the cornea coming off due to the effect of the anaesthetic as well as dryness of the cornea.
The injection can cause the eye to become very ‘dry’ with a lack of lubrication. This can result in the eyelid sticking to the epithelium layer and when you open your eyes it may cause the layer to be damaged. Dry eye gel can be used to prevent this from happening after future injections, but please check with your eye care professional before using any product.
Excessive rubbing of the eye soon after an injection may predispose to an abrasion as the patient is unaware as to how much rubbing is taking place (as the eye is still frozen)."
Kind regards,
Rosalyn
Macular Society Advice and Information Service
0300 3030 111
help@macularsociety.org
Hi Rosalyn,
The comment on the dry eye gel is interesting. I’ll look in to that. My belief is that something else is at play here. As it’s happened twice in a row now. I’ve never been rubbing my eye after the injections but will use your items for my discussions.
Thanks very much
Hello D_omeara,
It may also be worth you listening to the following virtual clinic regarding injections:
macularsociety.org/support/...
It refers to problems that can occur linked to the eyelid speculum.
Kind regards,
Rosalyn
Macular Society Advice and Information Service
0300 3030 111
help@macularsociety.org
Hi. Sorry to hear you had a painful eye after your injections. After my last injection of Eyelea my eye was extremely sore and painful and I said to my daughter I need to ask my consultant, who does the jabs, what I can use afterwards to help. I didn’t like to get anything from the chemist in case it was the wrong thing to use. I do hope your next injections are better and you are prescribed something for afterwards besides the antibiotic drops. Best wishes.
For anyone that has pain after the injections, prox 0.5% numbing drops are great. They are the thing that has helped me greatly. For the corneal tear, I had to get a contact lens ‘bandage’ to cover the tear so that it could heal.
On the eyelea pain, yes , I’ve had that too. I’ve had them once and noticed a lot of extra pain. Prox will help greatly with that. Just make sure you don’t have an infection. In that case , chloromycetin is great. You can get it in drop or ointment form.
I asked about using dry eye drops after injections and was told to use a new one so they are sterile
Oh my word! This has happened twice to me in September and November not with Lucentis but Eylea. I have had monthly injections for 10 years now for DMO. They said the issue is very dry eyes so I have drops now to put in 4 times a day and an eye gel at night. I go to my other eye hospital today so will be interesting to see how the drops are doing. I am also on 2 lots of iop lowering drops as well. Poor eyes I feel they are swimming in drops and ointment at the moment.
Hi D_omeara and welcome. Are you in the UK? Chloromycetin (Chloramphenicol), is an antibiotic, do you buy this over the counter?
Morning….no, you’ll need a prescription. I’m in ireland & can’t buy over the counter.
Many thanks.
Hi Springcross - be careful of chloramphenicol (chloromycetin) for your eyes. Read all instructions. It can cause trouble with blood cell production and can suppress bone marrow. Perhaps proper advice from a professional should be sought.
Absolutely Jelbea, good advice and thank you for that. x
Do not use antibiotic's in your eye's unelss the Doctor tells you to.
Thanks 10plantlover but I wouldn't anyway. The only time I have ever used them is after retinal detachment op and that was given to me by the retinal team at the hospital.
I’ve had severe pain on a couple of occasions both times because of a scratched cornea and was told it was caused by the clamp thing they use to keep the eye open.
Thank you very much. I’ll mention that too. I want to do whatever I can to avoid it happening a third time.
Yes, mine on both occasions was caused by the clamp. Very painful.
I have been forced to see a different doctor because the practice I went to for my Eylea shots has closed. So far I have gone twice to the new (to me) ophthalmologist, and the shots, or more exactly the drops (iodine) have caused my eyes to burn for a couple days afterwards. The burning is so bad that in order to get to sleep the first night I had to take every painkiller and sleeping aid I could scrounge up from the medicine cabinets. I have never had this problem before. And I have asked for and received an extra rinse after each shot too. I think I have become hypersensitive to iodine (Betadine). I tried the lubricating drops the new doc insists I should use. All they do is cloud my vision. They do nothing for the pain of burning whatsoever. I also tried washing my eyes out with sterile ocular saline solution (eye wash). That doesn't help either. All that helps is time.
Hi jihm. I had exactly the same problem. Like barbed wire in my eye. Am allergic to iodine. Took a while to convince them this was the problem but now have an alternative. No problem afterwards. Insist they try an alternative. They prefer iodine as guard against infection but alternatives are ok if properly administered. Good luck.
Shims no, Do you happen to know the name of the alternative medication? Would be great to know!
Hi Shimano. I too am allergic to iodine Betadine and they now use chlorhexidine. I’m interested to know whether your injector puts it inside your eye or just brushes it over your eyelashes as opinions seem to differ.
I also remember you once posting that you can’t use any kind of eyedrops and I’m the same. Have you found an alternative? The best thing I’ve found is a heated eye mask followed by a cold wet compress using a sterile cloth.
I get numbing drops. Then all round my eye is swabbed but not with iodine. Then I get an injection of anaesthetic into the eye before the eylea injection. This has really helped. Previously the injection was horrendous. The iodine caused pain after the injection. I now have hardly any discomfort in the 24 hours after the injection. I do hope this is helpful to you.
Thank you, that was very interesting.
Hello there - as others have said the clamp used to keep your eye open can be the culprit. I had a very painful eye on one occasion and had to be seen at the emergency eye clinic. They told me that a deep scratch had been caused by clumsy removal of clamp. I suffered a painful eye with clouding of vision for almost two weeks. Not nice!
Earlier this year, I was scratched on my cornea by the speculum eyelid opening gadget. This was the last straw...pure carelessness by the ophthalmologist who had been treating me for seven years here on the California central coast. He practices in a group that lines up the patients in an assembly line fashion designed to achieve maximum productivity.
My new doctor uses his fingers to hold my eye open, does one eye per visit not both and left a similar production oriented Los Angeles practice to set up his own traditional style clinic here, lacking the cattle call factory system that seems to be trending here in the United States.
For me, I am so happy to have my trust restored. A friend of mine lost the sight in her left eye due to macular detachment under the assembly line doctors care. My experience has reenforced my effort to use due diligence to limit the risk. recognizing that failure to do so can lead to a catastrophic loss.
Is the Doctor telling you that you have a scratched cornea? By putting dye in it and looking with the slit lamp? Or are you saying it feels scratched?
They examine the eye with a special bright white light machine(sorry I don’t know what it’s called)
Hi NettRoy . Sorry to hear the trouble you are having after injection . I can sympathise with you . I had that trouble too , To cut a long story short . I found it was the person putting the clamp into my eye that was the problem . They can scratch the cornea very badly . I only have my consultant do my injections now . And have had no problem .. you can ask to have a different person do it for you . This pain that you have is very real . No painkiller works . It is absolutely horrendous ! Hope you get it sorted out .
There has been some fantastic info shared here and I really appreciate it. I’ve defo found that using ‘thealoz duo’ eye gel during day is great and ‘hylo-night’ dry eye ointment works great. I have found that if you use these every day & night that when it comes to getting your eye injections , the experience won’t be so bad.On the scratched cornea scenario , I have had strong words with consultant and have not had the scratch since!
I have also met with another consultant who will perform the treatment too if I want.
I think I’ve done as best I can.
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