UPDATE: Eyes Irritated, Itching, Etc.

[Missus835]

The saga contines. Still mostly in bed 9 weeks now. No date for vertebral plasties or Zolendronic acid infusion...yet, inspite of many calls. My eyes are extremely irritated but now I know why. Made appointment (referred myself) to the Ophthalmology Clinic at the VG here in Halifax. Had to convince Resident on the phone that I needed to come in and if back pain became an issue whilst waiting, I would simply take another pain pill.Long story short....it's my cataracts. Saw a wonderful Ophthalmologist, plus a few other students, and the same Resident. My optometrist assured me last year that I wouldn't have to be concerned for years. They did ask many GCA questions, which I thought was their first concern. Otherwise what prompted the questions. So now I must go to the eye surgeon to talk about removing the cataracts. Then, he said, we can talk about new glasses which, if we got them now, the Rx might last a year only. As I knew, the right is worse. Now waiting on dates for 2 surgeries. Irritated I am.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Naughty optometrist - being on pred changes the normal patterns. Many even on pred do go for a long time. Others go from almost nothing to almost blind in months and since there are no working crystal balls, no-one can tell which lot you belong to! Never mind - it is a simple thing to deal with!

[Missus835 in reply to PMRpro]

Yes Pro, simple is good. KIS. Thanks!

[Koalajane]

after I had my first cataract op my second eye deteriorated very quickly. I had to chase it up. It was done quickly after the chasing and I cannot believe how well I can see.

Hope all goes well for you.

[Missus835 in reply to Koalajane]

Thanks Jane.🌹

[HeronNS]

In what way do your eyes feel irritated? Asking because I have incipient cataracts myself, but haven't noticed any problems other than, likely unrelated, dry eyes. If irritation is a sign they are "ripe" it would be good to know!

[Missus835 in reply to HeronNS]

Hi. Itchy, burning, blurry, sometimes double vision. Like there's always something in my eyes. Keeping the worse of the two closed when reading. The right eye is bad. Ophthalmologist said no such thing as "ripe". Cataracts, when becoming a nuisance, are ready to be gone. I also put ripe in air quotes. Lol. Dr. Rajender Mohandas. He was great!

[HeronNS in reply to Missus835]

Okay, sounds about right! I know they used to make people wait a long time. An acquaintance of mine had ops a couple of years ago, delayed because pandemic started about the time she was to have them, and apparently you don't even have to use drops any more, at least she didn't. I was pleased to hear that. 🤓

[Missus835 in reply to HeronNS]

Yes. Eyesight can improve. He said don't bother with new glasses until afterward. Would be nice not to have to use the greasy eye ointment at night...and/or the drops.

[Koalajane in reply to Missus835]

I didn’t believe my optician when he said don’t get new glasses until after the second op. He was right. The reading glasses I got before the second op were a struggle and after the second were wonderful. It also takes a bit of time for the eyes to adjust after the ops

[HeronNS in reply to Missus835]

I'm going to have to quiz my friend because either I misunderstood her (unlikely because we had a conversation about this great new development) or she misled me in some way. Maybe all she meant was drops didn't need to be used as long as they were in the past?

[Koalajane in reply to HeronNS]

I have had drops after both my Cataract ops. Steroid drops and antibiotics. There is ysually a bit of inflammation after the ops

[HeronNS in reply to Koalajane]

She said whatever they put in her eyes at time of procedure meant drops weren't necessary. I don't know the details. I assume it is new. I remember the pain of having to put drops in my husband's eyes after his ops. I can't rely on him to help me out because he can hardly see with his glaucoma now and will unfortunately be no better by the time I'm ready.

[Koalajane in reply to HeronNS]

I had my second op in July this year and was given drops

[HeronNS in reply to Koalajane]

Dang. I will have to talk to my friend! I admit I was surprised, but I did believe her....

[Koalajane in reply to HeronNS]

Just checked and there is a procedure in America where you don’t have drops after. I didn’t find it a problem other than the time after my first op that went wrong and I had to have a vitrectomy and have drops every hour apart from between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. (so I could sleep) I did them myself.

[HeronNS in reply to Koalajane]

That was my issue actually. I have enough trouble putting artificial tears into my eyes, can only do it from the side, not looking straight up, which is best and probably necessary for medications. I bought a uniquely bottled kind of preservative-free artificial tears, thinking it would use less plastic than the 24-hours-then-throw-open-ampule away kind, and most of the drops fell onto my cheeks or into the sink or onto the floor and I ended up throwing the thing away after a few tries.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

It is because the techniques are different - they can remove the lens at any stage with the modern techniques.

[Karenjaninaz in reply to Missus835]

I found a warm salt water cloth over my eyes does wonders for my itchy eyes. Our eyes can become dry if the oil glands plug up. The hot cloth enables them to cleanse and flow like no drops could.

[Karenjaninaz in reply to HeronNS]

They no longer wait for cataracts to “ripen” because different surgical methods are now used. In my case the criteria was when a stronger pair of glasses wouldn’t improve vision. Because having a cataract is like looking through a dirty window.

[agingfeminist]

so pleased the cataract problem has been identified...I am slo heading that way according to last week's visit to an ophthalmologist. But pred can also cause dry eyes which results in watery itchy eyes. I have tried many drops. Using the cream Alcon duratears only at bedtime works better than anything.

[Amkoffee]

I am not trying to be the antagonist here but where your eyes checked for dryness? There is a test for dryness and that in itself can cause a significant amount of irritation in the eye.

[Missus835 in reply to Amkoffee]

Yes. I have dry eyes. Hypermetropia in right eye. Left eye not. That is farsightedness. I use ointment at night and drops (non preservative), for the immediate future.