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After Iridotomy - eye pain and headaches 2 months later
Eye Conditions | Last Active: Nov 17 12:49pm | Replies (89)Comment receiving replies
You are smart for researching and checking first. I normally do, but I was limited on my time for appointments and trusted this doctor. I had absolutely no clue what he was going to do. He basically lied and told me something totally different than what happened. I had absolutely no idea that he was putting holes in my irises at all!
Get this he did tell me that some people can get up to 20 shots per eye. So when he did seven in each eye, I thought that I got off easy. Then I find out later that even more than one is bad. My holes are at the very top of my irises in the 12 o’clock position. Also my eyes started watering immediately. At night if I lay on my back the corners fill up with water. If I am on my side water runs out sides. That makes eyes crusty in mornings. Now I have to put thick lube in my eyes every night. It has been so awful.
What makes me the most angriest is that I was lied to by every person in that office. Then after they admitted that it does cause problems said I would get used to it. Like I said, I am basing this on my own experience, but if you have no issues with glaucoma or high-pressure, I would really hesitate in getting this procedure done. Maybe my auto immune issues caused me extra issues. Who knows. I also know that this is the worst things that I have ever let a doctor do to me. It has affected me mentally as well as physically because I can no longer do things I did just a day before!
I have never had balance issues in my life. Like I said, I was target shooting and my aim was perfect. Now I can’t judge distance or anything. I have no clue why this affected me so greatly. I’m so angry at myself for not doing better research. I think the reason why I didn’t do the proper research is because he told me it was a completely different name of the surgery. So I did not look up LPI.
Can I ask why you are still considering doing it? I am still trying to find a way to close up the holes, but I am so worried about even more damage. Just remember that those holes will be damage to the eye and you will get cataracts even faster. Cataracts are like scar tissue forming over an injury in my opinion.
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If I were you I would get an appointment with a neurologist. Balance and depth perception issues should be investigated. Even if it happened immediately after Iridotomy, it can still be due to either that or something else.
I admit the doctor scared me somewhat when he said that people end up in the emergency room with a closed angle attack and by then it is too late to save their vision because by that time it is very hard to try and get their eye pressure down.
I was wondering if maybe the placement of your holes had something to do with the severity. Some reviewers say that it is best to hide the holes under the lid where they won't give you any problems. But you have dispelled this. Moorfield's eye hospital (UAE site) says the holes can be closed with a stitch in rare cases where they are debilitating to the patient. So I guess you are not the first person this has happened to.
I would have never known what to research, since, like you, I wasn't told any procedure name I could look up. When the optometrist told me I had narrow angles and needed to have small holes put in them, I almost fell off the chair.... I mean putting holes in my - or anyone's eyes - I had never heard of such a thing. She did not give me the name of the procedure - just "small holes", and told me it was something that people have done all the time, and that it was an in office procedure that takes 5 minutes and will allow the eye fluid to drain properly.
Easy Peasy Right?
I happened to have an appointment with my family doc a couple of days after and mentioned about the recommended small holes. He said "Glaucoma". I answered " no, small holes". He again said "yeah, Glaucoma". I was not registering. I went to the computer and looked up narrow angles, and there it was "narrow angle glaucoma" . I went on to read the medical online description of LPI and its possible side effects that are supposed to be rare and not bothersome when they do occur, with ghosting being one of the visual disturbances mentioned. This is all the knowledge I had when I next went to the ophthalmologist.
I had not read any actual patient reviews yet....
So when I saw the ophthalmologist, he mentioned "small holes" . When I said the name "iridotomy", he looked surprised and uncomfortable and said "that's right".
I feel that they purposely omit information so that the patient cannot do research, because they know it will likely scare you and have you running for the hills. Still, they don't know a person's situation , and they should be forthcoming with all the details, otherwise, they are making a life changing decision for you. Some people may not mind it, but I have never been a fan of the Mommy Doctor.
I would have likely gone ahead with it if it had not been for my GP saying Glaucoma. I had no idea that there was something actually named "marrow angles". I thought she was just describing a part of my eye anatomy, because she also told me I had "little eyes" - At least she didn't say "beaty little eyes".
After the meeting with the ophthalmologist, I was ready to book it, but something told me to go online and try to learn more. This is when I saw the patient reviews and warnings. That stopped me cold. I thought that I had better tread carefully at this point. Your story is very powerful. I suppose if you had it done during some kind of an autoimmune flare, the inflammation would have made the healing longer, but you said 4 years.
I am looking into the alternative - phacoemulsification. But they don't like to do this unless the person is at high risk of an angle closure attack. The thing is, I don't know how high my risk is.....how closed are my angles? .....half the eye..... just a bit.....narrow but not closed...... possibly experiencing high pressure I would not know about because it is not happening during the doctor visit?
I wasn't given any of this information, and I didn't know to ask because I had not read that far yet . So now that I have, I have to wait months to ask the next eye doctor. I don't have eye pain or headaches, but I still worry everyday since I learned that I have a risk. I am trying not to let it get to me too much. I keep hearing those cliches: Ignorance Is Bliss..... What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You..... I hope you find out what is going on with the issues you are having.