Monday, August 22, 2016

Consultation Appointment: Approved for PRK and (probably) ICL

Today I had my consultation appointment for refractive surgery at my local university hospital, where I learned what my options are for correcting my terrible vision.

First the assistant tested my vision and asked if I needed a new glasses prescription at the appointment today. Since's it's been a year since my last exam, I said yes. The assistant said my prescription hadn't changed in the last year (he compared it to my old prescription I brought in)--yay! My current prescription is:

Right: -6.50 (sphere), +1.5 (cylinder)
Left: -11.00 (sphere), +.25 (cylinder)

My eyes have always had very different prescriptions, with the left being way worse, even though the cataract is in my right eye. I think that it's uncommon to have such different vision in both eyes, but I'm not sure.

At this appointment they did a bunch of tests in different rooms, where different people took measurements of my cornea and other parts of my eyes, dilated my eyes, rechecked my prescription after dilation, and then I met with the ophthalmologist who will be doing my surgeries. Our visit was short and sweet. She said I am a candidate for PRK (photorefractive keratectomy - like LASIK with without the flap) in my right eye and  probably Visian ICL (implantable collamer lens or sometimes called implantable contact lens) in my left eye. She said "probably" because they would need to do one more test to make sure the chamber between my cornea and natural lens was big enough for the Visian ICL to fit. I asked about clear lens exchange for my right eye, since that's what another ophthalmologist had recommended at my last consultation 7-8 years ago, but she said she would not perform that procedure on a 30 year old since I would lose my ability to "accommodate" and no longer be able to see close up. Everyone needs reading glasses by age 40-50, so I still have 10-20 years left to read without glasses and I would not want to lose that!

The ophthalmologist then told me that since the surgeries take place at different locations (Visian ICL at the hospital and PRK at the laser center), she would perform PRK first and then ICL a couple of months later. She then sent me to talk to the refractive counselor who could answer any other questions I had and discuss payment and scheduling.

The counselor was very knowledgeable and nice, and let me know that she had also had PRK at this center! Honestly, before this appointment I had researched lasik, CLE, and ICL but hadn't read much about PRK. I asked her a bunch of questions about possible complications, the healing process, etc. The counselor reassured me that the procedure was very conservative with a lower complication rate than lasik, and could be repeated if revisions were necessary. She also put my mind at ease when she said that this center (which is actually part of the local university hospital) and my surgeon are very conservative and only approve about half of the people who have consultations. I like that they seem driven by the latest research and helping people see, rather than making a lot of money by doing hundreds of procedures a day.

We scheduled a follow-up appointment for early November where they will double-check every measurement to make sure the laser is perfectly calibrated for PRK in my right eye, and measure the space in my left eye to make sure there is enough space for the ICL. We scheduled PRK for mid-December when I'll have a couple of weeks off work to heal, and will schedule the ICL surgery after I have PRK.

When I got home I spent some time reading about my ophthalmologist. She's an MD with over 10 years of experience, who specializes in corneal, cataract, and refractive surgeries. She completed a fellowship after her medical degree in these specializations, and has great reviews online. I have thought about having another consultation at another center to compare options and prices, but feel confident with this surgeon and center.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Refractive Surgery Consultation Scheduled!

My Polar Cataract
(see the white dot in the middle?)
I've scheduled a consultation for refractive (corrective) eye surgery, which is tomorrow! I've been searching and reading blogs about the process, and figured I would write about my own experience too.

Here's some background about my eye situation. I was born with a polar anterior cataract in my right eye. It's very small (but still visible if you look hard enough), completely opaque, and right in the center of my eye. The cataract hasn't ever changed shape or size. I had an eyepatch over my left eye when I was 3 or 4 since the eye doctor was worried that I might develop a lazy eye since not as much light can get into the cataract eye, making it much weaker.

Then, in sixth grade around age 12, my eyesight started to deteriorate in both eyes and I became myopic. I started wearing soft contacts around 13, which I wore everyday. I got my first pair of glasses at 16 or 17, to wear when I was too lazy to put in my contacts.

My Glasses
My vision continued to get worse throughout my 20s, and I'd have to get a new exam and prescription
every year. I had a consultation for refractive surgery when I was 22 or 23, before I went to grad school. I knew my vision was not stable but I wanted to see what my options were, since I was already completely blind without contacts or glasses. The ophthalmologist then told me that I could have clear lens exchange (cataract surgery) in my right eye, and an implantable contact lens (Visian ICL) in my left eye since the vision in my left eye was too poor for LASIK.

My vision continued to get worse every year until I was about 28. Now I'm 30, done with grad school, live in a city with fantastic health care, have a real job with a good salary and an FSA, and so I've scheduled a consultation to see what my options are! I'll update as I go through this process.