Two weeks post-op, very little improvement

[bodybuilder1958]

Hi All,

Two weeks post-operative corneal debridement and it's not going well. Vision has not improved, I was told that within 8 days after surgery it would be back to what it was right before and then gradually improve. Well it's not, vision is fluctuating more than it was before and the vision sucks. Doctor will not see me until the end of the month, not too happy about that either. I would love to be able to go outside without 2 pairs of sunglasses on, it sucks.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[mgshutterbug]

Am so so sorry you're having so much pain and lack of improvement. Why won't your doc see you sooner just to check it out and make sure it looks however it should look at this point? Seems to me he should be very agreeable to checking it out just to make sure nothing else is going on. Please keep us updated.

[Rebecca Petris]

I was told that within 8 days after surgery it would be back to what it was right before and then gradually improve.

I know that's probably the cookie-cutter advice for debridement (I ran into forms with similar advice online) but I think it often happens that visual recovery takes a lot longer. I think of all the people on D'Eyealogues who had PRK (which is basically debridement of the epithelium plus lasering the corneal stroma) and who took months for their vision to stabilize. Vision can wobble around for a long time while the epithelium kind of remodels itself.

Doctor will not see me until the end of the month, not too happy about that either. I would love to be able to go outside without 2 pairs of sunglasses on, it sucks.

Yup sucks is the word.

They cannot refuse to see you. That is just not acceptable for post-operative care. If your doctor isn't available someone else has to be. Bear in mind though that what's really disturbing to you will not be to them unless they see signs of any vision-threatening complications - that's just kind of the way it is with eyecare of this sort. Slow visual recovery and vision fluctuation are not, in my experience/opinion, things that the average EyeMD has a lot of sympathy for. (I'm basing this mostly from experiences of people over on D'Eyealogues.)

[bodybuilder1958]

Ty for your replies, when I called this am I was told that the surgeon is away at a conference and to just be patient. I had this same surgery in 2004, vision was back to pre-op vision within 6 days after surgery.

I guess what bothers me is that I have a possibility of a job, I'm expecting to be called in for a physical the end of this week or next week. If the vision is fluctuating or what it is now I will flunk it. You don't want a scrub tech with bad vision.