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Hello there everyone,
My name is Michael and I am fairly new to the site. I thought I would go ahead and post the journey that I have trodden thus far, so here it goes... (sorry for the long post, but there is a lot to tell)
My story actually begins when I was about 10 years old. I was outside playing on the back porch, and I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to grab a huge knife to cut a cardboard box. As you can imagine, as I was cutting towards myself, the knife slipped and I stabbed/nicked my right eye, about 2 inches away (towards my nose) from the pupil. I'd like to note here that all of my eye problems are pretty much only dealing with my right eye.
This was before laser eye procedures were available, so they stitched it up and I spent a couple days in the hospital. The original procedure was quite successful, as I had little problems with my vision, and the only problem were the stitches that needed to stay in as well a 'bubble' (scar tissue) that developed in my iris, but all the doctors said was benign.
I didnt have any eye problems until about 2.5 years ago, just about 15 years after the original injury.
Others around me started noticing that the 'bubble' in my eye was growing, and one morning I woke up and realized that it was beginning to grow over my pupil and obstruct my vision. It was a depressing visit to the hospital, as the optometrist who looked at me told his resident assistant in training that "You need to look at this, you will never see this again."
They referred me to a good opthalmologist here in my city, and he told me that the bubble had developed into a cyst that had its own blood flow, which is why it was growing. We had to do 3 separate laser procedures, with about six months between each one, before he could clear it all out.
Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. The cyst cause one-third of my iris to become attached to my lens (i believe that is called an iris adhesion), which apparently was causing me pain in the nerves of my iris. This caused the worst pain that I have ever felt in my life, and I have even experienced a kidney stone. The pain would strike 1 to 3 times per week, up to several hours at a time, and really felt someone had a knife plunged deep behind my eye. I began taking Vicodin, but often it did not help, and I frequently had to spend the day just lying in bed, wear an eye patch, tape it shut, and try to cope with absolutely debilitating pain. There was one day where I took 4 or 5 Vicodin in one day, with, literally, little to no relief.
In order to remove the adhesion, I had to have my lens replaced, and so I had cataract surgery at the age of 25 (August 2011). This seemed to actually correct the problem, and I had about one week free of pain, which felt great. Unfortunately, the cataract surgery caused the stitches from the original surgery (when I was a kid) to begin coming out of my eye, a truly unique and unforseen side effect.
I was still in pain, as the stitches were poking out and scratching the inside of my eyelid. When I came back in to the doctor and he saw them, he told me I could wait for a couple days and we could do pull them out under anesthesia, or he could do it right now - and I didn't want to wait. He put in what numbing drops he could (they didnt help) and he physically removed them with tweezers, while I gripped the armrests of the examination chair. It was fairly excruciating, and I almost told him to stop. He could only get one of them out the first time, so I actually had to go through this twice. This all happened in October 2011.
Ever since that last event, I have been dealing with severe dry eyes. We didnt realize it at first, but my doctor was, understandably, frustrated that I was still getting pain after the stitches came out. He thought it could be additional iris adhesions that I have; he tried to remove them in another surgery in December 2011, but could not do it due to all of the scar tissue that has built up.
It was about this time that all of these issues began affecting me mentally as well. I really wanted all of these issues to just be over, and seriously considered telling the doctor to remove my eye, or do it myself. The rational part of me and my family always kept me from doing this, but I will be honest and admit that the desire is/was there.
It was only after seeing several other opthalmologists (including research doctors at my local university) that we figured out that it was severe dry eye that was causing the current pain. Indeed, a doctor put litmus paper in my right eye to test tear production, and it was bone-dry.
We had lower punctal plugs put in, and I am also on Restasis to try to improve the tear production. I HAVE SEEN some improvements with the pain level and frequency, which has help me be a little more optimistic about the chances for getting better - my GOAL IS ZERO PAIN, and I know that this is achievable.
BUT, right now, I am still am constantly putting in lubricant drops, ointments and other medications, including pain meds. If I don't the right eye will get so dry that it aches, right at the top of my eye, to the point that I cant even open it.
Anyhow, that is my story, to this point. LOTS of trauma and other problems with my eye, BUT I know that there is a solution out there for me, its just that I havent found it yet, and I look forward to using this community as a resource to help!
If anyone has any questions on what Ive tried or experienced, I would be happy to answer them. I will also list the current medications I am on below, in case you have any suggestions for me.
Current Meds:
*** Refresh Drops and/or TheraTears drops
*** Refresh Nightime Ointment (I sometimes use the ointment during the day)
*** Restasis 2x per day (I have been on this for about 3 months - sometimes I feel that it provides relief, other days it doesnt)
*** I am also currently trying Muro 128 ointment (3-4x per day) - which seems to give longer relief than anything else, though its only a couple hours at most
*** Recently, we tried Lotemax ointment, but it didnt seem to help that much
Thanks for taking the time to read/comment.
My name is Michael and I am fairly new to the site. I thought I would go ahead and post the journey that I have trodden thus far, so here it goes... (sorry for the long post, but there is a lot to tell)
My story actually begins when I was about 10 years old. I was outside playing on the back porch, and I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to grab a huge knife to cut a cardboard box. As you can imagine, as I was cutting towards myself, the knife slipped and I stabbed/nicked my right eye, about 2 inches away (towards my nose) from the pupil. I'd like to note here that all of my eye problems are pretty much only dealing with my right eye.
This was before laser eye procedures were available, so they stitched it up and I spent a couple days in the hospital. The original procedure was quite successful, as I had little problems with my vision, and the only problem were the stitches that needed to stay in as well a 'bubble' (scar tissue) that developed in my iris, but all the doctors said was benign.
I didnt have any eye problems until about 2.5 years ago, just about 15 years after the original injury.
Others around me started noticing that the 'bubble' in my eye was growing, and one morning I woke up and realized that it was beginning to grow over my pupil and obstruct my vision. It was a depressing visit to the hospital, as the optometrist who looked at me told his resident assistant in training that "You need to look at this, you will never see this again."
They referred me to a good opthalmologist here in my city, and he told me that the bubble had developed into a cyst that had its own blood flow, which is why it was growing. We had to do 3 separate laser procedures, with about six months between each one, before he could clear it all out.
Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. The cyst cause one-third of my iris to become attached to my lens (i believe that is called an iris adhesion), which apparently was causing me pain in the nerves of my iris. This caused the worst pain that I have ever felt in my life, and I have even experienced a kidney stone. The pain would strike 1 to 3 times per week, up to several hours at a time, and really felt someone had a knife plunged deep behind my eye. I began taking Vicodin, but often it did not help, and I frequently had to spend the day just lying in bed, wear an eye patch, tape it shut, and try to cope with absolutely debilitating pain. There was one day where I took 4 or 5 Vicodin in one day, with, literally, little to no relief.
In order to remove the adhesion, I had to have my lens replaced, and so I had cataract surgery at the age of 25 (August 2011). This seemed to actually correct the problem, and I had about one week free of pain, which felt great. Unfortunately, the cataract surgery caused the stitches from the original surgery (when I was a kid) to begin coming out of my eye, a truly unique and unforseen side effect.
I was still in pain, as the stitches were poking out and scratching the inside of my eyelid. When I came back in to the doctor and he saw them, he told me I could wait for a couple days and we could do pull them out under anesthesia, or he could do it right now - and I didn't want to wait. He put in what numbing drops he could (they didnt help) and he physically removed them with tweezers, while I gripped the armrests of the examination chair. It was fairly excruciating, and I almost told him to stop. He could only get one of them out the first time, so I actually had to go through this twice. This all happened in October 2011.
Ever since that last event, I have been dealing with severe dry eyes. We didnt realize it at first, but my doctor was, understandably, frustrated that I was still getting pain after the stitches came out. He thought it could be additional iris adhesions that I have; he tried to remove them in another surgery in December 2011, but could not do it due to all of the scar tissue that has built up.
It was about this time that all of these issues began affecting me mentally as well. I really wanted all of these issues to just be over, and seriously considered telling the doctor to remove my eye, or do it myself. The rational part of me and my family always kept me from doing this, but I will be honest and admit that the desire is/was there.
It was only after seeing several other opthalmologists (including research doctors at my local university) that we figured out that it was severe dry eye that was causing the current pain. Indeed, a doctor put litmus paper in my right eye to test tear production, and it was bone-dry.
We had lower punctal plugs put in, and I am also on Restasis to try to improve the tear production. I HAVE SEEN some improvements with the pain level and frequency, which has help me be a little more optimistic about the chances for getting better - my GOAL IS ZERO PAIN, and I know that this is achievable.
BUT, right now, I am still am constantly putting in lubricant drops, ointments and other medications, including pain meds. If I don't the right eye will get so dry that it aches, right at the top of my eye, to the point that I cant even open it.
Anyhow, that is my story, to this point. LOTS of trauma and other problems with my eye, BUT I know that there is a solution out there for me, its just that I havent found it yet, and I look forward to using this community as a resource to help!
If anyone has any questions on what Ive tried or experienced, I would be happy to answer them. I will also list the current medications I am on below, in case you have any suggestions for me.
Current Meds:
*** Refresh Drops and/or TheraTears drops
*** Refresh Nightime Ointment (I sometimes use the ointment during the day)
*** Restasis 2x per day (I have been on this for about 3 months - sometimes I feel that it provides relief, other days it doesnt)
*** I am also currently trying Muro 128 ointment (3-4x per day) - which seems to give longer relief than anything else, though its only a couple hours at most
*** Recently, we tried Lotemax ointment, but it didnt seem to help that much
Thanks for taking the time to read/comment.
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