"poor vision after 6 weeks due to wrinkles" Posted by Cynthia - tucson, AL on 14:16:24 4/08/2001
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I posted a message yesterday and would love a response from a doc. that fixes complications from surgery. I was refloated and that did not help. My epithelium during surgery on Left eye disintegrated so that was first problem. I also have stirate problems. I am 59 years old. I don't know if this has anything to do with it. The doc. is very highly respected and has been very supportive. The next step might be debriding the epithelium. I am so fed up. Work is hard for me. I am a dental assistant. Driving is no picnic. Help
1. "why lasik at 59?" Posted by Tom - Saffron Walden, NE on 08:47:46 4/09/2001
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Wouldn't it have been simpler to have a cateract op? At this age you will have virtually no accommodation left anyway...
Sorry Tom, I don't think Cynthia appreciated your posting. Sort of Monday morning quarterbacking. Lots of 59 year olds don't have cataracts. Cynthia, a central sloughing of the epithelium during surgery is very frustrating for patients because it can take up to a month for the epithelium to fully heal and the swelling to go down. In the meantime you're probably freaking out because you can't see. The Dr. has seen this before and knows it will clear up but you don't know that. It sounds like you had this problem and then on top of it you also had striae (not happy with just one complication, you had to have two?). How long after the surgery did you have the refloat for striae? If it was beyond two weeks I find that simply refloating and stretching usually doesn't get rid of the striae. You probably need the flap sutured. When you say your dr. now wants to debride the epithelium, is that all he wants to do, or does he want to do this along with suturing the flap. The second option makes sense if your problem now is still striae. Sometimes when you have an epith defect you get a sort of "heaped up" epithelium when it heals and this affects vision. Then you're better off debriding this one area and letting it heal up again, hopefully in a more normal fashion. Perhaps this is why he wants to do a debridement alone. If you can clear this up for me, perhaps I can give you a better answer. If it makes you feel any better, the problems you are describing sound like they can be resolved with you regaining good vision.
Steven Corwin, MD
EmoryVision
Atlanta, GA
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