PRK: 14 week follow up

10.15.2008

I administered my very last [knock on wood] steroid eye drop Monday! Woohoo!

I also had a follow up appointment on Monday with my eye doctor. The vision in my right eye has worsened somewhat, from 20/20 last time to 20/25 this time. That is to be expected, and just means that my vision is fluctuating as my corneas heal. Somewhat disappointing, but not too concerning.

My left eye, however… The doc says the vision is improved over the previous appointment, although I could not really tell. I’m currently seeing at 20/30 out of that eye. He also shared my prescription strength in that eye. My vision is – 0.50, and my astigmatism is at –0.75. I asked him to just tell me what it all meant, in regards to my potential need for an enhancement.

He expects that the right eye will be fine. He said that he has seen prescriptions like the one I still have in my left eye completely clear up within 2 months of discontinuing the steroid drops. As in—it’s possible the vision will clear up, but not definite. I told him I was preparing for the worst (needing the enhancement), but would gladly accept being pleasantly surprised. He seemed to agree with my assessment.

So—no more steroid drops. My eyes finally get a chance to “settle down” and time will tell where my vision is going to end up. I go back to the eye doc in 3 weeks, but may not know for another 2 months if I will need the enhancement.

PRK: 12 week update

10.01.2008

Yes, I'm still here. September was just a slow writing month.

Tomorrow is my 12 week PRK anniversary. At about the 10 week mark, I thought I was developing another sensitivity to my alternate steroid drop, so I went in to see the doc. He thought it was probably allergies, and gave me a couple of sample bottles of antihistamine eye drops, to be taken in each eye twice per day. Oh joy! My eye drop regime just increased! But they seem to be helping, so I'll try to limit the complaining.

My eye doc also continues to discuss the option of an "enhancement." (*Note: I'd been calling it an adjustment. I knew that wasn't the right word. I knew the right word was much more soothingly euphemistic.) Enhancement Schmenhancement. It's a re-do. I have two more weeks of steroid drops, and then will wait a few weeks to see what happens with my vision. If my left eye still doesn't improve--I will probably have to do an "enhancement." I have a feeling, just a gut feeling, that it won't improve. It has actually gotten worse these past few weeks.

On the bright side, the right eye seems to be doing okay. If I do need an enhancement, it would be a plus if I only needed it in one eye. Also, let me be clear. I am not complaining about potentially needing an enhancement. Just disappointed. Going into this, I knew I was blind as a bat and that fact placed me at a higher risk of needing more than one procedure to completely correct my vision.

I would still do it all over again. And if my doc recommends the enhancement, even though I'm functioning okay with my current vision, I will probably decide to do it. Why have just "okay" vision that allows you to simply function when you can be close to 100% corrected after a lifetime of wearing glasses and contacts?

Oh, and my friend L. thinks I'm nuts, but I swear the steroid in the eye drops is making my hair fall out. Not in big clumps, thank goodness. It's just thinner overall, and there is a LOT of hair in my shower on a daily basis.

 
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