I just had cataract surgery today 5 hours ago. I am experiencing double vision. The eyes are noticesbly not pointing in the same directiion. The eye that was operated on is pointed slightly higher than the non-operated eye. To me this means the brain is not compensating to align both eyes correctly. My image of the right eye (operated eye) is either above or below the image collected by the left eye depending on the position of my head. If I look down the right eye image is above the left eye. and opposite if I tilt my head back. Needless to say I am worried about this continuing. I have Operation follow up appointment tomorrow early. Has anyone else have this problem?
I was told to keep the eye covered till the next day so I did. Only a guess, but your eye muscles are perhaps still under the influence of anaesthetic.
Presumably you will be getting your other eye operated on in the future. Your brain needs to get used to one eye being perfect and the other not. I had the problem to begin with but only when looking up at things.
Thank you! My double vision has slowly gone away and the blurry vision too. I believe that the anathesia affected the muscles that are controlled by the brain to correct eye alignment, so were not able to fully correct for the double vision.It has been approximately 9 hours since my surgery was completed. Vision is slowly becoming less blurry, but not as sharp as the other eye yet. When I took off the bandage and looked in the mirror I was shocked to see that the operated eye was higher than the non operated on eye causing double vision as I realize now. The eyes have now become aligned and double vision is almost gone completely. Scared the heck out of me.
Don't worry. If you had a anaethetic block with a needle it paralyses some or all the eye muscles for a few hours causing this problem that should pass after a few hours and definitely by the next day. If the surgeon uses only anaesthetic eye drops without any anaethetic injection then this problem is avoided but you have to be careful during surgery that you keep your eyes very still! Some patients or surgeons prefer the needle for a deeper anaesthetic effect.
The blurring after surgery is very variable, some see very well the next day but it can take days or weeks to get clear vision
Hi James. I hope by now you are feeling a bit better about your op. I had my left eye done 4 weeks ago. Was very cloudy at first. Then had half cirle of light at left of eye. Then flashing sensation. It is getting better but still a few blobs that look like rain on you glasse? I am told these are bits of gel from the back of the eye that have been disturbed. They hope they will clear but if no make need laser to get rid of them? This scares me a bit!. I did not have double vision but as I had lazy eye from a chld I do feel eyes not completely co-ordinated yet? First time you go into a supermaket you will notice how bright all the signs are. I noticed lights in the wall freezer units I did not know were there before. Good luck. Let us know how you get on. Shirley.
Shirley - Thanks for comment. This morning after op, things are brighter than the non op eye which is slightly yellow and not as bright. Things are still fuzzy - not sharp but no double vision. Post op exam this morning may tell me more on what to expect. I thought I had all the information on what to expect. Wrong. I needed more hand holding that would have helped to prevent panic when I saw my op eye higher than the non op eye in the mirror which caused my double vision.
I did not have a needle, but had intravenous anasthesia that made the whole right side of my head numb. Not sure how they were able to do that, but it was only the right side. And yes I agree that the muscles were not in sync with what the brain was telling them to do. Thanks for responding about length of time needed to gain clear vision.
Hi James I had cataract operation done on both eyes and I now get double vision if I am lying down looking out or if I am tired. You are right it is to do with the positioning of the head when it happens. I had my cataracts done 18 months ago. I would be interested in what you are told in your follow-up. I never had double vision prior to the operation. Good luck, I hope it turns out well.
Double vision was due to fact that the eye that had been operated on was not lined up with the other eye due to the eye muscles not responding to the nerve message from the brain because anesthesia had not worn off. It was higher than the non op eye. The follow up Dr. said it was common. It had already corrected itself before the follow up exam. Cannot understand why it would be a problem after 18 months. I would contact the surgeon that did your operation. Good luck.
Yes! I had surgery 6 days ago and have double vision. I could not drive to my next day post op. I may postpone the second surgery which is in 8 days. I have some flashes, too.
I'm going to try to work tomorrow. Lots of driving. Pretty sunsensitive too.
How is it going today? I had double vision for a few hours. The problem for me was the anasthesia not wearing off I guess. The eye muscles could not respond to what the brain was telling them to do. My eye was moticeably higher than the non operated eye. It finally corrected itself. Keep us informed. My second eye operation is tomorrow at around 9:40 AM.
i had cataract surgery march 9th and when they took the patchoff the next day i saw double vision. they told me it would go away the reasin was i broke a bloodvessel and the muscles were weak and i had blood shot. it has gone away but in the morning it takes time for my eyes to focus like15 minutes and at night it sometimesit gets double the doctor told me it will go awaybut be patient this has been going on since march
i had cataract surgery march 9th and when they took the patchoff the next day i saw double vision. they told me it would go away the reasin was i broke a bloodvessel and the muscles were weak and i had blood shot. it has gone away but in the morning it takes time for my eyes to focus like15 minutes and at night it sometimesit gets double the doctor told me it will go awaybut be patient this has been going on since march
I had cataract surgery 6 weeks ago in my right eye. Got Tecnis multifocal 2.75 D. While i am able to read 20/20, its blurry and a struggle to read. I was also seeing slight ghost images on subtitles on tv and other light source. I saw my opthalmologist 2 weeks ago and was reassured that iol is centered and its probably just multifocal iol and things wlll get back to normal in few months. Or there is remaining antistigmatiam which we will deal with in 3-4 months. All this made sense.
However this past weekend i was walking when all of a sudden things didnt seem right as if brain was trying to process multiple image. Looked at a street sign and it wasnt just a shadow image but almost 2 images on top of each other. I blinked few times and put artificial tears and it calmed down. Though now the shadow image i get is much more significant and can see shadow around everything. I can even seeshadow around people on tthe street and worst yet shadow around my own finger. If i close my right eye, shadow goes away. Also eyes seem to be burning a little and feel heavy.
Any ideas what could be causing this and what i could do. Why would things change so quickly like someone just turned the switch.
I HAD SURGERY MARCH9 AND ON MARCH 10 THEY TOOK THE PATCH OFF AND I HAD DOUBLE VISION. I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GO AWAY. I TALKED TO MY SURGEON THE NEXT DAY AND SHE TOLD ME THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. MY RIGHT EYE WAS SO BLOOD SHOT LATER ON THEY TOLD ME A BLOOD VESSEL BURST AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED AND GIVE IT TIME IT WILL GO AWAY LIKE A COUPLE OF WEEKS. NOW IT IS MAY AND WHEN I MOVE MY EYE TO THE RIGHT I STILL HAVE DOUBLE VISION IT IS NOT VOCUSED RIGHT. I HAD MY LEFT EYE DONE IN FEBRUARY WITH NO PROBLEM BUT ALL I GOT WAS IT WILL GO AWAY. MY REGULAR EYE DOCTOR SAID EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND IT WILL TAKE TIME FOR IT TO HEEL. SO NOW I AM GOING ON THURSDAY FOR A SECOND OPINION. I AM SICK OF THIS MAYBE IT WILL GO AWAY BUT I THINK MY SURGEON SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A LOOK AT IT. BUT SHE DIDN'T THESE ARE THE ONLY PAIR OF EYES I HAVE AND I WANT THEM TO BE GOOD I DON'T WEAR GLASSES ANYMORE BUT I WANT THIS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF ASAP OR ELSE. MMY EYE MUSCLES WERE STILL UNDER THE ANAETHETIC BUT NOT THIS LONG. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED TAKE CARE
My issues have gotten worse as weeks have gone by rather than get better. Double/ghost images are much worse, glares are worse, flickering has gotten worse over time. Driving me nuts
I had my surgery over a year ago, I also experience the double/ghosting images on any light source or even white or brightly coloured signs. Over time it became less bothersome (although it is still there). However the ghosting below images remains a problem and just will not relent. If I get a piece of card and bring it up slowly from the bottom of my eye until just below the centre of my eye, the double image vanishes and my vision becomes crystal clear. I was told that the ghosting is just a side effect of Multifocal iols but this doesn't really explain why it is just the imaging below things that proves bothersome. Bizarrely, I have even done headstands and the double imaging still remains at the bottom in relation to the position of my head. I would be interested to know if the double imaging you are experiencing goes away when doing the thing with the piece of card.
ihad surgery in march and i still have double vision in the right eye not too much but enough the doctor told me that it would go awy but i need to give it time. well when they took the patch off the next day by right eye was all blood shot i asked why and she says it because of the blood vessel and the anesthesia well that wasencourasging so she said it would pass in a few days well everytime i asked her she would tellme another time so my primary care doctor recommended me a second opinion. i am going to have an mri real soon so he can see what is behind that eye hed id say it was much better than before i asked my own doctor was this surgery related and he said yes. well i just hope it will get fixed i amnot going through this anymore but if it it surgery related and it will get fixed that doctor that preformed this is in teoubleas far as i am concerned 3monthan d that is what both doctors told me. i had my left eye done in march no problem i can great with no glasses except every morning i do have double vision and sometimes at night then it goes away. this should not have happened.
3 months is not very long. I know it's not easy but you have to try and ignore all the weird anomilies that you are experiencing. It took over a year for my vision to stabalize and, inspite of my previous gripe about ghosting, I don't regret having the surgery done even for a moment. In the early days after surgery I was becoming almost obsessive about my vision, Also, like you, my eyes were unbelieveably bloodshot after surgery, although I was told this may happen and it cleared up no problem. But trust me, give it time and your vision will get better.