i had cataract surgery on my left eye on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
i began to have a flickering light in the outer corner of that eye within hours after the surgery. I have read that several of you have had this problem. How long did it last?
Hi Pete, it's nothing to worry about. I had the same thing [I had mine done in 1992!]. You are seeing the edge of your new lens - the implant. You will have had the natural lens removed because you couldn't see through it anymore.
You will get used to it once you stop trying to look at it if you know what I mean.
Good luck!
Thanks for your response. Will this flickering or flashing of light go away?
Yes, you will stop noticing it.
Supongo que podrías decir que tuve la misma cirugía, excepto que no fue por cataratas. Lo hice por la visión y para no tener que lidiar con cataratas nunca. Tuve la cirugía el mismo día que tú, Pete, y hoy me ingreso al hospital debido a espasmos en el ojo y aumento del dolor. El Dr. FINALLY me devolvió la llamada después de que todas sus líneas estuvieran caídas y dijo que todo esto es normal. No haré el otro ojo y ojalá no hubiera hecho este ojo
¿Tienes mucha secreción espesa?
As I said before my Cataract surgery was a disasger and I had mine done the beginning of Feb. of this year and i still see flashes, but I wish that is all that happened.
No. The only crusty stuff I have is the drops crust in my eyelashes and the inner corner of my eye.
I am sorry. The only problem that I have is the flickering light in the outer part of my left eye.
Hi, Pete, I had cataract surgery on my left eye 2 years ago and on my right eye last year. Both times I experienced what you're describing--an occasional flickering light (particularly in sunlight or near a table lamp) in my peripheral vision. After the first surgery I was concerned, so I asked my M.D. and he told me it's fairly common and will go away--which it did, sometime in the first month. At least a dozen people--whom I talked to about their post-surgery healing-- in my city also experienced the flickering light. So, after the second surgery I wasn't so anxious, because I knew it would go away, which it did. Be patient with the healing process.
Hey, northcoastneil!
You have given me so much encouragement. I will just be patient and wait for the flickering light to disappear. My right eye is to be done in June.
Hola
No sé si esto te ayudará o te deprimirá (!), pero me hice una cirugía de cataratas en mi ojo derecho a mediados de septiembre de 2014. El procedimiento me dejó con una visión muy mejorada en ese ojo, por casi cualquier medida. Hay tres "desventajas"
de las que me advirtieron.
La primera es que, aunque puedo ver con una claridad y agudeza impactantes cualquier cosa desde aproximadamente dieciocho pulgadas de mi nariz hasta los árboles en la línea de la cresta de las montañas a ocho o nueve millas de distancia, intentar comer un bol de sopa sin antes ponerme mis gafas de lectura (que llevan el bol a un enfoque nítido a costa de desenfocar todo lo que está más allá de dos pies de distancia) invita al desastre y a una cuenta de lavandería.
La segunda es que ninguna lente es ópticamente perfecta en todo su diámetro, y en mi caso eso significa que con luz brillante puedo leer hasta el fondo del cartel de prueba de la vista, pero con poca luz pierdo dos o tres filas porque el iris se abre más y recoge luz sobre el área "imperfecta" que desenfoca la imagen en la retina. Mi optometrista mide esto cuidadosamente en los dos exámenes de la vista (con 12 meses de diferencia) que he tenido desde la cirugía, estoy legalmente apto para conducir y el grado en que esto ocurre se ha mantenido sin cambios desde la operación.
El tercer problema está nuevamente relacionado con niveles de luz más bajos. Cuando el iris se abre en áreas poco iluminadas, o de noche, o a veces si miro de reojo algo, la luz golpeará el borde de la lente y brevemente me hará ver un anillo o un anillo parcial de luz. Como puedes imaginar, esto se ve con más frecuencia de noche cuando camino cerca de las farolas o tengo coches que vienen hacia mí con las luces encendidas en carreteras sin iluminar.
En mi caso, como con los cuerpos flotantes, me asustó muchísimo la primera vez que sucedió, pero me he acostumbrado a ello como parte integral de lo que para mí es una enorme mejora de la miopía severa desde el nacimiento. Estoy seguro de que otras personas tienen diferentes grados de experiencia.
Te dejaré con una palabra de advertencia, sin embargo. He descrito las líneas circulares de luz que veo. Son permanentes, pero tu mente aprende a ignorarlas.
Pero aproximadamente un año antes de que me operaran de cataratas, tuve destellos extraños de luz, como puntos de luz, parpadeando en la esquina superior de mi visión. Recuerda que la imagen en tu ojo está invertida... Esos destellos resultaron ser un par de agujeros diminutos en la retina que necesitaban soldadura con láser, nada que ver con las cataratas en absoluto. PODRÍA valer la pena una llamada telefónica al optometrista que te derivó, o al número de atención posterior que te dieron cuando te hicieron la catarata, porque en mi caso, de todos modos, la esquina superior exterior de lo que ves se enfoca realmente en la parte inferior de la retina más cerca de tu nariz, y AHÍ es donde, en mi caso, de todos modos, inyectaron el anestésico para la operación....
The odds are very high that it will go away and so you should be optimistic. The issue seems to be rare and it seems that most who experience it eventually see it go away. In some cases the issue early on is related to the lens not having fully healed into the capsular bag yet and as it does the flickering subsides, in other cases the brain learns to tune it out. However I'd also suggest that the comments that assert certainty that it will go away on its own aren't being rational since the mere fact that it went away in their case by itself doesn't guarantee it will in yours. In a minority of cases people have needed to have additional treatment like lens exchanges or an added piggy back lens (as I'm sure you saw in the other thread on this site dealing with the issue, or on other pages around the net), so there is no absolute guarantee it'll go away on its own. In addition there seem to be different problems that can lead to the same similar but vague description of flickering light, so there is no guarantee your problem is exactly the same as someone else's. The thing to do is to be optimistic that in most cases it will go away on its own so not to worry too much. However its aslo good to be prepared in case it doesn't and try to have a doctor help you pin down the cause to figure out options in case it doesn't.
Me hice una cirugía de catarata el 9 de marzo y aún tengo visión doble en ese ojo cuando me levanto por la mañana. Han pasado 6 semanas hasta ahora. El médico me dijo que tomará tiempo porque rompí un vaso sanguíneo y los músculos de ese ojo necesitan sanar. Mi ojo estaba inyectado en sangre, vaya si estaba nerviosa. Me hice el ojo izquierdo en marzo sin problemas. Supongo que tendré que tener un poco más de paciencia.
Thank you for your response. I am going to remain optimistic that with more healing time, the flashing/flickering of light will disappear. I have good distance and good close up vision. My eye is still very sensitive to light, so I wear dark sunglasses. This is the 5th day after my surgery, so I will not get depressed yet! 😎
Thanks for your advice!
Being patient is probably the best advice!
I have this especially when I am in a dark place and there is a light to the side of me. This makes my pupil wide open. The implanted lens has a smaller diameter than my natural lens, so your artificial lens is smaller than the one you had since birth. When your pupil is large (because you are in a dark place, the pupil needs to be more open to let in more light), bbright lights shine on the edge of your implanted, artificial lens and causes "edge glare" (google this) - which makes your flickering light effect. My second lens was implanted 3 weeks ago and the edge glare was more when I only had one lens done, but I still get it. I can still see straight ahead perfectly well. I have got used to it and know I will always have it. If I am in a bright place it doesn't happened.
Overall I am overjoyed with my artificial, implanted lenses. I have my final check-up this morning and will get the assistant to confirm the above.
I have NEVER seen so well! I am so grateful to the NHS.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for your response! It is great to hear positive comments.
Yes, I had the edge glare problem confirmed at my appointment a couple of hours ago - this will never go away, but you will get used to it pretty quickly as the others have suggested. The floaters and little black specks that I am getting may, or may not, go away - she said I will get used to them anyway.
The important thing is we can see ! My right eye can see the bottom line so clearly - I could read smaller letters than the bottom line, but not with my left eye - the clinician said I had amazingly good sight - also that they will probably never deteriorate !!!
My pressure for both eyes is 14 - I thought they would be high, but that's very low. I hope it goes well for you too, Pete, all the very best !!! - nice chatting with you ...