Follow up appointments and the battle of the blur

Day Four (January 9): Things were very blurry when I woke up in this morning. The ghosting I noticed yesterday was much more distracting. The TV screen was still marginally watchable, but reading any sort of print was nearly impossible, althoug I did find that I could increase the font size or decrease the resolution of my computer screen and stand a few minutes of reading through the blur. Despite the sloppy vision, there was very minimal irritation, and what there was was in my right eye.

This was the day of my first follow-up appointment, when I might have the bandage contact lenses removed. When the optomestrist – the third one I've seen so far at the clinic – checked my eyes, he explained that the healing was looking good in terms of pattern and progress, but that the corneal epithelium had not yet completely covered the operated area. He estimated about 95% closure, with a small spot in the center of each eye that had yet to heal. This was also why my vision was blurry: the epithelial cells were regrowing and reconnecting right in front of my pupil, and thus refracting light in interesting ways. The decision was to leave the bandage lenses in for another two days (at least), to allow for the first part of healing to finish. Once the lenses are out, the optometrist explained that I'd notice a fairly quick improvement in terms of blurriness, but that it would take another week or two until it was all resolved, and after that my vision would become increasingly sharp. Before he let me go, he had me read lines on the Snellen chart. Despite all the blur, I was able to rattle off the 20/40 line (but had no real hope at 20/30 or better... yet), which both of us were quite happy with.

Day Six (January 11): After a slightly less blurry day yesterday, I woke up this morning with pretty clear vision. No real discomfort in my eyes behind the bandage lenses either. I managed to do a little bit of work in the morning, still with low resolution and large fonts. And then I went in for my second followup visit. This time I saw the same optometrist who had done my consultation. She seemed to remember me (although having my chart in her hand probably helped) and was very personable, answering all my questions again. After a quick look in each eye and telling me that everything looked “fully cooked and ready,” it was time to pull out the bandage lenses. I was a bit nervous, having read someone's blog about how it was a challenge to get the lenses out after they had become stuck to the regrowing epithelial cells, but this went smoothly. It was a bit strange not removing my lenses myself, after years of doing it almost every night, but I have no complaints about the optometrist's skilled and gentle touch. With the lenses out, my eyes immediately felt a bit gritty, and my vision was slightly more blurry than with the lenses in. The doctor explained that I should be very liberal with my use of lubricating drops, because the fragile new cells could dry up and dislodge, thus slowing my recovery. As I made my way home on the subway, I probably dropped my eyes five or six times. This afternoon, I've hardly been able to read or write, because my vision blurs within a minute or two of putting drops in. Fortunately, I've got my playlist of podcasts to get me through. My vision should clear gradually (and I think the doctor said pretty quickly) over the next week. I've got another followup appointment booked for February 1. In the meantime, it's my regular regime of antibiotics (until Friday) and Lotemax (until further notice). That and patience as I wait for my world to become crystal clear so I can fully enjoy the benefits of this surgery.