Friday, January 25, 2013

Punctal Plugs

Yesterday, I went to see my local eye doctor to see what we could do about how dry my eyes have progressively become.
They didn't seem too dry of course on the day I actually go to the doctor. But yes, indeed, they were so dry ( especially my right eye which has had more trouble) my normally 20/15 vision they now rated 20/25 which still is good, but I was alarmed as I truly couldn't make out one letter with my right eye on the exam.
After examining my eyes thoroughly, my doctor recommended temporary punctal plugs to be inserted in my lower tear ducts. This is to keep the fluids on my eye from quickly draining off,  ( and yes, I can still cry- my coworkers were wondering this today)
They simply putting some lovely numbing drops in your eyes, (that felt a bit like isopropyl alcohol) so I wouldn't be uncomfortable at all.
I simply had to look up to the ceiling as she used what I imagined were very precise instruments to insert this tiny little plugs deep into my tear ducts.  I felt the pressure etc. of what she was doing.  It really was no big deal.  However, I've had many eye procedures this was again, not a big deal.

However, I am happy to report that already this morning I can tell a nice difference.  It didn't hurt to blink and my eye lids didn't stick to my eye ball.  Must say, it was much nicer to wake up like that!

You can't see the temporary plugs at all in my case. She chose the temporary punctal plug because it had a greater chance of staying in for the full 4-6 months.  I agreed to this as I did have a permanent plug put in some time ago that popped out after 3 weeks.  The doctor figured I itched it out of my eye during allergy season.  See, the permanent punctal plugs have the tiniest little white dot that sits just above the tear duct. I must have worked that plug right out of my eye with my allergy to ragweed that summer.

Anyway, I'm very excited to find a bit of relief from these dry, burning, blurry eyes.

Also, it was lots of fun to hear how excited this doctor was when reviewing my strab. measurements.  She just couldn't get over what a difference I am now compared to before surgery.  It really is a miracle!

1 comment:

Strabismus Treatment said...

It's great to hear that the surgery went well!