You take the time to worry about your heart and your lungs, so why wouldn't you think about your eye health? If you are like most people, it might be because you don't know that much about how to take care of your eyes. Fortunately, I have been working with other people to teach them about eye health for the past twenty years. My father lost his eyesight because of a few bad decisions, and I don't want to see other people go down that path. Read here to learn why you should exercise, eat right, and see your eye doctor regularly.
Improving Your Eye Health
Getting Yourself Prepared For Your Eye Surgery To Stop AMD
James Castro
Your age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has gotten worse and the optometrist suggests laser surgery to stop any more vision loss. While this is a serious eye disease and does cause blindness in people, this surgical procedure is effective at slowing down or stopping the damage. Here is how the surgery will help you and what to do to get yourself ready for the procedure.
Laser Surgery Prevents Further Vision Loss
You likely have the wet form of AMD which is why your doctor recommended laser surgery. With this type of AMD, tiny blood vessels form on the surface of your retina. These blood vessels are weak and can leak fluid out onto the surface. This blocks the light that can get to the retina causing the gray or black blotches that cloud your vision.
The laser closes up these blood vessels, stopping the leak. The procedure can't correct any loss of vision that has already happened, but it can prevent further damage to the retina.
Getting Ready for the Surgery
This procedure is done as an outpatient, so you will return home after the surgery to finish recovering. To make the surgery and recovery easier for you:
- Find someone to take you to your appointment and bring you back home. Your eye will be dilated making driving difficult.
- Ask the person to stay with you for a few hours after you get home. You will feel like resting for the remainder of the day. You'll appreciate having someone to do simple chores for you, such as helping to prepare your dinner.
- The night before the surgery, have a light meal and get plenty of rest so you're relaxed for the procedure.
- If you normally get anxious about such procedures, ask your doctor for something to take the morning of the surgery to relax you.
Surgery Day
Your doctor will have you relax in a reclining chair that gives them the best view of your eyes. They will put two types of eye drops in your eyes. One is an anesthetic so you won't feel any pain during the procedure. The other drops will dilate your eye allowing more light into it where your doctor will be working.
The laser will be positioned in front of you with a microscope that the doctor uses to look inside of your eye. You'll hear short bursts as the laser is guided along the blood vessels on your retina, but you'll feel nothing. When the procedure is complete, you'll be lead to an area to sit for a few minutes. The doctor will take one final look at your eye then release you to go home.
After You Get Home
Your dilated eye will slowly return to normal in a couple of hours. You may have a slight, dull ache for a few days in the affected eye and can take ibuprofen for any discomfort. You will not notice any difference in your vision because the procedure can't restore lost vision. But you'll be safer from any further damage to your retina.
To learn more, contact an eye clinic like Beyond Vision in Edmonton.
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