MY RECENT CATARACT SURGERY IN AUSTRALIA

by Lorraine Noel
(Melbourne, Australia)

I'm 72 and had good eyesight until I developed cataracts over the last few years. I had surgery at a public hospital in Melbourne and was very nervous about it, but was given a sedative and didn't experience any pain or trauma during the surgery. I was kept in hospital overnight as I live alone, and discharged the next day. Although my eye was very bloodshot, my vision was great and I was very happy. I was prescribed Pred Fort eye drops but unfortunately these made me feel nauseous and exhausted. I was supposed to take them 4 times a day for 4 weeks, but I felt so ill that after 2 weeks I changed over to NSAID eye drops, which are used at many eye clinics. Unfortunately, about a week after surgery my vision began to deteriorate and become blurred, especially at night, so now I'm going back to the hospital tomorrow as I suspect I have post op macular oedema. My mother had cataract surgery in her 70s and her vision was good after that, but within months she suffered a detached retina and blindness in that eye, with cataracts getting worse in the other eye and they didn't dare do surgery on that eye, and poor Mum was virtually blind for the last 12 years of her life, so I'm just hoping the same doesn't happen with me.

If anyone has had a similar experience to me, I'd be glad to hear about it.