Precautions after Cataract surgery

[thecyclist]

I just underwent Cataract surgery in a provincial hospital in Vietnam. Most of the post operative instructions were given with the help of Google translate, and varied somewhat from nurse/doctor to nurse/doctor. It's unbelievable how many nurses and doctors attend to you pre and post surgery, more than 20 at least.

I assume that they err massively on the side of caution. 

No exercise/sport for three weeks will be the Most difficult part for me to maintain. I am a very active person, and that long without it when you feel perfectly healthy ,and energetic, is almost tantamount to torture. 

Then there is the sleeping on your back with the protective glasses on for 3 nights. I have never been able to sleep on my back, and even if I managed to fall asleep after taking a high dose of Zolpidem, I  would certainly roll over in my sleep, and the glasses would fall off.

I know that there are many elderly, aging expats in Thailand that had cataract surgery. What are your personal experiences with the post operative care.Not talking about application of eye drops for 3 weeks, that is easy to comply with,  and is no inconvenience.

I don't want to take any unnecessary risk ,but if there is a 0.001 chance of complications, if I do sports again after a couple of days or a week, I am willing to take the risk.

[Pouatchee]

you can find my op on retinal tears... it was an unfortunate consequence for me. most dont get it. watch for flashing lights and floaters... 

dont lift anything heavy... wear uv sunglasses... dont accidentally bump your eye/s use the eye drops your dr prescribed without fault... at first dont get water in your eye showering for a week or two. 

 

for me, it has been one bad thing after another. i got retinal tears in both eyes, had 360 laser welding of the retina in one eye now need to do the other. but i am the exception. one in like 100 000...

 

if anything feels wrong go see a doctor as soon  as you can

 

best wishes

Edited July 25 by Pouatchee

[oxo1947]

19 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

I just underwent Cataract surgery in a provincial hospital in Vietnam

Keep away from swimming pools -month-6 weeks-- was the strict advice I got when I had a lens replacement (same opp)  just curious--what was the price.

 

  What made you have it there ? or do you live there

 

 

 

Edited July 25 by oxo1947

[Lorry]

56 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

err massively on the side of caution

That's what I would do if it were my eyes.

 

56 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

No exercise/sport for three weeks

Standard advice. Some say 4 weeks.

 

57 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

I have never been able to sleep on my back, and even if I managed to fall asleep after taking a high dose of Zolpidem, I  would certainly roll over in my sleep, and the glasses would fall off.

I cannot sleep on my back, either.  I would ask them for a solution.

BTW after surgery (not eyes),  I was able to sleep on my back. 3 or 4 nights. 

[jas007]

Did they do both eyes at once?

 

When I had my surgeries, they were one month apart. First the right, then the left. 
 

The first few days after surgery are important.  Wear the eye guard at night, use the drops like you’re supposed to, and don’t get your eye wet in the shower.  If you go outside, wear sunglasses.  You don’t want to screw this up.

 

Within a few days, you should notice some improvement.  Keep using the drops until they tell you to stop.
 

[Tropicalevo]

I had lens replacement in both eyes last year.

I was told not to swim for a couple of months and make sure no water in the eyes whilst showering or washing for two weeks. (Wear swimming goggles in the shower.)

That was it.

Usual regime of loads of eye drops during the day and because I had the tri-focal lenses fitted, I wore anti glare glasses for about a month.

[Tropicalevo]

4 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Did they do both eyes at once?

My lenses were replaced one day apart.

[transam]

I had two done in LOS, a month apart, they said, in case of a problem. No restrictions on sleeping, except wearing eye patch in case you rub or poke your eye when sleeping.

Do not let water in your eye when showering, and no swimming because of the chlorine.

Put the drops in your eye religiously as instructed, I saw folk who obviously didn't.

 

All the rest of the don't do this and do that, is more aligned to retina repair, I have had two of those done, much more complicated..🤕

[Sheryl]

8 hours ago, thecyclist said:

Then there is the sleeping on your back with the protective glasses on for 3 nights. I have never been able to sleep on my back, and even if I managed to fall asleep after taking a high dose of Zolpidem, I  would certainly roll over in my sleep, and the glasses would fall off.

 

 

Usually an eye guard  rather than glasses, something like this:

 

 

Which can be taped in place.

 

And yes, you do need to avoid sports and other strenuous activity for a few weeks.

[thecyclist]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

Usually an eye guard  rather than glasses, something like this:

 

 

Which can be taped in place.

 

And yes, you do need to avoid sports and other strenuous activity for a few weeks.

That eye guard looks much better than what they gave me.I asked them for something like this ,but they said  no, or they didn't understand what I was talking about. 

The Vietnamese are pretty much set in their ways, not the most flexible minds. 

Will see whether something like this is available in pharmacies.

How are you supposed to sleep wearing these:

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, thecyclist said:

That eye guard looks much better than what they gave me.I asked them for something like this ,but they said  no, or they didn't understand what I was talking about. 

The Vietnamese are pretty much set in their ways, not the most flexible minds. 

Will see whether something like this is available in pharmacies.

How are you supposed to sleep wearing these:

I can see the problem.  Most large pharmacies should have eye guard such as pictured.

[Expat68]

19 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

My lenses were replaced one day apart.

My lenses were replaced one week apart and the doctor said that was even quick, normally one month 

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, thecyclist said:

Then there is the sleeping on your back with the protective glasses on for 3 nights. I have never been able to sleep on my back, and even if I managed to fall asleep after taking a high dose of Zolpidem, I  would certainly roll over in my sleep, and the glasses would fall off.

I can't sleep on my back but I can reclining on a load of pillows or in a recliner chair. You can buy cord to keep glasses on your face, or just make one yourself from elastic.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

My lenses were replaced one week apart and the doctor said that was even quick, normally one month 

Not a good idea to do too soon, If one goes wrong and had op on other you have a problem.

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, thecyclist said:

How are you supposed to sleep wearing these:

On your back.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

My lenses were replaced one day apart.

Sorry but that is NOT good practice.

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, thecyclist said:

if I do sports again after a couple of days or a week, I am willing to take the risk.

If you do that and it goes wrong it will be YOUR fault. Just DON'T.

[thecyclist]

21 hours ago, jas007 said:

Did they do both eyes at once?

 

When I had my surgeries, they were one month apart. First the right, then the left. 
 

The first few days after surgery are important.  Wear the eye guard at night, use the drops like you’re supposed to, and don’t get your eye wet in the shower.  If you go outside, wear sunglasses.  You don’t want to screw this up.

 

Within a few days, you should notice some improvement.  Keep using the drops until they tell you to stop.
 

No, only one eye, the other eye is still 90 %,

Interesting that you say improvement takes a few days 

I was expecting immediate 'clarity ', but 24 hours after the surgery, there is only a slight improvement, it's still pretty blurry. 

Also I have a halo around neon lights.I thought that was a common side effect of the trifocals. That was one of the reasons, besides cost, why I picked a monofocal lens.

 

[thecyclist]

22 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

Keep away from swimming pools -month-6 weeks-- was the strict advice I got when I had a lens replacement (same opp)  just curious--what was the price.

 

  What made you have it there ? or do you live there

 

 

 

Not a pool guy anyway. 

Yes, I moved from Thailand to Vietnam in 2017, and lived there till after the Pandemic. Since the borders opened again I have been biking or flying back and forth  Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia.

I shopped around in all 3 countries, been to dozens of eye clinics and hospitals. Decided to have it done in Vietnam, because a private hospital here is approximately the same price as a government hospitals in Thailand. Paid 14mil đồng =20000 Baht for a monofocal lens.

Bangkok hospital Rayong, the Pattaya International hospital wanted 60 to 70k Baht for the same.

 

[ade591]

Had mine done 2 weeks apart, now 6 weeks after 1st, 4 weeks after 2nd. Surprised they were done so close to each other. I had the plastic shield, wore it for a week when sleeping, but I think this is where you have a problem. Not to sleep on the operated side for a week. If you've had both done, you would have no option but to sleep on your back to avoid this. 

I had a lot of flickering light from the side so get some wraparound sunglasses as it can be annoying. Apart from that, use the drops religiously, and take it easy. Why risk any complications? I have an excellent left eye and a slightly overcorrected right eye which is giving me eye strain issues. Otherwise I have 20/20 vision again in both eyes. 

Edited July 26 by ade591
Incorrect english

[ade591]

Regarding the halo's, I have monifocal toric lenses and still got them after 6 weeks but nowhere near as bad as they used to be. Apparently can take months to settle down. A lot of it is due to dry eyes. I use hycosan plus drops in between normal drops if they feel dry. When the drops have just been put in and eyes are watery, there are no halo's. 

[ade591]

[topt]

On 7/25/2024 at 3:35 PM, thecyclist said:

I don't want to take any unnecessary risk ,but if there is a 0.001 chance of complications, if I do sports again after a couple of days or a week, I am willing to take the risk.

This may help reinforce what you have been told. I had both eyes done (at the same time......) 3/4 years ago and these are copies of some of the info I was given.

Have a look especially on the 1st one about exercise -

Edited July 26 by topt
bracket correction

[jas007]

6 hours ago, thecyclist said:

No, only one eye, the other eye is still 90 %,

Interesting that you say improvement takes a few days 

I was expecting immediate 'clarity ', but 24 hours after the surgery, there is only a slight improvement, it's still pretty blurry. 

Also I have a halo around neon lights.I thought that was a common side effect of the trifocals. That was one of the reasons, besides cost, why I picked a monofocal lens.

 

 You probably shouldn’t expect immediate results.  Just be patient.  After my first surgery, I couldn’t see much. I thought I was in trouble.  But in a few days, my vision improved.  

[thecyclist]

6 hours ago, topt said:

This may help reinforce what you have been told. I had both eyes done (at the same time......) 3/4 years ago and these are copies of some of the info I was given.

Have a look especially on the 1st one about exercise -

Thanks for the info.Good to know that running is permissible, might get myself some swimming goggles, to prevent sweat from running into my eyes while walking/jogging.