I continue to be amazed

I recently went for my annual vision checkup at my optometrist.  Still reading at 20/20.  Pretty amazing for someone in their forties to not need reading glasses. Distance vision, though, is what really impresses me.  As I drive on the interstate and see so sharply at long distances, I still ponder on how novel that is for me.

My eye doctor commented on my adjusting the distance at which I held reading material (backwards) during his checkup. As if that signaled a need for reading glasses on the horizon.  Maybe so, but I pointed out that for my first 30+ years of reading, I had to bring things closer to me to be able to see clearly and I'm still sort of in the habit of bring things close to read, and then adjusting backwards, even 5 years post-ICL.

5 year mark

I hit five years with my ICLs at the beginning of this month, and not much has changed.  Literally.  I still have halos.  I still have YAG hole artifacting.  I still see 20/20.   I am still happy I had my surgery.  And if you are considering ICL surgery, my mantra is still the same:  do your due diligence (research) and be realistic in your expectations.

4 years later...

Tomorrow marks my four year anniversary with ICLs.  Four years later, I'm still 20/20 with no major issues to speak of.  The halo problem persists, but I really don't think about them much any more.  I don't use the anti-halo drops at all these days.  Some nights, the halos are barely there and the next night they'll be worse than ever.  Their impact on my quality of life is minimal.

Now having gone four years without contact lenses or glasses, it's almost like I can't remember what that was like, and how much of a hassle it was.  I love being free of those things!  I love seeing the alarm clock in the middle of the night, even if there is a halo around it. ;)

If you're considering ICL, really think about pros vs cons, and accept that there are likely to be cons.  It's amazing to think about going from total nearsightedness to 20/20 in a couple days' time.  That kind of magic has to have a price with it, and apparently my price was a few halos.  I'm happy to have paid it and enjoy my clear vision.

3 years later

It's been a little over 3 years since I had my ICLs done.  As far as they're concerned, everything is holding steady.  I'm still seeing 20/20, and still impressed by how clear things are outside in the daylight.  The halos, unfortunately, are still holding steady, too.  No change there.  I've accepted them as a necessary evil with my ICL.  I don't use anti-halo drops much anymore.  I just use them in certain situations, like concert halls, dimly-lit restaurants, driving in unfamiliar areas in the dark.  That's about it. I don't use them on a daily basis, as I really don't like how they make my eyes feel and it sort of dries out my sinuses.  But they do the job when necessary.

My biggest problem at the moment continues to be the tear dysfunction problem.  I don't call it 'dry eye' these days, because most of the time my eyes are anything but dry.  They tear like crazy and are really red without some sort of steroid drop.  I assume the tearing is due to my punctal plugs giving my tears nowhere to go.  I don't know what the red is all about.

I went for a new procedure called "meibomian gland probing" (not as painful as it sounds!), that was supposed to free up the meibomian glands in the lids, but it didn't work for me.  So now I plan to have my punctal plugs removed, or at least, a couple of them, to address the tearing.  This will be done by a doctor at my ICL surgeon's office, so hopefully they will have some new ideas on what's causing all this.  I have tears, just not good quality tears.  It's frustrating, to say the least.

status report

So, Daylight Savings Time has ended and with that, the need for anti-halos drops increases.  I'm resisting, though, as, well, frankly I'm sick of squirting stuff in my eye.  The halos are a lesser concern at the moment because for the last year I've been battling an unrelated infection/inflammation that I've just not been able to shake.  It started with severe redness and increased dryness about this time last year - so red that I found myself not looking people in the eye for fear of grossing them out.  I remember thinking on Christmas Day that the whites of my eyes looked like pepperoni - all red, bumpy, etc.  Awful.

I had a follow up appointment scheduled with my ICL doctor, so of course while I was there the redness was discussed.  At first the opthalmologist (not my surgeon) said it was a dry eye flare up (I had dry eye prior to surgery) and she prescribed a couple of things.  Tried that for a few weeks with no results.  Went back, was prescribed something else.  Again, no results.  The prescription given to me at the third visit turned out to be something I was allergic to, so I only used it twice.  At that point, I decided to call my regular optometrist, as the allergic reaction needed immediate attention and getting into my surgeons office last minute is virtually impossible, and by this time I was ready for a second opinion.  My optometrist prescribed something that made the whiteness go away, but every time I tried to taper it off (per my doctor's instruction), the redness came back.  A few months ago, the tearing started.  Copious amounts of tears.  I had to keep tissues on my at all times, I was dabbing at my eyes every few seconds, having to apologize to strangers and tell people that 'no, I'm not crying'.  It was a ridiculous amount of tears, and the redness was creeping back. 

Fortunately, two weeks ago my optometrist gave me a new prescription that is working!  Within two applications, the tearing had stopped and my eyes are white again.  It remains to be seen if this will hold once I start tapering off again.  But so far, so good. 

Anyway, with all the stuff I've been squirting in my eyes this year, anti-halo drops are an afterthought.  I still use them when absolutely necessary, but otherwise I'm just living with the halos.