Yet another warning to those considering refractive surgery, and to anyone planning a gift of laser or lens surgery to a loved one - DON’T DO IT
Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (#MGD) is a condition that the majority of people could live their lifetime without ever knowing they have it!
I had never heard of MGD, and had no symptoms (asymptomatic), until my regrettable lasek surgery on 18 February 2011, since which time I have needed and regularly undergo specialist treatment, including Lipiflow.*
Due to the ongoing dispute with Optimax|Ultralase owner Russell Ambrose (who could easily settle this, but he’s bored and enjoys fighting with me!), I was overdue for treatment, and as a result, some of the meibomian glands in my left eye had became severely blocked; so after suffering with chalazions (cysts) for more than 6 weeks, the prescibed ointment not working, I had steroid injections (see 29 August post for details & more gruesome pics!)
By mid October all but one had disappeared, this diagnosed as 'pyogenic granuloma’. (Google it!)
I was then prescribed steroid ointment (easier to apply with clean finger tip than follow instructions to squeeze into eye - especially when you have no close up vision sans specs!)
Took a while, but it's worked like magic, and the lump almost gone… then I woke up two days ago looking like the bride of Dracula!
Panicking, I contacted my specialist, who explained that it was a 'Subconjunctival haemorrhage', the steroids having weakened the blood vessels, and told me that I should check my blood pressure asap.
About to rush off to the nearest A&E, he informed me that I could buy a blood pressure monitor at a pharmacy.
I did so, and when I forwarded the reading, he replied: 'That must be your cool and calm temperament’. As I'm sure those off you who know me will appreciate, he was of course joking!
I had surgery in February 2011, almost TWELVE years ago, and still I continue to present with new problems.
How much more do people need to hear to understand that the problems so many thousands of us suffer as a result of #refractivesurgery (laser and lens), including blindness and enucleation, glaucoma, retinal detachment, etc… etc… could happen to them?
Do people not realise that most of us also thought we would be OK? (I was worried, and came close to cancelling minutes before surgery, but that's another story!)
Meanwhile, if interested in reading more about MGD, I recommend this article:'The Effect of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction on Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis in Asymptomatic Patients’
'The post-LASIK dry eye is a crucial factor of the surgical outcome and patient satisfaction [21, 22]. Therefore, a thorough preoperative evaluation and postoperative management of refractive surgery candidates with dry eye are recommended in the initial screening and during follow-up examinations. Searching the data available in the era of asymptomatic MGD and the effect on LASIK outcomes, it was surprising to learn that it is very limited. More studies are needed to reach solid conclusions.’**
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40123-022-00610-y
It should be noted that the study did not include patients who’d undergone #Lasek/PRK or lens surgery.
Fyi: Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) and Laser Sub-epithelial Keratectomy (Lasek) are surface laser eye surgery procedures. Lasek is a derivative of PRK, whereby the epithelium is loosened with alcohol solution. The epithelium surface cells are then scraped aside and smoothed back over after the laser treatment. PRK is a similar procedure, but the surface cells are scraped aside and binned.
*This doesn’t work for everyone, is expensive, and only provides temporary relief.
**No sh*t Sherlock! Something the refractive industry is definitely not keen to pursue.