u/sunrise_parabellum

Hi cataract fam, me again checking in, I'm 3 days post op from vitrectomy in my left eye and extremely pleased to report that IT WORKED!

I'm still hazy due to inflammation and eye drops (the steroid one is opaque like milk my cataract surgery was dropless so never dealt with drops before) but it's slowly reducing and already a lot less haze than the unoperated eye.

In the day time there is minimal to no light scatter, in the dark it's still very hazy with some scatter again nowhere near as bad as it was before. I have so much contrast back and I can see sharply for a much bigger range than I could before with my iols. Lens has not moved and near focus still in the same place but it's a lot further until it gets blurry, I was happy with the sharpness of the iols only to find out what I thought was normal with iol was actually quite limited.

The trees don't look flat anymore in that eye, I had lost so much contrast trees and bushes always looked flat because my brain couldn't distinguish foreground and background.

The sky is blue again in the left eye too it was a Grey haze with a slight blue tint before on a clear day 🫠

I know 3 days is so very early in the healing process but even if what I have now was to be my final visual outcome I'd be so very pleased. Functional vision, finally!

Oh and the dysphotopsias i had from what I thought was the iol and the yag? GONE. must have been the cloudy vitreous in conjunction with the iol not the iol alone that caused it all!

My surgeon had actually planned to enlarge the opening in the posterior capsule during surgery as he thought the opening was too small causing big x shaped rays from every light but he said when he got in there he decided against it as he didn't want to risk destabilising or even dislocating the lens so I was fully expecting to still see light sabres like it's the return of the jedi but nope, not a stray ray of light in sight!

I'm over the moon with this outcome, going for my second post op check tomorrow hopefully pressure is good.

Hi r/cataractsurgery I was very active in this sub late last year and have never forgotten how highly informative, kind, and supportive this sub was.

Some of you might remember me, the autistic person with congenital cataracts and debilitating light aberrations from severe atypical vitreous syneresis. I had hoped my symptoms were due to my cataracts but unfortunately only my double vision and unsteady focus resolved and my surgeon told me i needed to try and neuroadapt before he would consider vitrectomy. This was in November 2025.

In January 2025 my eyes had settled enough to get my progressive glasses. My vision remained significantly disturbed and highly unpleasant in certain lighting situations but against what I thought i was capable of i did adapt mostly. Was my visual quality uncomfortable and difficult? Yes. Was my vision still functional? Also yes.

At this point i was still grieving my previous vision but able to get on with things.

In April this year I had YAG for PCO (which had reintroduced double vision) and got a bit clarity back but introduced new dysphotopsias eg bright long x shaped rays coming off every light. I kind of took that in my stride as I already had thick fog, severe glare, loss of contrast, thousands of floaters. Vision remained functional. I started using brimonidine drops to reduce pupil size which helps a lot with the x shaped rays.

Two weeks ago I ended up at eye emergency thinking I had a retinal tear as left eye extremely cloudy and an extra couple hundred floaters in my vision. As I was waiting to be seen i literally watched a thick patch of cloudy vitreous gel slide towards and past my lens as it detached from the retina. Had my eyes checked, no tears, no detachment, doctor I saw told me I have the worst vitreous degeneration she's ever seen and it's getting into vitrectomy territory only the public health system would not provide a vitrectomy without a retinal detachment because 'it's just quality of life it's not important.' 🙃

Again I got on with things, right eye had a dramatic increase in cloudiness shortly after right.

Of course i got on with it until I ended up walking outside after dark and having to be led by holding my friend's arm because the glare was so bad my vision was in 90% whiteout, with the peripheral vision of the eye furthest from traffic so low contrast that I couldn't differentiate the footpath from the surrounding environment at all. I realised i could no longer safely move around at night, not just not able to drive but no longer able to bike or even walk.

A few days later I was walking my dog in daylight and tried to work out what the heck was moving up the path approx 20 meters in front of me. Just a weird dark moving shape. Once I got close enough realised it was a lady with grey hair wearing dark blue trousers and a Grey jacket walking a Grey dog. My contrast sensitivity had dropped so much all I could see was her trousers. I realised i am not safe to drive even in the day now. Still rode my bike for transport as need to get back and forth, ended up having at least one close call every single ride as I cannot see potholes or obstacles.

Work was okay for another week meanwhile more fog more glare more floaters less contrast to the point where I can no longer perform some of the more specialised procedures that are not just part of my job but skills I have honed to perfection and that I pride myself in being known for being highly competent in.

So now work is borderline, I cannot get around outside safely and independently. I can no longer embroider, play most video games, read, do digital art on my tablet, take my dog to training club (as sessions are after dark), ride my bicycle, go op shopping, go to the beach or pool. I have dungeons and dragons, walking my dog carefully in daylight, and listening to podcasts left out of my many, varied, both sedentary and athletic hobbies.

I have constant headaches, neck pain, my eye fatigue is insane because I have to work so hard to make sense of the world beyond the glare, the fog, and the constantly swirling debris.

After spending a year telling myself I need to just toughen up, I need to try harder, I need to get on with it and my vision isn't as bad as I think i have arrived at a point where my vision is no longer functional. Over the last year I've crossed many thresholds where I thought, I cannot cope with this is cannot manage this but then still ended up managing. It has been debilitating and exhausting this whole time but that's relative to my ability to endure discomfort (I can handle a lot) but it was never a threat to my safety, my livelihood, or my independence.

Until now.

Today I went back to the surgeon who did my cataracts- he is a vitreoretinal specialist with an exceptional reputation. He's very conservative when it comes to doing surgery and although he had put vitrectomy on the table as a future option i could tell he was hesitant to even discuss that step.

Today he has agreed to proceed with full vitrectomy (pvd induced mine are in progress but nowhere near complete) and booked me for surgery on July 2nd. I was terrified he would say no, my hands were shaking through the whole appointment and I had the feeling he was going to decline.

Spoke about risks and complications. He said 1% chance of severe issues leaving me worse off. I told him 99% chance of getting functional vision back is good odds to me. He agreed with me but said that his approach to surgery is to focus on the risk and how he can minimise it rather than the high likelihood of things going well. I respect him so much for that and it confirmed to me that I have the right person to trust with my eyesight.

I'm scared of course but I'm also joyful and optimistic that things will go well.

I'm so looking forward to being able to see the stars again, going to see a movie, going to the beach, riding my bike, driving a car. I will never take my vision for granted again.