Friday, June 09 2006, 1:11 AM

I just realized that I've neglected my small but faithful audience by not posting news covering the progress of my right eye over the past month since the cataract surgery. While certainly not a 100% turnaround, I have noticed a marked improvement in my sight since my last post. I can pick out things at a much further distance than I could before now. I always try to assess my progress by looking at street signs on the highway when I'm heading into work. Before I had the cataract removed, I could clearly make out the signs at maybe five car-lengths of distance, if that. Afterwards, things have improved enough so that I can see the same level of detail at 3-4 times that, maybe more. It's hard to tell since I have to worry about driving the car, but it's still an improvement.

I think there are two things that are still holding me back though, and neither is likely to go away completely. First is the garbage that's still floating around in my eye. It's always there, floating and swirling, and it can be quite distracting. The second is the underachieving reflex action of the iris/pupil that I've had since the first laser treatment. I've shown a picture of it before here, for those who aren't familar with what I'm talking about. My right eye is extraordinarly slow in reacting to changes in light level, and it seems to be stuck in a less contracted position than the left eye.

As a result, I'm really really uncomfortable in bright environments, and I notice a pretty large degradation in my sight when I'm looking at things with a lot of difference in light levels. For example, the vision tests I've been taking involve a dark room, an illuminated screen, and dark letters. Everybody probably knows what they look like. Anyway, when I'm looking at the letters, the bright illuminated areas 'bleed' into the darker areas quite heavily, and it makes it hard to pick out the letters. A week after the cataract surgery, I was seeing 20/45 with normal vision, but when I looked through this pinhole-mask-thingy (can't think of a better name for it), which blocks a significant portion of the light and glare, I was able to see 20/20. It was a strained 20/20 though. With my left eye, I read the 20/20 line at a glance, but it takes a concerted effort to make things out with my right eye at anything lower than 20/50 or so. Eventually I can make things out when the crap floating around in my eye shifts to the right position, but it's certainly not effortless.

The good news is that I've received a clean bill of health from Dr. Doshi. I see him again in a year. However, I'm sure Dr. Saxe isn't finished with me yet. I'm probably about due for another steroid injection. I tell ya... I can't wait... Right.

righteye

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