Don't always believe the doctor

[thughes]

Hi y'all,
Is is certainly not engraving related, but I just had to share in case anyone else is struggling.

My eye sight has always been terrible. Everyone said I must be shooting skeet by braille. My astigmatism is pretty much off the charts and that told me for years that LASIK wouldn't work. About 4 years ago they said the technology was there to fix em. NOT. Three tries later on my right eye and they gave up. The last couple of years have been awful, essentially seeing two images and my brain looking at the left eye while trying to ignore the right eye. Constant headaches, queasy feeling. Trying to draw and engrave was/has been awful.

I went to another doc last year and he said, yep you can't be made to see with glasses, and lens implants will fix it, but insurance won't cover it because it's not medically necessary. Out of frustration I went to another doctor last week, he referee me to another surgeon, and he said my vision in my right eye was 20/500 and the left was better at 20/100, thus the splitting vision. He said the cut-off for medically necessary was 20/50 and he is pretty upset at the other doc. I'm getting lens implants April 3 and 17.

Sorry about the war and peace length e-mail, but get a second opinion.

 

[thughes]

Oh and I forgot to say, the problem was cataractsin my eyes that the other doc said weren't bad enough to be medically necessary.

 

[Dulltool]

Great news I am happy for you.... keep us posted.

 

[Sam]

Keep us posted on your progress, thughes. I hope everything works out well for you.

 

[cowgirlup]

You poor guy! Eyesight is a scary thing to deal with. I work for doctors in a family practice setting and I'll be the first one to tell you to get a second, third or even fourth opinion on those matters. Doctors are not a higher power and they do not know everything! Unfortunately, our healthcare really is our own responsibility (which is scary). Good luck and I hope the best for you and your vision!

 

[Mike Fennell]

It must be very frustrating to be unable to see well. I am glad you refused to take "no" for an answer. I hope your procedure goes well.

 

[mdengraver]

The trick is getting a doctor to spend enough time with you to give a proper evaluation. Doctors are often too rushed between patients. They are pressured to spend a minimum amount of time with each patient. In the end you need to decide if you agree with their evaluation, or more than one opinion helps. Often you understand your problem better than they do, since you actually live with it. I was prescribed the wrong eye prescription and I tried to work with it but couldn't and it made me very depressed trying to use the glasses which the doctor insisted were correct. Turns out on more than one occasion the prescription had been done totally wrong. I finally found a good optometrist I trust. Remember that's why they call it the practice of medicine.

 

[Peter E]

Did the doctor explain that "implants" replace your biological lens? It seems obvious, but one difference implants have from your biological lens is focusing on close objects.

Perhaps advances have been made, but in the past implants to remove cataracts meant that glasses would be necessary for close vision such as reading.

 

[Carol Carter-Wientjes]

Hi thughes, I have a recent injury-induced astigmatism in one eye now too so I really feel for you. It's a tricky problem! I hope the implants can help to turn things around for you so you can get back to drawing, engraving and a whole lot more. Hang in there CaroL

 

[unclejim1955]

I've had cataracts in both eyes myself. Like looking at life through frosted glass. I had the surgery over ten years ago. My Doctor took the time to explain things very well and did a bangup job with the surgery. After what you've been going through, prepare yourself for the thrill of a lifetime. as soon as they take the patch off (In my case, overnight) you have instant clear, crisp vision. As Peter said, I do need reading glasses, but it's worth it to me. I've heard that they now have lenses that, in some cases, will focus up close.

 

[thughes]

Thanks everyone, for the encouragement. Yes I will need reading glasses, but I've had on a pair of glasses every day of my life since first grade when they told my parents "he's not clumsy, he can't see". That's the honest truth. So readers can't be that bad.