At the periodical checkup of the age of 59, an oculist pointed out the symptom of the cataract and recommended to continue to have the periodical checkup. But I did not have the checkup since then because I retired from work and did not have any subjective symptom. After a few years my eyes began to blur. I consulted about the dim of my eyesight to the doctor who was treating my irregular pulse. He introduced me to the ophthalmology in the same hospital.
A doctor of the ophthalmology pointed out cataract of both of my eyes and glaucoma of my left eye. The doctor's term of office in the ophthalmology was relatively short, and my doctor changed many times. All doctors had interest in glaucoma more than cataract, and repeated the examinations of the intraocular pressure and the visual field. The first doctor said my glaucoma had no relation to the intraocular pressure. But his successor gave me eyewash to reduce the intraocular pressure, and since then all successors has been continuing to give me the same eyewash.
The eyesight of my right eye, which was not glaucoma, got worse year by year. I talked about it to my doctor. He said, "The cause of it is cataract. Usually I recommend the operation when my patient feels inconvenience in his daily life. This operation is almost safe today. But there is the risk that patient loses his sight as a rare case." I knew that people say, "The operation of the cataract is easy. If it goes well, the patient can return to home at once after the operation." But when I had to decide whether I would be operated on my eye or not, I thought of the worst case. Anyway, I looked up the method of the operation of cataract in books.
According to these books, Cataract is caused by the clouding of the crystalline lens of the eyeball. The grades of the clouding of the lens are various, but the clouding occurs on every old people. The steps of the operation are as follows;
- giving a local anesthetic.
- making about 3mm of incision on the cornea, which is the outside surface of the eyeball.
- making a small hole on the outside surface of the bag, which keeps the crystalline lens.
- inserting the tool for conducting the ultrasonic wave from the hole to the crystalline lens.
- smashing the crystalline lens with the ultrasonic wave.
- drawing the fragments of the smashed lens out from the bag.
- washing the inside of the bag entirely.
- inserting a new plastic lens into the bag.
The operation finishes within about 30 minutes. If the bag tears during the operation, the new lens is sewn on the eyeball. In that case the recovering of the eyesight is not well. If the sewing of the lens on the eyeball fails, the patient loses his sight.
While I was hesitating, the eyesight of my right eye got increasingly bad. I lost confidence of driving my car at exits of parking lots, and at intersections. A friend of mine, who had already undergone the operation for the cataract, advised me to undergo the operation. I decided to undergo the operation and went to the hospital. My doctor has already changed. I was not able to ask for the operation to the doctor whom I met for the first time. After all I asked him for the operation after a few months.
For the purpose of the preliminary check of the operation, I went to the hospital by taxi before being hospitalized. On my way home, the taxi driver talked to me about disease. I said, "I will be operated soon on my eye for the cataract." He said, "My mother was operated for the cataract at a clinic and he watched the operation from the beginning to the end." and explained the details of the operation. This explanation was very useful for me because I was able to imagine each step of the operation under the blind situation later.
I was hospitalised after one week. The roommates in my sickroom were six. The four of six patients were operated for cataract on the same day. I thought all doctors must have been skillful because ten or more patients including other sickroom were operated for cataract on that day. I trusted my doctor and lay down on an operating table. During the operation, I was surprised a little when he said, "risky!", and relaxed when he said, "The lens reached to the bottom exactly." At the end of the operation, my right eye, which was supposed to be unvisible, saw the operating light faintly. I thought that the operation must have ended successfully. The doctor made me wear a patch over my right eye and said, "Your eye becomes visible at tomorrow morning." I relaxed and returned to my sickroom.
Next morning I was called to his office and my eye patch was taken off. First of all his red face came into my view. I cried, "Your face is red." I thought bleeding was occurring on my eye. In fact I was being afraid of bleeding always because I was taking a medicine called warfarin potassium, which prevents the coagulation of blood. But when he began to check my eye, his face color returned to normal. It was not bleeding. After that a red or a blue ring appeared a few times in my sight for a day or two. Such phenomenon also occurred sometimes to the operated eye of a roommate of mine. But when we left the hospital, our abnormal phenomena had disappeared already.
I am a layman in this field but I can think the following two causes about color rings. The one is the abnormal refraction at the gap between the bag and the new lens, which exists until they fit each other. The other one is abnormal refraction in the thin film of the extremely little quantity of the remainder of a chemical used at the operation, which comes into the sight occasionally.
After returning to my room, only I was called to his office again and said, "Could you let the intern check your eye?" I understood arbitrarily that I was called because my operation result was the best among his patients.
I became to be able to see clearly from 1.5m(5ft.) to 10m(30ft.) with the new fixed focus lens without the glasses. So I was able to drive my car but it was difficult to see the greenboard and my notebook alternately in the classroom. To see the near place a pair of new glasses were needed. But the doctor said, "Your eyesight will considerably change within two months." and "Wait to make your glasses until eyesight is stabilized."
After about two months, I had an optical shop make my glasses. My eyesight has come back perfectly. I was fascinated with the contrast between black of types and white of paper of a newspaper. When I was young and my eyesight was clear, the surface of paper was rough and the outline of type was uneven. So the border of type and paper was not clear like today's newspaper.
I think the operation was perfectly success. I think that cataract, which can be completely cured, is rare exception among many adult diseases.
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October 1, 2007