Need help in recovering from surgery

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twallis@gmail.com - 01 Oct 2005 18:01 GMT

I had laser photocoagulation surgery on my left eye 3 days ago for
lattice degeneration and tears in my retina. The procedure involved
injecting the eye with lydocaine and then about 1500 zaps to my retina
with a laser. The procedure itself really wasn't painful, however, the
lydocaine numbed my optic nerve and rendered me blind in that eye for
several hours.

Now, vision is back in that eye, not 100%, but it's good enough. My
issue is, I see double. It's like my eyes are not lined up together. Is
this normal? Should I be keeping a patch over my recently fixed eye? Or
should I put a patch over my good eye in effort to get the other one
back up to speed? Or should I just patch nothing, and go insane by
seeing double all the time?

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Dr Judy - 01 Oct 2005 21:09 GMT

>I had laser photocoagulation surgery on my left eye 3 days ago for
> lattice degeneration and tears in my retina. The procedure involved
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> back up to speed? Or should I just patch nothing, and go insane by
> seeing double all the time?

Not an expected outcome of laser treatment. Call your surgeon. In the
meantime you could patch either eye if it prevents the diplopia. Double
vision can also be caused by diabetes, mini stroke and other neurological
disease so it may be just a coincidence that it occured with the laser
work.. Call your surgeon.

Dr Judy

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twallis@gmail.com - 01 Oct 2005 23:01 GMT

YIKES! Ok, it's the weekend, so I guess I can't do much until Monday.
In the meantime, could it be due to swelling? I did have a fair amount
of swelling following the surgery, although most of it seems to have
gone.

Now I am even more freaked out. What if this doesn't "go away" on it's
own? Would it require additional surgery to fix?

Thanks

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