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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Vision Forum » too late for surgery (cataract)?
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| sammy |
 Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:28 pm |
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Guest
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hi folks,
we're kind of upset here.
my 76 year old mother-in -law was told by a doctor today that she has let
what turned out to be a cataract go too long and that it's too late to
restore any vison in her right eye. she is totally blind in her right eye.
she canot see a light shined directly into the eye. she sees no light,
shadows... nothing!
she stays with one of her other children just about 300 miles from here. we
haven't visited her in almost 6 months and feel very, very guilty. we talk
to her on the telephone a lot, but she never mentioned this problem until
today.
she is on medicare and also has some other health complictions. i hope the
doctor was thinking that it simply wasn't "worth it" to save the eye BUT
that there is still something that can be done.
please pretend money is no object.
do any of you know if there is any treatment to restore some vision for a
person who has no vision left in one eye due to a cataract?
is there anything that can be done?
thanks,
sammy |
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| William Stacy, O.D. |
| Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:30 am |
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I would definitely get a 2nd opinion by a cataract specialist. The
cataract may be removable, unless the underlying retina or optic nerve
is completely shot from another disease or diseases. Even then I doubt
it couldn't be removed, if for nothing other than preventing it from
becoming hypermature and causing her a lot of pain. Does the eye hurt now?
sammy wrote:
Quote: hi folks,
we're kind of upset here.
my 76 year old mother-in -law was told by a doctor today that she has let
what turned out to be a cataract go too long and that it's too late to
restore any vison in her right eye. she is totally blind in her right eye.
she canot see a light shined directly into the eye. she sees no light,
shadows... nothing!
she stays with one of her other children just about 300 miles from here. we
haven't visited her in almost 6 months and feel very, very guilty. we talk
to her on the telephone a lot, but she never mentioned this problem until
today.
she is on medicare and also has some other health complictions. i hope the
doctor was thinking that it simply wasn't "worth it" to save the eye BUT
that there is still something that can be done.
please pretend money is no object.
do any of you know if there is any treatment to restore some vision for a
person who has no vision left in one eye due to a cataract?
is there anything that can be done?
thanks,
sammy
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| David Robins, MD |
| Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:41 am |
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Guest
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Cataract alone does not cause total blindness. You can virtually never "let
a cataract go too long". Cataract does not hurt the eye (unless in extreme
cases where it has liquified and set up an inflammatory reaction that has
caused a secondary uveitis or glaucoma - those will then hurt the eye).
Regardless of how dense a ctaract is, you should always be able to elicit a
response to light, as some will always get through even the densest
cataract.
No light perception means the optic nerve is gone, which is not the fault of
the cataract per se. This does mean, however, that there is nothing to be
gained by taking out the cataract. Therefore, asking if there is any
treatment to restore vision where there is none (no light perception), menas
that it is NOT the cataract, and therefore cannot be done. Even things like
retinal detachment behind a cataract - if the retina is not totally dead,
there will be some perception of light. IF the retian is "dead", again,
nothing can be done to restore it.
Thus, the only thing to be "guilty" of is assuming the vision loss was just
cataract. However, the cause of the vision loss and no light perception, may
have been untreatable in any case, such as optic atrophy, etc.
Assuming one DOES have light perception, but the eye cannot be examined
visually, perhaps only with ultrasound, then there is usually some
recoverable vision. Whether it is worth it depends on the outcome, which
unfortunately is only known after the surgery. That gamble is presented to
the patient, who is the one who ultimately has to decide if they want to
have the surgery.
On 1/30/07 5:28 PM, in article 45bff0cc$0$24509$4c368faf@roadrunner.com,
"sammy" <sammy@toast.com> wrote:
Quote: hi folks,
we're kind of upset here.
my 76 year old mother-in -law was told by a doctor today that she has let
what turned out to be a cataract go too long and that it's too late to
restore any vison in her right eye. she is totally blind in her right eye.
she canot see a light shined directly into the eye. she sees no light,
shadows... nothing!
she stays with one of her other children just about 300 miles from here. we
haven't visited her in almost 6 months and feel very, very guilty. we talk
to her on the telephone a lot, but she never mentioned this problem until
today.
she is on medicare and also has some other health complictions. i hope the
doctor was thinking that it simply wasn't "worth it" to save the eye BUT
that there is still something that can be done.
please pretend money is no object.
do any of you know if there is any treatment to restore some vision for a
person who has no vision left in one eye due to a cataract?
is there anything that can be done?
thanks,
sammy
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| Dan Abel |
| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:46 am |
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Guest
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In article <45bff0cc$0$24509$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>,
"sammy" <sammy@toast.com> wrote:
Quote: hi folks,
we're kind of upset here.
my 76 year old mother-in -law was told by a doctor today that she has let
what turned out to be a cataract go too long and that it's too late to
restore any vison in her right eye. she is totally blind in her right eye.
Doesn't seem reasonable to me. Perhaps you should talk to the doctor
directly. I've had cataract surgery twice, once in each eye. It
doesn't matter how bad it is, it can be fixed. I suspect something else
is wrong also.
I am not a doctor. |
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| sammy |
| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:12 pm |
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Guest
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we are going for a 2nd opinion next week.
thank you all,
sammy
"Dan Abel" <dabel@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:dabel-1706B0.20462531012007@cor8-ppp5025.per.dsl.connect.net.au...
Quote: In article <45bff0cc$0$24509$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>,
"sammy" <sammy@toast.com> wrote:
hi folks,
we're kind of upset here.
my 76 year old mother-in -law was told by a doctor today that she has let
what turned out to be a cataract go too long and that it's too late to
restore any vison in her right eye. she is totally blind in her right
eye.
Doesn't seem reasonable to me. Perhaps you should talk to the doctor
directly. I've had cataract surgery twice, once in each eye. It
doesn't matter how bad it is, it can be fixed. I suspect something else
is wrong also.
I am not a doctor. |
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