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Currently Bowen Eye Clinic is closed for face-to-face consultations but we can still be contacted via email info@boweneye.co.nz
Dr Reece Hall is helping with urgent eye problems at Capital Coast District Health Board, but his private eye clinic will remain closed to consults and laser eye surgery until the COVID-19 Alert Level has gone down.
Recent Cataract Surgery
If you have had recent cataract surgery, you will need to continue to complete your course of eyedrops. These include Predforte 4x a day for 4 weeks and Chloramphenicol 4x day for 2 weeks.
It is quite common to experience a minor irritation or foreign body sensation in the eye that has had the cataract surgery. This is a dry eye condition and can be treated with artificial tears such as Systane. You can purchase Systane from the pharmacy without a prescription. The dry eye condition can take from 2-8 weeks before the symptoms resolve.
Those patients who had a distance correction with their cataract surgery may still get further improvement with an upgrade to their glasses, but wait until 4 weeks from the time of your surgery before you get those new glasses to get the most benefit from your improved vision. You may like to try using over the counter reading glasses to help with reading.
Things to watch out for are a red painful eye with likely reduced vision. If this happens please contact us either via email: info@boweneye.co.nz or if it is out of office hours contact Dr Reece Hall directly on his mobile number.
Recent Laser Eye Surgery
For those of you who have had LASIK the initial visual recovery is fast and it is expected that you will have good vision the next day. Please finish the steroid and antibiotic eyedrops over the following week. Your vision can fluctuate and this is normally related to dry eyes. Please continue with the preservative free artificial tears (Systane Ultra) every 1 hour for the first week then every 2 hours following this.
For those of you who have had Surface laser (PRK - ASA) the visual recovery will take longer. Your vision will be functional by 1 week but not yet 20/20. Expect some daily fluctuation in your vision and a gradual improvement each week. Finish your steroid and antibiotic eyedrops as recommended and continue with the preservative free artificial tears (Systane Ultra) every 1 hour for the first week then every 2 hours following this. After a month you may only need these 4 times a day.
For those of you who have had Laser Blended Vision (LBV) follow the advise above depending on which technique was used. You will also experience a settling period with the new vision. The ‘blending’ is the process where your brain learns to see from near through to distant vision combining the information from each eye. This is called neural adaptation and can take only days for some people and months for others. Don't worry your vision will still be functional but it will not feel 100% natural until the adaptation process has been completed.
Things to watch out for are a red painful eye with likely reduced vision. Please contact us either via email: info@boweneye.co.nz or if it is out of office hours contact Dr Reece Hall directly on his mobile number.
Modern Cataract and Laser eye surgery in a high percentage of cases has predictable results with few complications. Most serious problems if they rarely occur will be within the first 2 weeks. Once you are a month out from your surgery the likelihood of having a problem is very low. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns.