Eye Recovery
Remaining eye issues.
After my surgery last year, I struggled with my eye for months. It wouldn't close fully or properly, so I had to aggressively apply eye drops multiple times a day — the eye wouldn't blink and rewet itself like normal. I did eye exercises trying to regain muscle in that eye, and while it doesn't fully look like it did before, it's pretty close. I can tell, especially when I smile, that it's a little lopsided, but most people who don't know me probably couldn't tell.
After we got through the dry spell of winter, I noticed that I no longer needed to apply eye drops. I also no longer needed to tape my eye shut at night, something I'd needed to do since it didn't fully close, in order to protect it from getting inadvertently scratched. I was really glad to leave those things behind, since sleeping with one eye taped shut is kind of annoying.
But then, as the weather warmed up, I started to notice something completely different, almost the opposite of what had been happening before. My eye was actually leaking fluid, specifically when I would eat. I'd be chewing and tears would just gush out of my one eye and I'd have to wipe them away. Not a big deal when I'm at home, a little more awkward when I'm out in public, particularly with someone who may not understand what was going on.
Anna Burgess Yang
I saw the neuro-ophthalmologist about a month ago, and our primary focus was on my vision. She had previously prescribed a prism for my glasses about six months ago, and with the prism I can see normally. A few months ago I wondered what would happen if I just put in my contact lenses with my old prescription, and as it turns out, I could see just fine, perfectly clear, without a prism — however, I would get massive headaches. A quick Google search told me I shouldn't go from prism to non-prism cold, that there needed to be a step-down process to help my eyes readjust. So I went back to glasses and brought this up with the neuro-ophthalmologist. She was thrilled. She tested my vision, confirmed it, and we came up with a plan to reduce the prism gradually over a couple of months, after which I'd see her again and possibly be able to get off the prism glasses entirely.
At the very end of the appointment, as she was writing my new prescription for different prism glasses, I mentioned my eye leakage, and she said, "Oh yeah, I've heard of that happening." She said that when my brain rewired itself, it got a little confused — when I eat, my mouth produces saliva, and my nerves rewired in such a way that it's also producing liquid in my eye.
I was having lunch with friends a few weeks ago, and my eye started to water at the smell of food. So I decided to reach out to the ophthalmologist, and she sent me to see oculoplastics (plastic surgery for eyes). But my reading online in advance told me that this condition is likely permanent. The only thing to do is treat it, which is, believe it or not, Botox injections every couple of months, freezing up the muscles so they wouldn't leak as I eat.
I saw oculoplastics last week. About a year ago, I had the opposite problem. My eye couldn’t fully close, so a different eye doctor put a minuscule plug in the eyelid. I couldn’t see it or feel it, but the job was to keep tears in my eye, so it wouldn’t get too dry. The oculoplastics doctor compared it to a sink draining. With the plug there, it was possible my tears had nowhere to go, so they leaked out. Without the dry eye issue of last year, he removed the plug. I asked if I would notice a difference right away, and he wasn’t sure, but told me to come back in a month.
It has been a week and no change. My eye still leaks tears when I eat food. When I look at all of the potential outcomes of the surgery, this seems minor, but really annoying (and awkward, if I’m out in public).