What Can I Do About the Side Effects of an Iridotomy?

I’d read all of the horror stories online about the after effects. Here’s what happened with me:
I had a peripheral (lpi) which creates the hole on the outer edge of the iris, farthest away from the nose. Immediately after, I saw a ‘ghost’ image when looking at the lights in the room. There was also a ‘glare’ that’s difficulty to describe. He told me to wait and see (he was not being dismissive or anything like that). As I drove home, I didn’t notice it anymore. It did return later on, as the sun began to set. The ghost image was horrible and I spent the first evening stressed and angry. It seemed that darker rooms were much worse. I also had a discomfort in that eye (when in a dark room). My only hope was that the next morning things would be better. They weren’t.
That day I had a service call out of town, so I spent most of the day outside. I didn’t notice the glare or the ghost in daylight, which I looked on as a positive. By the time I got back to the shop and did my paperwork, it was dark. I thought this would be a good chance to see how bad the ghost is with car headlights. To my surprise, the headlights were fine! When I got home, I looked into the lights that were giving me problems the day before, and the ghost/glare was gone!!! Upon closer inspection, I did find that the ghost was still there, but I had to hunt for it. By the next day, I could not see the ghost. After 3 days, I’ve completely forgotten about it because it’s a non-issue. I think it may have been caused by the pupil constrictor drops that they put in. It forces your pupil to constrict. In daylight, you don’t notice anything because your pupil would naturally constrict anyway. But in dark rooms, it wants to open but can’t. This leaves your vision artificially darker than it should be. This could account for the ghost being so prominent, and why I had discomfort in dark rooms – my pupil wanted to open, but the drops were stopping it. After 24 hours, the drop’s effect had subsided. That’s just my theory.
Anyway, my vision is great, and I no longer have to worry about an acute attack.
100% satisfied, and stress free!

I had an iridotomy in right eye at 12:00 one month ago today. I have three side affects:

white line thru vision
light sensitivity
blurred vision

My doctor said eye looks fine. He dilated it. It is inflamed from surgery. He said he never heard of white line. However, its all on the internet and lots of people have this issue. I got new doctor who says it is common. He is a glaucoma specialist.

My vision was fine before. Now its compromised. I’m upset and what can I do to fix it?

Regarding the other eye. I was supposed to have it done but cancelled. Why would I want both eyes compromised?

High pressure causes angle closure, yes? What causes a high pressure event that would cause this?

I had iridotomy in right eye 5 days ago. Like others wrote I’ve been in pain since surgery. Eye throbs, feels sore, outside light makes we close eye. I have a white line across my vision too. What is this caused by. I have dark brown eyes. I ‘m scared to have the other eye done now. Went to doc yesterday for him to see eye and he didn’t think white line was from surgery but said after the other eye is done we will dialate eye to see the problem. Thoughts?

Two weeks ago I had an iridotomy in my right eye and last week I had an iridotomy in my left eye, the reason I had this Done was because I had a lot of pressure on the eyes cause by glaucoma but before I went to the eye doctor probably two or three weeks before I had been seen in the emergency room because my eye hurt and I had a terrible headache and pain in my eye, since I’ve had the surgery I haven’t really had any problems it’s been almost a week since my second surgery but today I’m starting to get that same awful pain in my eye again and my head and I can barely stand washing my hair when I wash my hair or scrub my scalp or touch my face I feel like I’m being electrocuted and the enamel is being stripped off of my teeth mostly my front teeth is where I’m having a problem I feel like something is still wrong can you give me any advice on that please?

I was diagnosed with very narrow angles by three different doctors. I sought out the best possible Dr. At the Kellogg Eye Clinic at The University of Michigan. I received two iridotomies a month apart. The surgeries were done in 1994 (21 years ago). My surgeries were very successful. I really do believe that you need to find the best doctor in your state to do your surgery. The first surgery was done at 12:00 on the retina. At first some light was bothering me in that eye. I told the Dr. About this. I asked him to aim for 1:00 on the retina for the second eye and that was even better. in any case both eyes are fine with no problems. The risk of not getting the surgery certainly outweighs any problems incurred. narrow angle glaucoma is a very dangerous condition.

I had iridotomy performed due to extremely narrow angles – nearly closed. In the “Slit” category. Pressure in the worse eye has been around 24 for a long time. It was an unfortunate situation particularly because I have a lazy eye, so am really only working with one good eye – and that was the eye with the high pressure. So a tough choice for me. Done yesterday by a glaucoma specialist in the ophthalmology practice I go to. The zaps hurt somewhat because it took what seemed like forever – my eyes are very dark and it took a lot of zaps, and 2 different lasers, to get through them, and hurt for 4 hours afterward – irritation, soreness, unbearable glare on the computer screen, blurry vision mainly due to the gunk they put in. He said that was due to the amount of pigment that got released, everything floating around, the light from the laser, and lots of other things. No floaters, lines, double images, halos, headaches. 5 hours post-procedure, vast improvement – pain went away, vision cleared up 95%. This morning, it is as if nothing has been done to my eye. And I feel everything and am picky. Hole was placed around 8:30 re position on the iris – as discussed elsewhere on this board, this guards against the line that you can get when it’s too near the lid like the 12:00 position. My doctor has performed thousands of these procedures and told me he has never had an issue and always does it that way, as it has been shown to have the best result. I think that those who had negative experiences post more – they are trying to help and share information about the downside, which is understandable – but fact is that the vast, vast majority of people having this procedure are trouble-free and dodge a serious bullet. If you are in a remote location and have an acute attack, you can lose your vision in a matter of 2 hours. There will be simply nothing they will be able to do to help you. When assessing the experiences of others, you do not know what their particular eye anatomy or situation is, you do not know the experience, volume of procedures performed, and skill of their surgeon, you do not know the condition, type or age of the laser used – just lots of unknowns. Do your homework, get someone who does thousands and ask a lot of questions. Then make the most logical choice for you.

I recently had laser iridotomies on my eyes. My right eye was done first. The procedure itself was uneventful, but I now have a horizontal line of light across that eye. The brighter the light around me, the more noticeable it is. It’s really, really distracting, but when considering the alternative – blindness – I guess I’ll take the line of light.

When I went for the procedure on my left eye, I told the surgeon about the line of light and she said it was because my eyelids are high (I think another way to say this is that she didn’t put the hole high enough to avoid that outcome). I wasn’t particularly happy with her response because it seems as if she should have realized that before the procedure. After-all, my eyelids didn’t change position from the time she saw me in the office until the procedure was done at the eye facility. Anyway, she assured me she’d put the hole higher in my left eye. She must have because I don’t have the same result in that eye.

I had slight headaches after both procedures, but no other pain. My vision in both eyes is fine…absolutely no change in that post-op.

I saw the same glaucoma dr for 24 years. Pressures have always been acceptable at 15 and 17. I take two medications. He retired. They sent me to a glaucoma specialist in the same facility. She immediatley stated that she wanted to do an iridotomy. She only saw me for like 10 minutes and because she said she could not dialate my eyes, she wanted to do the surgery. Is that the only reason? My dr told me all those years that I have open angle glaucoma. And now she says there is narrowing but I saw him only three months earlier. When I asked her if I could put the surgery off a week and come in and talk to her again, about possible other options etc. She had her nurse call me as if she did not want to be bothered. So I have made an appointment with another dr to get a second opinion. But I have been to so many sights and 97 percent of the comments on the iridotomy are negative.

Hello again, I left out on my previous two posts above that I have had a second opinion and that opthalmologist (from the eye research institute in my town, “cutting edge” doctors iow) advised I get the iridotomies because my “pressures are too high”…..that was his reason, which I understand is never a reason for iridotomy…..only as a preventative for a possible future closed angle glaucoma attack. Anyway, at this point I am so torn I don’t really know what to do, with confidence, that is. I am praying for God to show me the way, and I pray for all of you whose stories I have read that God will heal you and take away your pain. God Bless, and thanks again for reading. Katie

I am scheduled for an iridotomy a week from today. I have not seen my exact situation in any of the posts on this or any other similar site, and am very anxious about the laser due to the fact that I have corneal edema (severe — use ophthalmic ointment nightly, and reapply at least once through the night as directions say to do) & the swelling from the edema in both eyes takes several hours each AM to subside enough to open my eyes and be functional. My ophtalmologist diagnosed narrow angle glaucoma in 2010 and it has been a watch and wait thing since (as to when to do the advised (“eventually”) iridotomies. The corneal edema began that same year after a severe corneal abrasion in one eye and then in the other a few months apart. That is most of my concern about having the iridotomies, that I will have my corneas damaged further than they already are. I’ve been told that the laser will not hit anything but the iris’ target area for the iridotomy hole. I am having problems visualizing how this can be done with the cornea covering the iris. I do not want to take a chance on a closed angle glaucoma attack, of course, but I am severely torn trying to justify permanently ruining my already unhealthy corneas (or worsening their condition to the point of constant severe pain with no way to relieve it) to do a procedure for a situation that may or may not occur and no way to predict either way. I guess what I am saying is that, I am able to manage my condition now (even though the corneal edema robs me of 4 hours of every morning which I gladly go through to have the rest of the day relatively normal/abrasion free… and “only” having to use my Restasis am and pm and moisturizing drops every few hours) and am afraid I will trade a “might/could happen” situation (narrow angles close/attack/possible blindness) for a manageable (with maximum patience) condition that will be with me always but I am in control of (whether I get another abrasion) for the most part, by faithfully using my eye ointment nightly. I am basically wondering if the lasering is worth it and if my particular corneal condition going into it, will make a difference, or has been shown to make one, in the outcome/success of an iridotomy. Again, I am scheduled to have my rt. eye done a week from today (at 2 pm to be sure my edema is over for the day) and the lft. eye done in mid-January. I am on the verge of cancelling my lasering for next week because of the above posts (and many many others on similar sites) by people who don’t even have this corneal situation going in and have had dreadful outcomes even with HEALTHY corneas prior to their iridotomies. Thanks for reading this and any experiences like mine (good or bad outcomes) I will appreciate anyone sharing.