Laser in the eye

Karna, of Mahabharatha, was supposed to have been born with Kavacha and Kundala. I have a feeling that I was born with my spectacles. My parents informed me that it was only at the age of 8 that I was adorned by it. All through my school years, I was addressed by all as Kannaadi (glasses or specs in Tamil). Eventually,I would only respond to that name and not to my real name, Srinivasa Raghavan, which is mouthful anyway.

During early last year, I visited my ophthalmologist (hereinforth, referred to as doctor to avoid spelling mistakes), as I periodically do, to check the power of the glasses. My family and I have been consulting this specialist doctor for over 20 years. The doctor’s assistant said I had cataracts on both eyes, which “are ripe” for surgery. “What! Is it not a disease of the oldies?” the thought just flashed in my mind and soon vanished, realising that I would be hitting 70 very soon.

Once mentally ready, I visited the doctor again to go ahead with the surgery. Preliminary tests were conducted. Five types of intraocular lenses (IOLs) were on offer. I chose the monofocal Carl Zeiss lens, which was the midpoint in terms of performance and cost. When I did go under the knife—I mean, laser—the operation went like a breeze. No pain or discomfort whatsoever. My doctor is indeed a specialist surgeon.

The operation for the second eye was undertaken three weeks later, which once again went off smoothly. But the intervening three weeks were a real nightmarish experience. The two eyes—one after the removal of cataract and power correction and the other, which was not—saw two different images of the same object, either with or without the earlier glasses. I felt disoriented and almost permanently uncomfortable. Although the reason is well understood, the experience can be quite weird. It is better to perform the two surgeries as close as possible to each other.

The main post-operative activity that the patient and his or her family can engage in is applying drops to the eyes. It sounds easy. But we are talking about 680 drops with different medicines, periodicities, and combinations for the next two months. A reasonably normal vision can come only after six weeks from the first operation. No one tells you this. It is a secret that each patient has to discover for himself.

At this juncture, I cannot help but admire Mother Nature, who, through evolution, has created the miracle lens, pre-implanted at birth in humans. This natural human optical lens grows as we grow, always fitting our size. It is auto-focus, enabling us to see at a distance like the Himalayan slopes and, at a moment’s notice, refocus on a mosquito sitting on our nose. In spite of great strides in medical science, all that man has created so far is a feeble and partial imitation of nature.