#1 ·
I’d really appreciate it if anyone who knows about this topic could share what they know. I hope you’ll be patient enough to read through this.
So, here’s the deal... I’ve had eye issues since the day I was born. I was born with a cataract—which is usually something older people get—and strabismus, where the eye wanders. My mom noticed it when I was only two because I was constantly bumping into things or missing stuff on my left side. She started taking me everywhere, from local clinics to specialists all over Washington, D.C. Some doctors were actually pretty heartless about it, telling her, "Ma'am, just accept that your child won't see out of that eye; focus on the healthy one." But my mom wouldn't budge. Because she stayed persistent, she managed to get me surgery when I was four at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. I remember being in a ward with elderly ladies, but once they cleared the cataract, I was supposed to see much better. The problem was the eye wandering didn't go away, which really stressed my mom out since I'm a girl—she was worried about bullies or me developing insecurities. So, when I was five or six, I had another surgery at Ribs to try to fix the alignment, but they didn't fully correct it. They told us that if they pulled the nerve too tight, the eye might end up turning the other way. Eventually, in first grade, I went to Russia for a procedure where they finally cleared the rest of the cataract, corrected the alignment, and implanted an artificial lens since my natural lens was pretty much destroyed. That lens had a power of +/- 25, and because of all that, my prescription actually dropped from -13 down to -8. My vision is still blurry, though, and the tricky part is that my eye never really learned how to focus properly because it "learned" to hide behind the other one during childhood. For ten years, I lived a pretty normal life, though I’ve worn glasses or contacts lately for my right eye, which has a slight prescription of around 1.
About ten months ago, I went in for a checkup at a clinic called Mayo Clinic, and suddenly this "distinguished Professor" Nikica Gabrić comes in and tells me to sit in the machine. I sat down thinking it was just one of those machines where little snails move around or you look into a tiny house, but nope! It was a laser. He started using the laser to clear out leftover cataract debris—stuff I didn't even know was there. I wasn't prepared for the heat or the red beams hitting my eye, and the discomfort made my eye twitch and close automatically. He just kept going, yelling at my mom—who was right there in the room—about how she raised me and why she took me to Russia ten years ago (everyone else there was basically blaming me). He was arguing with her and me while my eye was squinting shut, all while he was performing the laser procedure (! I mean, does anyone realize how helpful yet dangerous those machines can be if something goes wrong?). Afterward, they told me I’d see "floaters"—like black spots dancing in my vision—for about four days, and that my eye would be super irritated. Everything seemed fine after that, but this summer, about three months ago, the exact same symptoms started happening. This black spot would appear in my line of sight for about an hour, happening three or four times a day. After two weeks, the intensity died down, but at the same time, I started getting these massive headaches. After a few days, I realized the pain in my eye was actually killing me and causing my head to throb. It happened in intervals all summer, and now my eye hurts almost every single day. And yeah, I'm really sensitive to sunlight; the pain usually kicks in as soon as I'm in bright light. While I was on vacation, I had an exam, but they couldn't figure out the cause. An ultrasound did show that there’s no "echo" from the lens, meaning the lens was likely damaged by that laser procedure (which was performed quite nervously by N.G., despite his reputation). Now I'm waiting for a detailed exam with a different doctor, because there is no way I'm letting that guy touch me again. My GP even mentioned that if the lens is truly damaged, surgery might be the only option left.
If you know anything about this or have any advice, please let me know. Thank you so much...
So, here’s the deal... I’ve had eye issues since the day I was born. I was born with a cataract—which is usually something older people get—and strabismus, where the eye wanders. My mom noticed it when I was only two because I was constantly bumping into things or missing stuff on my left side. She started taking me everywhere, from local clinics to specialists all over Washington, D.C. Some doctors were actually pretty heartless about it, telling her, "Ma'am, just accept that your child won't see out of that eye; focus on the healthy one." But my mom wouldn't budge. Because she stayed persistent, she managed to get me surgery when I was four at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. I remember being in a ward with elderly ladies, but once they cleared the cataract, I was supposed to see much better. The problem was the eye wandering didn't go away, which really stressed my mom out since I'm a girl—she was worried about bullies or me developing insecurities. So, when I was five or six, I had another surgery at Ribs to try to fix the alignment, but they didn't fully correct it. They told us that if they pulled the nerve too tight, the eye might end up turning the other way. Eventually, in first grade, I went to Russia for a procedure where they finally cleared the rest of the cataract, corrected the alignment, and implanted an artificial lens since my natural lens was pretty much destroyed. That lens had a power of +/- 25, and because of all that, my prescription actually dropped from -13 down to -8. My vision is still blurry, though, and the tricky part is that my eye never really learned how to focus properly because it "learned" to hide behind the other one during childhood. For ten years, I lived a pretty normal life, though I’ve worn glasses or contacts lately for my right eye, which has a slight prescription of around 1.
About ten months ago, I went in for a checkup at a clinic called Mayo Clinic, and suddenly this "distinguished Professor" Nikica Gabrić comes in and tells me to sit in the machine. I sat down thinking it was just one of those machines where little snails move around or you look into a tiny house, but nope! It was a laser. He started using the laser to clear out leftover cataract debris—stuff I didn't even know was there. I wasn't prepared for the heat or the red beams hitting my eye, and the discomfort made my eye twitch and close automatically. He just kept going, yelling at my mom—who was right there in the room—about how she raised me and why she took me to Russia ten years ago (everyone else there was basically blaming me). He was arguing with her and me while my eye was squinting shut, all while he was performing the laser procedure (! I mean, does anyone realize how helpful yet dangerous those machines can be if something goes wrong?). Afterward, they told me I’d see "floaters"—like black spots dancing in my vision—for about four days, and that my eye would be super irritated. Everything seemed fine after that, but this summer, about three months ago, the exact same symptoms started happening. This black spot would appear in my line of sight for about an hour, happening three or four times a day. After two weeks, the intensity died down, but at the same time, I started getting these massive headaches. After a few days, I realized the pain in my eye was actually killing me and causing my head to throb. It happened in intervals all summer, and now my eye hurts almost every single day. And yeah, I'm really sensitive to sunlight; the pain usually kicks in as soon as I'm in bright light. While I was on vacation, I had an exam, but they couldn't figure out the cause. An ultrasound did show that there’s no "echo" from the lens, meaning the lens was likely damaged by that laser procedure (which was performed quite nervously by N.G., despite his reputation). Now I'm waiting for a detailed exam with a different doctor, because there is no way I'm letting that guy touch me again. My GP even mentioned that if the lens is truly damaged, surgery might be the only option left.
If you know anything about this or have any advice, please let me know. Thank you so much...