Help! I've hurt my eye in trying to help my cataract!

[Steeni]

Hi there!

             Well, I tried the "natural" eye drops that I had at home...  They dried out my eyes (I already had Sjogren's)...  I then tried (my doctor gave me an accidental sample of an anaesthetic instead of a lubricant, how can I be so naive as to take it, yes, I honestly thought is was the generic name for a lubricant eyedrop, I have never inspected the names of the lubricant eyedrops closely enough to know I took it).  This combined with the MSM/eyebright eyedrop caused my eye to swell and lose 75% of the vision it already had with the cataract...  If according to my theory, the natural eye drop "delivers" medicine into my eye (past the layers of the eye), then could there be an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic?  I went to the ER for this and the most that we have found is that my pressures were up and that there is "debris" in the back of the eye.  It would not surprise me that I could be allergic to the anaesthetic, I'm allergic to a lot of things...  Could this be what created the problem in my eye as the vision is not back and I'm losing 5% daily?  (they said that they believe this would be the cataract.  In that case it's now a VERY quick moving cataract).
     Also, I can't seem to do anything to get rid of the dryness...  I appreciated the suggestions of a Crystal lens but two doctors have said something about, seeing as how I have uveitis, there may be some swelling in the back of the eye and that this can cause problems with any multifocal lens and they believe I'll be "unhappy" with a Crystal lens...  (They will be injecting Prednisone into the back of my eye for the surgery).  They also recommended a Touric IOL, which would cost me $1200 out of pocket that I don't have...  Would it be crazy of me to turn this down, (I believe "cutting" into the eye would hurt the uveitis so that method may be out)?
Also, do you know of any good general eye doctors in Tampa, FL?
Sorry, that's about six questions in one, I appreciate your taking the time to answer these questions.  Thank you!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Your treatiing ophthalmologists Eye MDs are in the best position to give you specific answers and diagnosis.
JCH MD

[Steeni]

Thank you for your response...  So far, we have waited (though I currently have surgery on the books right now).  I have a Retisert implant in my L eye which is why the cataract got developed in the first place...  The only thing I can think of is, perhaps, I had an allergic reaction to the anesthetic and/or it may have exacerbated my eye dryness (I recently developed Sjogren's)?  The vision got much much worse in that one to two weeks than it had by the progressive nature of the Retisert alone...  It did not come back...  The doctors have told me that "now the cataract is much much thicker" and they are satisfied with that answer (though I know that somehow that anesthetic combined with the MSM/Eyebright eye drop is what made it much much thicker).  
Thanks! :)

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Short term use of a topical anesthetic could damage the cornea but would not cause uveitis, not cause a cataract to grow, not cause your pressure to go up or get glaucoma or cause permanent dryness. I wrote a paper on this in the past:

"Misuse of Topical Ocular Anesthetics," Hagan JC III,  Missouri Medicine, 191-192, April 1981

Except of direct trauma to the eye it is extremely rare to lose 5% per day to cataraact. That would be 100% loss in 20 days and most cataracts grow for more than 10 years before needing surgery.

I suggest you get a second opinion. You don't want to do cataract surgery until things are "stable" in your eye.  No surgeon wants to operate on an eye with active uveitis.

JCH MD