Re-Suturing Eye

[JohnO123]

I had three sutures from my eye removed last month one month post surgery of having hideous ReZoom lens explanted. Things were good before the stitches came out but then horribly blurry -- 3.25. Is this a normal result of the eye needing to heal after the suture removal or possibly something else? The doctor said he wants to re-suture the eye and leave the sutures in permanently. Is this common and does this sound like it would be successful reducing or eliminating the astigmatism?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

When the incision was enlarged to remove the rezoom, this probably caused astigmatism which was improved with the sutures.  When the sutures were removed, the astigmatism got much worse again.  Now with the sutures put back in - if done properly -the astigmatism can be improved to some degree again, and the sutures can be left in - again as long as they are placed properly.  I feel badly for you.  Was it the same surgeon who did the original rezoom???   Things can be improved but they require significant skill.

Michael Kutryb, MD

[JohnO123]

Monofocal. If you see my post dated May 30, it will explain more of my misery. Get yourself a REAL good eye surgeon and you should be OK.

[austintejas]

What do you have now?  Monofocal IOL?  Glasses?  Another type of multifocal?

[JohnO123]

Very, very long story. You can see some of my previous posts but it did get explanted OK but the original surgeon put the wrong size lens and the surgeon at Mass Eye and Ear had to make very large wound leading to astigmatism. He has been great but I still have issues. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

[austintejas]

John, what did you do to replace the Rezoom?  I too want to explant the Rezoom and replace with a monfocal.  Did this work for you?

[JohnO123]

Dr. Feldman and Dr. Kutryb,

I had 4 sutures put in yesterday and afterwards and now the blurriness is horrible. The surgeon said that they have to start off tight and then loosen them from thereon through a series of visits. The first one is this Friday. He said he tried to remember where the stitches were before and replicate. Does this all sound like it will ameliorate the blurriness? I am living with an eye patch as I’d rather the darkness than the awful blurriness but the eye I can see with is my much weaker eye. This is soooo miserable. Can either or both offer an opinion? Do you think glasses can help? I trust my surgeon from Mass Eye and Ear but am concerned.

[JohnO123]

Thanks, Dr. Feldman -- Yes, the astigmatism hit hard right after the sutures were removed. One thing the surgeon said by re-suturing would be that he could make adjustments (tighten or loosen, I think) depending on how things shake out after the re-suturing. It’s good to know there are other options out there as well.

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear JohnO0123,

Do you have astigmatism following the suture removed.  If you do, the doctors approach is reasonable although over time the wounds heal, the sutures loosen, and the astigmatism may return.  If this did happen, you could undergo other surgical modalities to treat the astigmatism such as limbal relaxing incisions or laser vision correction.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[JohnO123]

Thank you for the reply, Doctor. The extraction of the Rezoom was not done by the original doctor that implanted it. It was done by a very skilled surgeon at Mass Eye & Ear where I should have gone in the first place. He'll put the sutures back in a couple of weeks. When the sutures were in before the vision was pretty good. If this doesn't work, he talked about PRK but am hoping to avoid that as the side effects of that are a little scary.