After my eye surgery for Macular Degeneration, I returned to the Orlando Eye Center for a second check up. Macular degeneration is a condition that results in gradual vision loss in the center of the field of vision. The result for me right now is double vision. When I drive I now squint or close my left eye so that I do not see too many lines on the roads. Night driving is a bit of a bear now.
The surgery done involved inserting tiny instruments into my left eyeball and removing a film which had developed on the back surface of the eye. Of course my hope was that the vision would improve after surgery. Dr. Kumar who performed the surgery told me that structurally my eye was as good as it could get to. Unfortunately there is nothing else that the doctor can do. The next thing I need to do is get new eye glasses. He thinks that glasses might be able to equalize the vision a little more. After the membrane was removed, the swelling at the back of the eye is supposed to have come down, but looking at the images shown I saw no difference. He told me that corrugations and bends in the retina were now gone. He then showed me the right eye which had a nice smooth dip which he told me will never return for my left eye. The doctor knows that I am an artist, and since I am an artist, it might me more noticeable that for others.
Having had the surgery, I am now also likely to develop a cataract in the left eye. Put simply the operation was an abject failure. I need to find ways to adjust my art to make room for the double vision.
Of course everyone was unmasked except for me. This was before I was infected with COVID-19 on a flight back from the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival. I am guessing the mask didn’t fit tight enough with my goatee.