Get Your Eyes Checked: Steroid-induced Cataracts

[Meinuk]

http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/article.html?article_id=47354

For those of you who are on a steroid protocol (prednisone etc).  This can happen even with a fast taper to a low therapeutic dose.  Make sure that you get your eyes throughly checked annually. This is seen in many people with transplants.

If your are susceptible and they form there is not much you can do to stop it, except monitor and then have them removed when the time comes. Just make sure that you put a visit to an Opthamologist on your annual (or semi-annual list) just like the dermatologist to check for skin cancer.

I'll write a post about my surgery when it happens. Sigh. (yet another reason why you should be on a steroid free protocol when at all possible).  I had to be on steroids because my donor was CMV positive and I was negative.


http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/cataracts.htm

Cataract Symptoms and Signs

A cataract starts out small and at first has little effect on your vision. You may notice that your vision is blurred a little, like looking through a cloudy piece of glass or viewing an impressionist painting.


Hazy or blurred vision may mean you have a cataract.
A cataract may make light from the sun or a lamp seem too bright or glaring. Or you may notice when you drive at night that the oncoming headlights cause more glare than before. Colors may not appear as bright as they once did.

The type of cataract you have will affect exactly which symptoms you experience and how soon they will occur. When a nuclear cataract first develops, it can bring about a temporary improvement in your near vision, called "second sight."

Unfortunately, the improved vision is short-lived and will disappear as the cataract worsens. On the other hand, a subcapsular cataract may not produce any symptoms until it's well-developed.


Read more: http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/cataracts.htm#ixzz1GTz2PUfe

[Sugarlump]

Yet another side effect of prednisolone ... so why do we all appear to be taking it them?
Anyone with any information about steroid-free protocols please post with details...

[Rerun]

Thanks Anna...   

[Chris]

Don't worry to much about surgery Meinuk, it is a lot better than years ago. When you wake up you will have either a clear plastic shield or a metal sheild over your eye to protect it. With the clear plastic shield I could see when I woke up, which was a surprise to me due o past eye surgeries. Just be prepared for delays when surgery will start due to previous patients. After healing has occured, your vision will be rechecked and given anew prescription for glasses.. Of course you will be seen by the doctor a day or two posst surgery and have eyes checked add or remove eye drops and so forth.
 
Good Luck
 
Ohhh and be aware that a secondary cataract can occur behind the cataract. It is a membrane that grows behind the lens that can be taken care of by a laser.

[Meinuk]

Thanks Chris for sharing your experience.  I am not worried about the surgery at all.  I am simply annoyed at having a complication.  I made the decision when I started Home Hemo that I would follow EPOMAN's example and write about each dialysis/CKD related procedure that I have here on IHD.  For what it is worth.

I was all alone when I discovered IHD and EPOMAN's training diary helped me understand what I was getting into when I first started home hemo - as a matter of fact, IHD was the only support group that would have me.  Back in 2007, I tried to join NxStage users and they turned me down, so IHD is very special in my heart.

So many others have been generous in adding their stories to CKD/Dialysis/Transplant.  I am simply sharing what I have encountered along the way.  In the next few weeks, I will update the first post in this thread to reflect my initial diagnosis and timeline. (just as I did with my other procedures).  This simply was my first "surprise" sideeffect of transplantation.