Escaping the Matrix!


It's a weird time for me. Last week I had cataract surgery in my left eye. The surgeon, Dr. Michael Gilbert removed my natural lens (the tan oval shape below) and replaced it with an artificial lens. Modern artificial lenses are very flat since they focus light through density gradients rather than varied thickness.

Today when I look through the natural lens remaining in my right eye, everything looks like the Matrix: a blurry, slightly washed-out olive colored world. When I look through my left eye, the whites are bright, blacks deep and colors vivid. My astigmatism is corrected. It's quite weird to be in this transition state. Next week, they'll do the right eye, and my escape of the Matrix will be complete. Red pill all the way.

It's normal to develop cataracts, a thickening and loss of transparency of the natural lens. For most people, their cataracts interfere with their vision more severely before they have surgery. For them, the change is even more dramatic. With my minor degradation, I simply hoped the surgery would do no harm to my vision.

Why did I have the surgery? I was "suffering" from a condition known as narrow angles. Because of my particular anatomy, the gradual thickening of my lens was displacing my iris. As my iris shifted, it closed off the angle between it and the cornea, cutting off the drainage shown in the image below. While device measurements showed the angles narrowing and the pressure slightly increasing over time, I really didn't feel anything wrong.

I was at risk of a closed-angle glaucoma crisis in which I could lose my vision in hours. The angle could have shut completely, or my iris could have stuck to my lens. As the pressure quickly built, it could permanently damage my optic nerve and retina. A very bad thing to happen when the emergency room is not immediately available. So, I decided to have the surgery. Already in my left eye, my iris appears to have returned to its normal position and my angles opened up. We'll get measurements once my eyes have healed sufficiently. For now, I'm just hopeful and grateful.

Narrow Angles - American Academy of Ophthalmology (aao.org)

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