Dr. Richard E. Bensinger, M.D.

Depends upon many factors: what surgery is planned, e.g., retinal re-attachment, which could be lengthy (about 1 1/2  to 3 hours), or treatments for diabetes or retinal vascular diseases, which could be 45 minutes each. There are many other retinal problems, each with its own complexity and length of surgery. Discuss this with the surgeon with whom you have scheduled surgery and whether you will be asleep or not.  

In the acute phase, which is generally 6-8 months after the palsy appears, most simply wait to see what spontaneous healing takes place. After that healing cannot improve any further. Adaptation does occur to some degree as you have no doubt discovered. The goal of treatment after spontaneous recovery can occur is to move the position of the eyes to allow single vision in the two most useful positions: straight ahead and straight down. Eye muscle surgery can usually accomplish this. Prisms can be added to glasses to determine how successful this will be and also to temporarily improve things. Rarely, an occlusive patch is recommended for the elusive eye when these methods fail.

This is one of many suggested remedies from the natural therapy folks. Honey is generally pure and hopefully you will use clean water. This can soothe the eyes but will have no effect on clearing or lightening the eyes. If you have excess vessels on the surface and want to look good in pictures, any of the "gets the red out eye drops" can do this. They are drying so not useful on a regular basis. Hopefully, you are the only one who notices how your eyes look and most others probably think they look terrific.  

Depends upon your state. In mine, the optometrists have pushed through a law requiring a new prescription every two years and opticians will not fill one over two years old. This is called marketing. Do you have a copy of your original prescription for eyeglasses? Your current glasses can be "read" in a special machine and the numbers obtained to make new eyeglasses. Put all of this together and perhaps you can talk an optician into reading your glasses and making a new one. Never forget the power of making a little profit.

This is due to nervous excitability of the dense collection of nerves activating muscles of the face. It in fact has a medical name: myokymia. It is somewhat common in folks in the middle years. It is benign and will not cause harm although it is sometimes annoying. Usually it is subtle and is felt but not observed by others. Occasionally larger muscle groups are involved and others can see the twitching. Most stop it by rubbing the area twitching but recurrence is the rule for a while but eventually it will stop. A few have reported that eating ice cream or sucking on ice cubes can stop the twitching. Rarely it is so annoying and obvious that the patient wants something done about it. The remedy in this rare occurrence is to inject Botox into the muscle groups doing the twitching. But again, this is a last resort for this completely benign condition.

Fentanyl is a powerful anti-pain medication with respiratory depression as a possible side effect. It is safe as long as the patient is monitored for breathing and oxygen saturation with a trained nurse anesthetist or anesthesiologist at the bedside during the procedure. Cataract surgery is generally pain free and so the need for fentanyl would raise questions as to what is happening during this procedure.  

Presumably, you have seen a retina surgeon who will make this choice for you. Laser provides pin point accuracy, but takes multiple applications to achieve the desired result. Cryo is less discriminate, treating a broader area but takes less time although it can be slightly uncomfortable. In both cases, the goal is to force the retina to seal itself down and prevent progression of a peripheral tear. The long-term results of both are probably equal. It is a choice you will not have to make which is why we rely on the expertise of our sub-specialists in medicine.

Depends. The majority of cases of uveitis are in the anterior portion of the eye, are spontaneous, and will respond readily to topical medication with resolution in 1-3 weeks. Some are caused by trauma and may last longer. Some are associated with systemic diseases like ankylosing spondylitis and these can be more severe and last longer. Others affect the back of the eye; these can be more persistent and require advanced medication for treatment. Your ophthalmologist can advise you about the type you have. 

Issues within the eye are independent of systemic blood pressure values. You should continue all systemic medications as required by your family doctor and of course take the anti-glaucoma medications as well. If you have glaucoma, it is best managed by an ophthalmologist and not by an optometrist.  

Pigmentation is a generic term which indicates normal or unnatural deposition of pigment on or in some part of the body. It conveys no information about the normality of the pigmentation, whether it is a risk, or anything else. Tattoos are a form of pigmentation. A nevus is a growth which most commonly is pigmented - usually in the brownish spectrum. What you have most likely is a nevus of the choroid which is the tissue underlying the retina in the back of the eye. Some call these a freckle as they are very similar to freckles or moles on the skin. They are almost always benign although most ophthalmologists will look at them once every year or so to see if they change in any way. They do not affect the health or vision of the eye. If your eye doctor took a picture of this, ask for a copy which you can show to anyone in the future who might look at your eye for changes.

If you can see the blood in the front of the eye, which seems to be the case, this then is a subconjunctival hemorrhage. The conjunctiva is a clear membrane overtop of the white sclera that is the outer wall of the eye. Occasionally, a vein will leak a tiny amount of blood, which spreads over a broad area as the conjunctival is otherwise adherent to the sclera. This is rarely a problem - only if it keeps recurring. It is due to temporary elevation of the pressure in the vein from coughing, sneezing, strenuous activity or rubbing the eye. If the vision is unaffected, which is usually the case, then just wait 5-10 days for the blood to absorb. In the meantime, you can make up a story for your friends about your "bloody eye" such as, "You should see the other guy."

Floaters are membraneous fragments or debris scattered in the vitreous cavity behind the lens and in front of the retina. They are usually benign, but can be annoying. They are highlighted in bright light which is why you see them in the bright sun. A few floaters are common and not a problem from a health standpoint of the eye, but if you get many all at once, you should see an ophthalmologist as that can indicate more serious problems.  

The retina coats the inside of the back of the eye and is the film upon which light is focused so we can see. The retina is one size fits all at birth so as the eye grows as the body grows after birth, the retina gets stretched a little in its periphery. Mostly the retina can handle this.  But in some cases the retina senses that the stretching is too much and a tear or hole is likely if it continues (which it will as long as growth continues). The response of the retina to this is to lay down scar tissue as a sort of glue to keep the retina from tearing at this overstressed place. This can be of many configurations, but a common one is parallel bands of pigment described by an early ophthalmologist who saw it as similar to the lattice work in a wall or a slatted fence. So, he called this lattice change or lattice degeneration. While this is there to prevent damage to the retina, it is also an area of weakness and retinal detachments occasionally originate at the lattice location. This is especially more likely to happen in the case of ocular trauma. When discovered this is usually ignored because most cause no problem. Your grandmother is unlikely to engage in activities that might cause ocular trauma (like boxing, construction work, high speed racing, etc.), so she probably will have no problem from this condition.

Pigmentation of the subretina is normal. It is present in a tissue termed the choroid and probably in part serves to absorb stray light which sharpens the image. If there is retinal disturbance or injury, sometimes extra pigment is deposited in response, so this can be a clue to a history of this type of change. Apparently, yours was a benign form and the ophthalmologist who saw this did not think it represented pathology that needed medical or surgical therapy.

This is likely to be changes in the vitreous material which fills the back of the eye. If you are seeing in addition many floating objects in the vision or if your actual vision has changed, then you should consult with an ophthalmologist (MD). There are a few other conditions which can give the phenomenon you describe, especially what is termed visual migraines. If any of these symptoms are persistent, then see your ophthalmologist.  

Eyelid twitching that you describe is common enough that it has its own name - myokymia. It is felt to be due to nervous instability of some fibers of the bundle of nerves that control the eyelid and facial muscles. It is most common in the middle years, is usually subtle enough that the patient who has it feels it but it is not seen. Occasionally, however, it involves more muscles and can be observed by others. It does not come from any pathology and leads to no pathology.  Most handle it by rubbing the twitching lid which frequently will stop the twitching. Rarely, it is so often and so prominent that the patient wants more than reassurance. In those cases, a little Botox injection will usually stop it for many months and sometimes completely. Hopefully yours is the subtle for which will eventually go away on its own.

There are many possible causes. The most common would be an infection like "pink eye." There are more ominous internal causes termed uveitis, which can cause these same symptoms. If your child just started with this, and especially if classmates or friends have the same problem, it is likely a short-term infection. If it lasts longer the several weeks, you should seek out an ophthalmologist (not an optometrist) to have this evaluated.

I assume you are talking about twitching of the eyelid which is by far the most common. The eye very rarely might twitch, but that is very handicapping as it causes the world viewpoint to jump with each contraction. Lid twitching is common in young to middle aged folks. It is interpreted as a non-stimulus firing of the nerves to the muscles of the lid. In most cases, it is subtle and can only be felt by the person having this happen. Less commonly, it may produce a visible twitch. Generally, these last a few moments and are controlled by rubbing the lid.  There is no known trigger and no pharmacological or manipulative way to prevent these. A few have them so often that they become bothersome. In such cases, Botox can be injected to prevent further occurrence but there are side effects to this which should be discussed with your ophthalmologist prior to having this done.

You did not mention your age. The most common cause of headaches actually related to the eyes (most headaches are unrelated to the eyes) is underlying hyperopia (a need for glasses). As one ages, this becomes more of an issue and eventually also causes difficulty with near vision termed presbyopia. Your best bet is to set up an appointment with an ophthalmologist to have this worked out. 

LASIK has over a 99% success rate. You might want to quibble about the definition of "success". LASIK surgeons aim for perfect distance vision - no eyeglasses needed afterwards. And usually achieve this. A few are off target and a redo termed enhancement can be done for improvement. There are some serious problems you will discover on an internet search - almost all of these are from the early machines (check the dates).  Current machines are 4th generation with most of these problems corrected. Post procedure eye dryness can occur and many get LASIK due to contact lens discomfort from dry eyes and they are at higher risk. If you qualify on the basis of your eye power and general eye health, you have an extremely high chance of success.