Eye Damage caused by the elements

Hi guys,
This is just a reminder to you all to make sure you protect your eyes with UV-protected sunglasses while doing the sport that we so love.

Everyone knows or is constantly warned about the dangers of the sun and skin cancer but not much is said about the damage that is caused to ones eyes by the sun and elements we endure while chasing those prized fish.

I finally decided to rid myself of the irritant that had been bothering me for a couple of years and which was a point of ridicule by my kids (little bustuds!!). a PTERYGIUM (pronounced "ter-iji-um") is caused by exposure to the elements and is a growth on the eyeball that sticks out of the tear-layer that we all have on our eyeballs.

The growth becomes dry, irritated and scratchy resulting in constant irritation.

The procedure involves have the eye numbed with eye-drops after which the surgeon gives you an injection in the eye ball to further numb the eye.
The attached picture with give you an idea of the rest of the procedure.

Oh by the way, this is all done while you are awake.

I would suggest that you guys rather choose to protect your eyes from today.

I had the procedure on Friday 26/03 and this is what my eye looks like today.
Eye drops as well as chemotherapy drops are administered every day since the op.

Timothy....hell you are scaring the daylights out of me. I hope you recover quick and well.

I have Polaroids on the water but my problem is I actually have more vis without. Example is checking the horison. Birds are often spotted by their reflection. I have noticed with birds I only see maybe 40% with polaroids on. So if it gets tough out there I take them off with the resultant blood shot eyes in the evening.

Maybe I should get a standard UV pair when looking for birds.

Thanks for the warning and I will be taking it seriously from now on.

I feel your pain I waveski`d for 8 years and both my eyes have been done now I try to always wear darkers on my kayak.
Must say if anyone has ever had arc eyes from welding this feels like that--just much worse.
It feels like someone keeps throwing handsfull of sand in your eyes. Vasbyt

I actually damaged the optical nerve. Apparantly you just need one reflection of the water where the surface of the water has the right curve and it can enhance the power of the sunray by quite a lot. i now have 50% less vision in my left eye than my right.

No gradual worsening. Had my eyes tested for a licence renewal, 100%. 6 months later for my skippers... left eye stuffed.

No man TS, I have the exact same thing on my left eye. After seeing the procedure,  I'm gonna cancel my op! How long was the op? Cant see myself sitting in a chair while some dude is raking and scraping in my eye with a scalpel. You are one brave man! 

Holy hell that looks sore! Hope you feel better soon.

Now I'm glad I got myself some polarised sunnies for fishing! Never leave home without them.

Hey guys.

The operation actually looks scarier than it is.
From the time I walked in to the theater to when they were finished, was 4 minutes.

The worst was a couple days later during recovery when the meds wore off.

it's 100% now and nice to see a white eyeball again.

Tc my operations were done quite a while ago maybe 6 years cant remember exactly but it was done under general anistetic only woke up with patch on my eye and lots of pain

Hi Guys

The picture shown here is off an extracapsular catarat extraction, which involved penetrating the anterior chamber of the eye, which is totally different from a pteygium removal.

A pterygium removal will not penetrate the eye. Only the surface of the cornea will be "scrapped off" under local anesthetic.

A pterygium that grows to this extent will cause severe distortion of vision that may not be corrected with spectacles.

 

 

 

Yes Pranesh you are correct (by your long words, ..I would think)
That's why it reads that the photos will give the chaps an idea on the rest of the procedure.
My laymens terms are a dead giveaway that I am but a humble man off the street....and battled to find any words to describe my petty little "scrapping" I had.

So by you saying that a pterygium removal is "totally different" , do you mean that the injection in to the right corner of my eyeball, the insertion with the scalpel, the cutting with the little curved scissors, the hole left in my "only the surface of the cornea" and the big blob of yellow gunk left in the doctors sample bag after the surgery, was all because I maybe have too much time on my hands to think of ways to get sympathy?

If I was trying to get two seconds of fame, I would have faked open heart surgery.
The point of this topic was the EYE DAMAGE.