Welcome to the Lancashire Eye Clinic.
We hope to make your stay as pleasant as possible. This is just a brief outline of what your day entails.
On the day of surgery please ensure that you wear no make-up or moisturiser on the skin of your face.
During surgery your hair and collar area may get wet so please wear loose comfortable clothing.
Please do not bring your mobile telephone into the theatre unless it is switched off.
PRIOR TO SURGERY
On arrival you will be seated in our lounge area.
There will be other patients also awaiting surgery in the waiting room.
One of our nursing staff will escort you into one of our consulting rooms where a brief admission will be carried out. This will include obtaining contact details and next of kin from you and also a brief outline of any relevant medical history.
We will also require details of any medication you may be taking at the present time.
We will need to check your blood pressure, once we are happy with this we will then commence dilation of the eye if required on which you will be operated.
The drops will be instilled at regular intervals for a period of up to one hour prior to you having your surgery but you will be seated in the lounge where you can relax with the other patients.
When your surgery time arrives you will be asked to return to one of the consulting rooms where Mr Raines will ask you to sign your consent form. At this point if you have any last minute questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Once the consent form has been signed then we will commence instillation of the anaesthetic drops. These will be administered every minute between 5 and 10 minutes prior to your surgery.
YOUR TIME IN SURGERY
You will be escorted through into the operating theatre where you will be asked to sit on a theatre chair (similar to a dentist’s chair). This chair will recline and the legs will elevate so that you will be lying relatively flat.
Mr Raines will then clean down the area around your eye and also the eye itself.
A sterile drape will be placed over your head, face and chest – this is to keep the area as sterile as possible. A flexible “arm” allows the drape to be held away from your face and oxygen to be blown gently to make you feel more comfortable.
You do not have to worry about blinking as a small piece of equipment called a speculum, which acts as a small clamp, will be placed between your eyelids.
It would be helpful if you could keep your other eye open and blink normally throughout the procedure. This helps to keep the eye to be operated on nice and relaxed.
A small probe will be fitted to your finger – this enables us to keep a check of your heart rate and your oxygen levels throughout the procedure.
Mr Raines will ask you to look at the very bright light in the microscope. You will find this light quite intense at first but your eye will become accustomed to this. You must ensure that you stare at this light throughout the procedure and you must not attempt to look anywhere else. You will not be able to focus on anything and therefore all you will see is bright lights and shadows and some people report seeing lots of bright colours but everybody is a little different.
If you feel that you wish to sneeze or cough you must raise your hand and the surgeon will stop and ask what the problem is. (This is a fear that most people have but has rarely ever been a problem).
You will have an awareness that a procedure is being carried out but you will have no discomfort.
The surgery will take approximately between 15 and 20 minutes and sometimes less.
FOLLOWING YOUR SURGERY
Once the surgery is complete a clear eye shield will be placed over the operated eye and the chair will be returned to the sitting position.
You will be taken back to the waiting room and offered a refreshment and asked to sit there for a short time until you are ready when we will go through a short discharge procedure.
You will be given eye drops to take home. These consist of an anti-inflammatory/antibiotic and are very important in settling the eye down. The eye shield should remain in place overnight and then thrown away the next morning. You should not use this again.
Please ensure you have someone to take you home after your surgery.
I hope you find this information useful but if you have any questions on the day of surgery we will be only too happy to help you with them.
Surgery days can be very busy and sometimes we may ask your relative or carer to leave the clinic for a short time to return later once your surgery is completed. This is to allow sufficient seating for patients and to help promote a relaxed atmosphere.
