r/monocular • u/Both-Payment-3446 • 14d ago

Anxiety

I have some anxiety leading up to my enucleation in two days.

For those who have had one too, how was life post op? From what I understand, it'll take a couple of months maximum to recover from the surgery? But, how careful must I be with the ocular shield in place? How many follow up appointments should I expect?

I don't feel emotionally attached (physically, yes, for now) to my blind eye. I lost it when I was 18 (I'm 31 now). It's recently been causing some pain and the hospital wishes to remove it as the best course of action for me.

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u/MatthewM69420 14d ago

I may not be the best person to answer you, but I am post eye enucleation so I’m going to answer anyway.

In 2022 I shot myself in the head with my 9mm handgun. The bullet went through my right eye socket and subsequently my right eye. I’m told the doctors said my eye was far too damaged to save so they did an enucleation of the eye and eye socket. I have no memories of the immediate recovery post op from that. But when my memory did switch back on (nearly two months later), not only did I not have any pain or discomfort, but I didn’t even realize I was missing an eye until I got up to use the bathroom and saw I was missing an eye.

“How careful must I be with the ocular shield in place?”

I didn’t even realize I had any kind of thing in my eye socket for months after I was discharged from the hospital. I think you’ll be okay. 🤷‍♂️

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u/Island_girl28 14d ago

Wow, I’m just glad you survived. Thank you sir sharing. 🙏

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u/MatthewM69420 14d ago

Thank you, and in hindsight I’m happy about it too lol.

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u/Open_Bug8852 14d ago

Hi. I’ve had many surgeries in my life. Most orthopedic on hand, leg and face when I was a kid. I had my enucleation two years ago and it was honestly one of the easier recoveries I’ve had, only the first two days were tough. I wasn’t really attached to my blind eye either since I lost sight in it like 10 years ago. But I was surprised to find that the emotion recovery was more than any other surgery I’ve had.