Quick recap: in 2023, had cataract surgery and replaced the lens in both eyes. Early in 2024, had a Yag Laser procedure done. Could see again. Kind of amazing.

Midway through 2024, a haze completely covered my right eye. You know those eye charts the doctor puts up as part of your exam? I couldn’t see the top line of really big letters clearly enough to make them out.

I figured that perhaps I needed another Yag procedure. Doctor said no, believed I’d developed a bacterial infection. So for four weeks, I was having to put eye drops in my eyes eight times a day.

The haze slowly dissolved over those four weeks. But at that point I also figured out that I had REALLY dry eyes. Like, really dry. If I put OTC eye drops in my eyes religiously every hour, I wouldn’t have blurriness at the end of the day. If I missed some of those hours, I was out of luck, and my world would be blurry. Again. As usual.

So my doctor put me on prescription eye drops—Restasis. That helped slightly. Instead of every hour, I only had to use OTC drops every other hour or so. But it didn’t help significantly. Plus, mid-December, the haze started developing over my right eye again.

Last week, I went to see my eye doctor for a follow-up visit. This time, he put something called a punctal plug into my tear ducts, to block the drainage of water from my eyes. Just two of them, in the inner corner of each eye, so there are still two working ducts for drainage. The plugs are made of collagen and are temporary. Supposedly, they’ll dissolve after about six weeks. (We’ll see if my body decides to eat them sooner rather than later.)

In the beginning, I could really feel them. My awareness of them has decreased over time. If I think about it, I can still place where they are. They don’t hurt, but they feel hard and dry sometimes.

That first day—I could see clearly, honestly for what felt like the first time in over a year. I hadn’t realized just how blurry my vision had gotten until I could see again.

The second day—I didn’t do OTC eye drops as often as I probably should have. So my eyes grew blurry after a while. The good news, though, was that putting in eye drops instantly cured the issue! Before, if I didn’t use my eye drops every hour, no additional eye drops at night would help.

Now, I’m about a week in. My eyes, for the most part, remain clear, MUCH clearer than before. I’m still having to use eye drops regularly, but I’m starting to now only put drops in my eyes when they feel dry instead of every hour. Still doing it several times per day, but I’m hoping that will decrease.

I’m continuing with the Restasis. Supposedly it takes forever for some people to see any improvement—as much as a year. In seven weeks, I have another checkup. The plugs should have dissolved by then. At that point, we can decided if I need permanent plugs or if my eyes have started working again even without them.

I keep thinking that this oh-so-long journey with my eyes is over, that they’ll have settled down.

Not so much, yet. But things are better.