Today I had a procedure done on my right eye – the eye doctor removed a conjunctival cyst that had grown big enough to obscure my vision a bit. It was not a big deal; it took about five minutes, max, and no stitches were necessary. Basically, the doctor snipped the cyst, which looked like a clear bubble, and removed it from my eyeball. Then he cauterized the blood vessels. But in the process, I had to have my eye numbed with drops, and then they put a white drape over my face, with the eye area open, and inserted a speculum in my eye to hold it open. This is where it started to all go wrong.
They didn’t tell me about the drape, or the lights in my eye. I really thought I was going to die for a moment. I thought of prisoners of war, and how they often are subjected to questioning under hot, bright lights. This was like that, probably.
I’m terribly claustrophobic, and I started to panic. The doctor and the nurse both apparently knew this was a typical reaction. They were obviously watching for it. The nurse told me to breath deep and relax, and the doctor told me it was almost over, but I thought I was going to die.
After I came home I surfed the web, looking for evidence that this is something that happens to people. I found nothing. Maybe I am not looking in the right place. But surely I’m not the only person who freaks out during eye surgery. Now I’m wondering what will happen the next time, should I decide to have cataract surgery down the road. If anyone reading this has ever had eye surgery and freaked out, please respond. I’d like to know about your experiences and compare notes.
As a postscript, I have to say the the procedure was successful. I can’t even see any real redness – a little, but nothing major. I can see well, and the eye doesn’t even hurt. The doctor prescribed antibiotic drops for two weeks, but I can see better right now than I’ve been able to see in years. I guess it was worth a little scare.
The eye, one day after surgery. Looks good!
Far Out on the Farm 
It’s very odd that your doctor didn’t prepare you. I shadowed an ear/nose/throat surgeon, and post-op, he would always walk each patient through the whole procedure. If they knew that people tend to panic, it would make sense for them to warn you.
I was also curious, how long afterwards your eye was numb?
I had my wisdom teeth removed this summer, and they kept me awake the entire time so that I could keep my mouth open without any scary devices. I wasn’t aware that was going to happen, and I freaked out a little. I was kind of hoping they’d just put me out, and I’d wake up when it was done. I was pretty loopy, and it was quite the experience, floating a bit above the chair, giggling due to nitrous oxide, and then watching the surgery go on in the reflection of my doctor’s glasses. I kind of liked it, in a strange way. I think the eye would be even scarier… brr…
Oh, the eye was only numb for a little while. That wasn’t a problem. The problem was that I wasn’t prepared for the sheet over my face. And I was suffering from the flu already and couldn’t breathe very well, and it scared me. It wasn’t painful except for the lights. The lights in my eye was excruciatingly painful for some reason. I’m sure they didn’t mean not to tell me; how could they know I would freak out? It is very busy practice, and there were dozens of people in the waiting room when I got there. But they take everyone in order according to your appointment and they do it like clockwork. He is a very good eye surgeon. That is why I go to him. The dentists’ comparison is similar. But I didn’t get the laughing gas.
I had the same type of cyst removed from my eye just yesterday! Took just a few minutes. My dr didn’t put a drape over my face…he just used that thing to hold the eye open after it had been numbed and started snipping away! I didn’t feel a thing. Once it was done, my eye was very bloodshot but it had totally cleared up after about 15 minutes. No eye patch, using drops till my followup next week. I am on the west coast of Florida and my surgeon is Dr. Vipal Shah at St Luke’s Eye Institute in Tarpon Springs.
I am schedule for next week to remove the cyst..my question is..how long did you had to stay from work after surgery?
Hi, Manuel. Don’t worry. I was able to drive myself home and had no down time. The doctor gave me some eyedrops to put in my eye for two weeks, but other than a little redness for a day or two, I was able to go about my usual schedule. You will be fine.
I just have a bit of claustrophobia, especially around my eyes, and I also think I was having flashbacks to when I was three years old and was in an accident and had to have my eyes flushed and debris pulled out of my eyes; also, one eyelid was cut and they had to stitch it back and then patch the eye for a few days; I think I was just panicking over nothing.
I had pretty much the same surgery last Wednesday, the 2nd of Feb. From when I entered the Dr’s. Office to when I went home was about thirty minutes, most of it in the waiting room. She put numbing drops in my eye, applied tincture of iodine to the entire exposed eyeball, laid a drape with an open place over my face, then injected a stronger anesthetic into the conjunctiva. After installing an eyelid holder she removed the cyst, wiped up the mess with a small gauze sponge and gave me a Rx for antibiotic drops to use until my follow-up in a week. After the anesthetic wore off and through the next day my eye was somewhat uncomfortable. The day after that, nothing. It’s Sun., Feb, 13 12:30 AM now and no discomfort, just a little redness.
Manuel, you will almost certainly need no time off work, it’s a simple, quick, almost discomfortless procedure, less hassle than a haircut.
Gerry N.
I had the same thing done on both eyes last Friday 7/22/11 (no sheet was used thank heavens). Inbetween the two eyes begin done, I had a claustraphobic attack, panic attack and felt like I could not breathe — those brought on a hot flash for good measure. Ugh! It was really painless, just mentally freaky. It was sunny outside when I left and I did not have my dark sunglasses so it was difficult to drive home for that reason with dialated pupils. I was very tired afterwards, but better the next day. There was slight discomfort for a day or two, but nothing awful. My eyes are still very red and that was 5 days ago. Until last nite, my eyes seemed to be oozing, but that has stopped after I ustarted using the drops correctly. Be sure to check the instructions on the eye drops as the bottle needs to be shaken well and you should drop it in and keep your eyes closed for 1-2 minutes. I did not know that when using the sample for the first 4-5 days! I hope my eyes are white again soon!
It was great to see that someone else (Pippa) had the same mental reaction as me. Thanks for the post!
Char H.
Ooooh, I had such a similar experience. Last week I had a large cyst removed from my eye. I also had a panic attack halfway through, even though I had asked for and had been given 1/2 a Valium. I’m not generally an anxious person, but eye surgery grosses me out. I almost fainted and had to lie in the chair for 20 min. afterward. If it hadn’t been for the very kind nurse, I think I would have lost it. It didn’t help that this all took place in a foreign language, which I am still learning. Now I am 6 days post-op, my eye is still red and fairly crusty in the mornings. I still have a headache behind my eye and am trying to avoid bright light. I would not advise driving home after this surgery. Hopefully this will be my last eye surgery.
I had a conjuctival cyst in my eye as well and got it removed. I was so nervous and scared! But thank god the method was painless. I was still extremely nervous because I have never had any kind of surgery before. They had put a cloth over me and there was a hole for only one eye which they had to perform the surgery upon. I was actually shivering because I was scared out of my wits so the doctor actually thought I was crying! They put on some some iron thingy to open my eye and did their thing. I got five stiches…they were pretty uncomfortable after the surgery but yeah did not cause pain as such. And during the surgery my eye was numbed with anesthesia eyedrops. It’s been more than 15 days after the surgery…so can I wear lenses? I am a little worried because there’s a slight uneveness in the area i got surgery in. I had called up my doctor a few days ago about it and he told me not to worry about it as it was swelling due to stiches and surgery. Oh and he removed the stiches 10 days ago. The swelling decreased but there’s still a raised area like which is not even visible.