I’m 65 and have have been told that I need cataract surgery, Ive been putting it off for a year now. My sight is becoming much more impaired. That’s a big problem not only for the obvious reasons, but because I’m an artist, and my art is one of only a few things I can do that doesn’t cause severe TN pain! My ATN and Anesthesia Dolorosa are caused by damage to the trigeminal nerve from surgery to remove a trigeminal brain tumor 16 years ago so the idea of any surgery has me very worried! Ive been researching cataract surgery side effects and have found nothing that addresses this. Have any of you had cataract surgery and what have been your experiences with it???
Oh, should be fine.... I don't think they go inside your head
or near any trigeminal nerves!
Let us know how it goes!
I had cataract surgery in 2012, they pretty much put me under for the tn side, the other eye I was good to go had no issues. Did not seem to make things any worse. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes. Dawn
Dawn Monarch said:
I had cataract surgery in 2012, they pretty much put me under for the tn side, the other eye I was good to go had no issues. Did not seem to make things any worse. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes. Dawn
Thank you both for your input!!! I know that cataract surgery doesnt involve the nerves of the eye but there
does seem to be a relationship between my particular TN pain and my eye. I am extremly light sensitive in that eye and when my pain is at its absolute worst it shoots like an hot ice pick right through the center of my eye and can last for hours. The bright light from an eye exam often sets it off. I don’t know if this is because the tumor was on the trigeminal nerve directly behind my eye, but they had a needle probe through my eye for the 8 hours of the neurosurgery to insure that they were not destroying my vision as they removed the tumor. I think amoung the most troubling things about ATN are all the unknowns…
You can message RED here and he will tell you if he knows any downside,!
Hi ML,
I would be interested to know your results if you had the cataract surgery. My mother has trigeminal neuralgia and is also considering cataract surgery. I am concerned about how she will do DURING the surgery, as the neuralgia is near her eye. Although she will be under conscious sedation, I am worried that she might get a TN zap while the doctor is working around her eye/face, and accidently move.
I was almost in remission when I had cataract surgery on same side as ATN started after root canal on infectious crown 4 years ago. The pain has come back worse than ever before about 4 days later.
I think the swelling after surgery triggered this pain.
It sounds like your TN is in the nerve branch that affects your eye and cheek bone area. You better check with you Neurologist. Don’t want that to make things worse.