A follow-up on my recent photophobia/migraine situation: Much better since last night. I'm convinced that I'll have to be very, very careful of light from here on out, since there is a problem (whatever the cause, although it all started with that eye exam on 9-2-11) with my eyes not expanding or contracting normally.
Which means I'll have to constantly remember to have on two pairs of sunglasses on when I go out, even on cloudy days, something which I wasn't doing consistently before) and using the green plastic adjustable visor I have indoors, which I have been lax in doing when my eyes haven't been troubling me. Thus I'll have to be acting as though I am having pain even when I'm not, just to not inadvertently cause myself any undue suffering from my own neglect.
I have read that anyone light sensitive shouldn't close things up, wear dark glasses all the time, and so on, because it can cause worsening photophobia. Well, I've had times when I didn't need the dark so much, when I was even thinking that I would be able to go to clear glasses indoors, only to have another bout of trouble when I "got" too much light or flashing glare from vehicles going by. Therefore, I'm assuming that my pupils will never go back to normal (for me, that is, since I have always preferred lower light).
I wonder. Could the dilation drops have made my natural photophobia worse? Could they have caused at least partial, if not full, paralysis of the ciliary muscle? My ophthalmologist just said he hadn't heard of anything like I was experiencing, making no mention of any underlying problem which could have caused it. Since eye exams are supposed to be able to uncover many health problems, I'm taking his response to my complaint as meaning there was nothing that he had seen in my eyes, even during the cataract surgery, which could have indicated that there was a health issue involved.
On a curious note: When I went in for a procedure over a year later to fix a new problem with my vision (seeing fuzzy halos around lights), the nurse came in to dilate my eyes. I told her no, not to dilate them, and she looked closely at my eyes. Then she said that I probably didn't need them, or something similar. Perhaps she just thought that my pupils were ordinarily large. Or perhaps (being Devil's advocate, here) she had seen my problem before, but knew better than to say more than that. At any rate, she didn't seem concerned, alarmed, or even curious. In other words, she was no help to me at all where my "mystery" was concerned.
To one and all, I issue this warning: Beware of all eye dilation and bright light, especially if the light is already something of a bother. Something is going on in the field of ophthalmology, and it's frightening. And painful, too. Express your concern to the people in the doctor's office. If they blow you off, as one nurse did after I told her I'd had problems as a child with having my eyes dilated, be more assertive. I don't care who you are, what you've done, or what you think. Protect your eyes, and do so at the risk of causing those trying to force you into "doing what the doctor says" to become ticked off with you. For me, there's no going back. Because my eye doctor is considered "good" by those in other offices, and if a "good" doctor can ruin my eyes, then think of what a "bad" doctor could do, and I'm sure there are plenty of those out there. Nobody deserves to be put into the position I'm in. Nobody. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Take care of yourself, your family, your friends. Spread the word about this ignorant abuse of over-dilating the eyes. Ask, or demand, that you have the lowest possible dilution of the drops if your eyes have to be dilated. That's the only protection you can have against those who use such toxic "medicine" willy-nilly.
Too bad that I, and others, learned this lesson too late.