Eyesight and WLS?

Has anyone come across any literature pertaining to the fact that eyesight gets worse with WLS patients? If you come across anything on this topic, please let me know. I went for a consultation yesterday for laser eye surgery, and was turned down based on the amount of correction I would need; there was another option, where they insert a permanant lense in your eye; but after an hour and a half of testing, they determined I would not be a candidate for that either, based on the cell count (?), should be at 2500 or better, and mine is under 1500. Not sure what it all means, waiting to go back to my eye dr. for further explanation, but in the meantime, someone mentioned they heard stories of wls patient's eyesight getting worse. This is extremely upsetting to me, because the dr. yesterday mentioned something about in 10-15 years, me needing a corneal transplant!

Michelle, I have not heard anything about it getting worse after WLS but I have not really ever looked either. I know mine is pretty good still as I just had a type of vision testing done this morning and with that I found out I have 20/20 and 20/15 vision. That portion of the test did not test up close or anything but that was my far sighted testing. I also did not have glasses before surgery either so maybe that makes a difference? Maybe?? So for me it has not gotten worse at all. If I hear of anything I will let you know. I am interested to see if anyone else has had any findings of it. I hope that you can find something that they can do for you. Big Hugs! Melissa

I've not heard about WLS affecting eyesight in particular, but I have heard that general anesthesia does temporarily affect eyesight. I've never read any studies done, though.

I haven't heard that but I do know that my eye sight got worse as I got fatter. I will be going in this fall to get new glasses and contacts so will be interesting to see what my vision is then. I also lost the ability to find contacts that I could wear comfortably after gaining a lot of my weight. I some days have trouble reading things on the TV and playing video games at a distance makes me car sick LOL unless I have it on the big TV so maybe it is getting worse. *shrug* not sure... Felicia

OMG!!! Michelle is that you??? You are looking great!! I really haven't heard anything about eyesight getting worse. All I know is that I am as blind as a bat if I do not have on my glasses or my contacts in. My eyewear is the first thing I put on in the mornings and the last thing I take off at night. I wish I could go have the lazer surgery done on my eyes but was afraid it wouldn't work....lol I said that about WLS too....73 lbs ago Lisa S

Michelle, My doctor's office called me after my 3-month appointment, when they got the lab results back. They wanted to know if I was having any problems with my vision. She said my B-1 level was low, which can cause vision problems. They think the reason it was low was because I was having so much problems keeping food down because of a stricture, but I'm supposed to let them know if I start noticing problems. Marie

I actually did hear something about this while researching the surgery. It has something to do with the mal absorptive issues and vitamin deficiencys. As I remember it they said it wasnt an issue till old age and I wasnt too worried because by the time that hits us all they will have more info and preventatives for it. I will look and see if I can find the info again and send you a link.

Hi Michelle I have come across data indicating WLS and diminishing eye-sight go hand in hand. it was on a Duodonal support group email a few months back. unfortunately i dont have the email any more nor can i remember the finer details. sowwie.