Interesting - I was diagnosed with pinguecula after merely two weeks of wearing contact lenses. The doctor who diagnosed me took a cursory look at my eyes and then said I would have these things for the rest of my life.
Now, after reading your post, I'm not so convinced his diagnosis was 100% correct. One of my "pings" is white, mostly, with a teeny yellow tinge. It looks nothing like the other ping, which is thick and yellow with a red vessel feeding into it. Should be interesting to hear what my opthalmologist says - I hope the first doctor was wrong, at least on half a count.
Thank you so much for the good advice. I would never have thought to get a second opinion before reading it! XD
Now, after reading your post, I'm not so convinced his diagnosis was 100% correct. One of my "pings" is white, mostly, with a teeny yellow tinge. It looks nothing like the other ping, which is thick and yellow with a red vessel feeding into it. Should be interesting to hear what my opthalmologist says - I hope the first doctor was wrong, at least on half a count.
Thank you so much for the good advice. I would never have thought to get a second opinion before reading it! XD
I have known that I have had "pings" on both eyes since 1998. After learning about them I always wore sunglasses and took care of my eyes (drops when they were irritated). After 11 years of dealing with them and a summer of irritation of not being able to wear contacts and constantly feeling like I had a piece of sand in my eye. I went to an optomalogist and was told that before the left eye got any worse that I should remove them. On 1/4/10 I had the ping on my left eye removed using a graft procedure and had one stitch. I was able to open immediately and went home with a patch that was removed the next day. So far I'm extremely happy with the surgery and even if its only been a couple days I'm already experiencing less discomfort than before. Yes half of my left is extremely pink and I do have slight bruising around my eye with some tenderness, the pain is minimal and only really bad at night when I'm trying to go to sleep. I'll update more as time goes on!
E
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To guest above, how is your eye doing now? Does it look much better?
Dear Guest of 1/7/10, how is your eye doing now? I hope you are fully healed.
I'm curious to know where you had surgery, and the name of the doctor who performed it.
Please update us when you can. Thanks!! :-)
I'm curious to know where you had surgery, and the name of the doctor who performed it.
Please update us when you can. Thanks!! :-)
Meaghan (mblack314) and others,
Several have mentioned that they have had Lasik Surgery after having a ping.
I have them in both eyes and believe it is from wearing contact lenses for the past 15 years as well as having a mild dry eye.
Contact lenses are no longer comfortable to my right eye so I am considering lasik- I went for an appt and they said I would be a good candidate but I am concerned about the dry eye after words- I think I will get better with time as that is what I have read mostly.
Would you recommend having the lasik? My thoughts are to have Lasik first and then save up money and if the pings get worse have them removed later down the road.
Thank you for your feedback
redfox
Several have mentioned that they have had Lasik Surgery after having a ping.
I have them in both eyes and believe it is from wearing contact lenses for the past 15 years as well as having a mild dry eye.
Contact lenses are no longer comfortable to my right eye so I am considering lasik- I went for an appt and they said I would be a good candidate but I am concerned about the dry eye after words- I think I will get better with time as that is what I have read mostly.
Would you recommend having the lasik? My thoughts are to have Lasik first and then save up money and if the pings get worse have them removed later down the road.
Thank you for your feedback
redfox
Hi Redfox,
I had Lasik before having my pings removed, but it did not provide me with the optimum level of moisture and comfort I sought. However, it does work for some people. Furthermore, the cost will be cheaper for Lasik, but it may not fully solve your problems. So, if you were to remove the pings, you would be able to wear contacts, but you would still need to pay for contacts. I would recommend Lasik first, but if that does not work for you, then you have to pay for another surgery to remove pings. If you don't mind contacts and they are gradually getting worse, I would attribute that to the pings, so then you should have them removed to alleviate the dryness and continue to wear contacts. Also, I would recommend searching all of the posts and threads on pings within this site as I and others have posted much information which is too long to go through now. Hope this helps some Meaghan
I had Lasik before having my pings removed, but it did not provide me with the optimum level of moisture and comfort I sought. However, it does work for some people. Furthermore, the cost will be cheaper for Lasik, but it may not fully solve your problems. So, if you were to remove the pings, you would be able to wear contacts, but you would still need to pay for contacts. I would recommend Lasik first, but if that does not work for you, then you have to pay for another surgery to remove pings. If you don't mind contacts and they are gradually getting worse, I would attribute that to the pings, so then you should have them removed to alleviate the dryness and continue to wear contacts. Also, I would recommend searching all of the posts and threads on pings within this site as I and others have posted much information which is too long to go through now. Hope this helps some Meaghan
I have pings on BOTH sides of BOTH eyes and they are a hideous yellow-orange. People think I am jaundiced. Twenty years ago I had RK and I am now told that I should not have been a candidate for RK because of my chronic dry eye. Although my doctor characterizes my pings as mild and cosmetic, they have ruined my looks. I feel like people are always trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I am an otherwise healthy 42 year old man who runs and lifts weights regularly. My fear is that they will continue to grow so that all of my visible sclera has turned yellow...almost there now. I don't know if surgery is an option, especially at the CA site. I live on the east coast.
Hi all,
I've worn contacts since I was in my early teens, and started to develop mild dry eye in my early twenties. My pings developed when I was in high school, but were never very bothersome until recently. Now in my mid-twenties, I stare all day at the computer, and I don't think wearing contacts has helped :-(
The pings are painful, and my left eye always feels like there is a foreign body....very annoying. My eye doctor dismisses the problem. Through the health boards I discovered Harvard Eye, and I decided to look into the ping surgery. I've chosen to have both pings removed by Dr. Hovenasian in late June. The price quoted seemed reasonable, and I'm so excited for these things to be gone. They always get red, even when the rest of my eyes look fine...very annoying!
I've been an avid reader, but now that my surgery has been scheduled, I've decided to finally start to post so that my experience can be helpful to other ping sufferers!
I've worn contacts since I was in my early teens, and started to develop mild dry eye in my early twenties. My pings developed when I was in high school, but were never very bothersome until recently. Now in my mid-twenties, I stare all day at the computer, and I don't think wearing contacts has helped :-(
The pings are painful, and my left eye always feels like there is a foreign body....very annoying. My eye doctor dismisses the problem. Through the health boards I discovered Harvard Eye, and I decided to look into the ping surgery. I've chosen to have both pings removed by Dr. Hovenasian in late June. The price quoted seemed reasonable, and I'm so excited for these things to be gone. They always get red, even when the rest of my eyes look fine...very annoying!
I've been an avid reader, but now that my surgery has been scheduled, I've decided to finally start to post so that my experience can be helpful to other ping sufferers!
@ DRBBT
You might try contacting Dr. Gulani in Jacksonville. If you are considering removing your pings, he has extensive experience in the graft technique. I myself live abroad, but one day hope to have one of my pings removed by him. His patients have posted very positively about him, so he might be an option to think about.
Avigalil
You might try contacting Dr. Gulani in Jacksonville. If you are considering removing your pings, he has extensive experience in the graft technique. I myself live abroad, but one day hope to have one of my pings removed by him. His patients have posted very positively about him, so he might be an option to think about.
Avigalil
@ DRBBT
You might try contacting Dr. Gulani in Jacksonville. If you are considering removing your pings, he has extensive experience in the graft technique. I myself live abroad, but one day hope to have one of my pings removed by him. His patients have posted very positively about him, so he might be an option to think about.
Avigail
You might try contacting Dr. Gulani in Jacksonville. If you are considering removing your pings, he has extensive experience in the graft technique. I myself live abroad, but one day hope to have one of my pings removed by him. His patients have posted very positively about him, so he might be an option to think about.
Avigail
Does anyone know of a ping surgeon in NYC?
Hi all ping sufferers,
Just wanted to share my surgery experience at Harvard Eye in Orange County. I just had surgery on Wednesday, and the recovery is going well. First some details about the surgery & prep:
Harvard Eye & Dr. Hovanesian were amazing -- the staff is very helpful and caring; never felt silly for asking questions, etc. Prep for surgery is standard - no food & water for 6 hours before. For the surgery, you have an IV and go into a dream-like state, which only takes about 20 minutes. Since I was from out of town, I had both eyes done at the same time, and had a "partial block," which blocks your nerves & sight in one half of the face/eye. After a a good night's rest, I was able to take off the patch on my eye, and I was starting to feel better.
My eyes are red on the nasal side where the pings are removed, and a bit puffy around the grafts, which Dr. H assured me was normal. He said it will take the eye about a month to heal, and that I'll be out of contacts for at least 3 weeks.
Taking some time off work now to rest up & speed my recovery. I'll continue to update as I recover -- happy to answer any questions!
Just wanted to share my surgery experience at Harvard Eye in Orange County. I just had surgery on Wednesday, and the recovery is going well. First some details about the surgery & prep:
Harvard Eye & Dr. Hovanesian were amazing -- the staff is very helpful and caring; never felt silly for asking questions, etc. Prep for surgery is standard - no food & water for 6 hours before. For the surgery, you have an IV and go into a dream-like state, which only takes about 20 minutes. Since I was from out of town, I had both eyes done at the same time, and had a "partial block," which blocks your nerves & sight in one half of the face/eye. After a a good night's rest, I was able to take off the patch on my eye, and I was starting to feel better.
My eyes are red on the nasal side where the pings are removed, and a bit puffy around the grafts, which Dr. H assured me was normal. He said it will take the eye about a month to heal, and that I'll be out of contacts for at least 3 weeks.
Taking some time off work now to rest up & speed my recovery. I'll continue to update as I recover -- happy to answer any questions!
hi annabelle, are you still there?
i would love an update. i'm seriously considering going to dr. hovanesian soon! any information would be great!
Aloha Pacific Ocean,
i am a 58 year old male from Hawaii and I am very worried about my eyes . I used red out drops for a year and now my eyes are always red. I have pings in both eyes. I totally love the outdoors , surfed alot before , and still love to play golf. I am seriously thinking about getting surgery because like all blogs my optho thinks it's nothing serious I guess. I have an appt. with Eyesight Hawaii next week and I am totally confused on what to do .....pls respond
i am a 58 year old male from Hawaii and I am very worried about my eyes . I used red out drops for a year and now my eyes are always red. I have pings in both eyes. I totally love the outdoors , surfed alot before , and still love to play golf. I am seriously thinking about getting surgery because like all blogs my optho thinks it's nothing serious I guess. I have an appt. with Eyesight Hawaii next week and I am totally confused on what to do .....pls respond
Hi Aliluna... How are your eyes?