Posted on 10/09/2021 10:50:50 AM PDT by brianr10
I have been nearsighted for 40 years and until a few weeks ago I had no other abnormalities. I had a sudden onset of floaters in one eye which got me emergency appointment and had retinal detachment laser surgery the same day. At my ten day follow up the Dr in passing said something like the caratarct in your left eye is bigger than your right and that is what is causing you some eye strain headaches after surgery.
I am not aware of any affect of cataracts on my vision yet other than that.
I am not sure if my vision has deteriorated enough to qualify for surgery.
Life-changing in a good way.
However my detachment resulted from a traumatic injury and was not related to the cataract surgery. Just bad luck.
Retinal detachment is a possibility with almost any kind of invasive eye procedure including cataract surgery and most laser procedures like lasik surgery. My Dr fully advised me of the risks before my cataract surgery. IMO The benefits far outweighed the risk, so I made the choice.
I elected to be able to see close up and forfeited some of my distance vision, because I didn’t want to have to depend on glasses to read.
(I could have started using a magifying glass but didn’t think of that at the time. I still am happy with my decision, as reading is the most important to me of all the ways to learn. I wear medium-distance glasses for the computer and distance glasses outdoors.)
The complete spectrum of perfect vision wasn’t available at the time, and even now I believe is much more expensive and not covered by Medicare as the selective vision is. Maybe even that has changed and is now covered.
Worse part is the anxiety. Operation is nothing. Oh well, the doctor’s assistant was a real bitch, part of one of those forced hiring programs, which is why I never recommended the surgeon to anyone. The only eyedrops that really burn a bit are the last ones before the operation, which are the antibiotic ones.
You’ll be happy. Everything will be just fine.
Vision correcting, both eyes. Love it. 20/200 to 20/20, but the brightness can be annoying. About 4 years ago.
Good to hear! Yea, the side effects of Statins are all over the place. I was under 50 when I lost my eyesight, so it was really young, and that was my only drug (at the time). A friend on Statins got diabetes and he was in good physical shape and from a family where it didn’t run, so who knows. I finally stopped taking them after seeing enough of the downsides on the web...my choice - your choice is your choice and you seem to be fine at 3+ decades on them.
They gave me a questionnaire to fill out to see if I would qualify. Rated different things on a scale of 1 to 10. I hadn’t realized that my peripheral vision was getting poor, and sometimes I tripped on the stairs because of my depth perception. It was little things, but boy, has this surgery made a huge difference in my quality of life. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am with my decision, which I didn’t take lightly. This eye doctor is one of the best I’ve ever had. Not changing docs if I can do anything about it. He will eventually retire, and I will be sad when that happens. The other doctors in his practice are very good, but they aren’t him.
I’ve worn glasses since I was 10 (near-sighted). I’ve hated them forever, but was happy to be able to see things clearly. Got hard contacts when I was 17 cuz I hated glasses so much. Those were great for a long time. Eventually I had lasik, with one eye for close work and the other for distance. After 10+ years, I needed readers. Have I mentioned how much I hate glasses? When my eye doctor told me I had cataracts (age 60) and that he could fix those and then give me new permanent multi focal lenses, I was excited, but scared. He said I was a good candidate for that surgery, and explained everything to me. It’s been a year and a half, and I couldn’t be happier. The halos only bother me once in a while, and when they happen, it’s usually because I’m driving at night, and seeing everyone’s car lights. I’ve learned how to cope with that, so it barely bothers me anymore. If I could’ve done this 5 years ago, I would’ve. I know that not everyone has the same good fortune that I’ve had, but my experience has been excellent. Good luck!
One of the best things I’ve ever done. Both eyes. Vision correcting.
If both eyes, they usually wait two weeks before doing the 2nd eye. I was in a twilight situation where the doctor talked to me but I wasnt’ totally awake.
Had been severely short sighted since the age of 8. As an adult, different contacts: soft, hard, monovision for near and far etc.
This didn’t hurt, you will see normally and can’t feel their presence at all.
I did see everything with a blue tint - “fixed” that by getting amber tinted sun glasses. And then after some months the blue tint went away. A family member had the blue tinting for a couple days.
This was 10 years ago.
Unlike most here (and my wife) I had a problem. Had the right eye done first and while the clarity was fine I had double and triple vision. Doc said it could be fixed with drops but I got another opinion. Seems the new lens was not aligned properly, so I had it removed and replaced. Then the fun began. Messing with your eye is tricky so I developed a retina edema or swelling. The steroid drops caused my eye pressure to elevate into glaucoma territory, as I am allergic to steroids. That was three years ago. Still have to take four kind of drops and probably always will. The cornea also got involved and my old good vision ain’t so good anymore. My other eye was done with no issues.
Forgot this - The hardest part as many have mentioned is following the directions with different eye drops both before and after surgery.
They gave me something to relax me but I have trouble with anesthesia so the doc said if I could keep my eye open, I didn’t need anything.
It was pain free and I noticed the correction in my vision on the way home from the hospital.
Cataracts - bump for later.
I was told a couple of decades ago that I would need it in about 5 years. I am reaching the point that I probably need it pretty soon. I have trouble reading street signs now.
Had it done a month or two ago.
SUPER SUCCESS!
PAINLESS !
(Wait until you have the first eye done when you can compare before and after. You’ll see you’ve been looking through a brown film for years.)
ML/NJ
I forgot to wish you GOOD LUCK, I hope everything goes well👍
Just got my second surgery for cataracts. There is zero pqain and my surgeon took ten minutes from incision to final eye wash and out of the building in fifteen minutes after surgery! I was told I would not need to put all sortws of drops in my eyes after surgery because my surgeon used a little bubble of DEXYcu, which is a small slowly dissolving mix of the three drops that used to be required by the patient following the surgery. That has been my experience, no discomfort, no daily drops and only wear an eye shield at night for the first week. I aksed for the distance lenses, for driving purposes. The offer of stigmatism or bifocal lenses seemed excessive since I wore glasses and the corrections are easily handled with glasses. I have macular degeneration in addition to the cataracts, so it is noce to regaing full light and the colors are so vivid after removing the brownish tinted cataracts. Don’t fret, it’s all good! (I am 76, BTW. The first eye (left) was done on Sept 21 and the second on Oct 5th and I was astonished that I could see from the left eye as I rolled out TO the car! AGAIN, THE SUDDEN GAIN OF COLOR VISION IS AMAZING.
Thanks
I did both eyes, monovision. That is one eye is for reading and the other for distance. I’m an organist. I got special glasses for reading music but never use them. I can just see everything clearly.
I was scared at first because it took several days for my vision to clear up. I realize now why some people have the fog and others do not. when they remove the old natural lens they break it up and then vacuum it out, well there are two ways to break it up, one is an ultra sound wand and the other is a laser. The ultrasound really inflames the cornea and the swollen cornea causes the fog. The laser method is much gentler on the cornea and doesn’t seem to cause that fog.
Interesting that so many Freepers had cataract surgery. Does this mean our demos skew old? That would be depressing, that Trump supporters are mostly Boomers (me) and older.
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