Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Posted on 05/16/2018 2:41:09 PM PDT by CaptainPhilFan
Hey FReoples! I'm too young for cataracts, but so is my sister so apparently it's a genetic condition.
Went to the Ophthalmologist earlier today on a referral from my Optometrist who discovered them a month ago.
Was expecting "Oh, yeah, but you can wait a few years" but got "Oh, the right eye is pretty bad, you should do this now".
Then I got the impression this was a production line deal, the Doc wanted me to file for insurance approval and make all appointments on the spot more or less, and THEN went into his sales pitch about lasers and upselling and various lenses and what did I think ..... He was talking out of pocket expenses between $2000-3000 - for one eye.
I thought to ask you guys about your experiences; anyone have Catalys Laser for astigmatism, Symfony "Better" Lenses, any troubles? Mono or multi vision?
I'm barely mid fifties, so whatever I decide now should last a few decades, God willing. So I have to make the right decision. Or least not a bad one.
Just doing the right eye now, left may come later as the cataract there is not as bad.
I can still see close up fairly well, all but the tiniest of print. Glasses are for driving and movies and to help the astigmatism.
Also, I have bottle of MSM sitting on my counter, ordered a month ago when I first found out. People claim it breaks up the protein clumps and gets rid of the cataract naturally. - Anyone here try that??
Thanks for sharing your experiences and wisdom with me. If we can't change the world maybe at least we can help each other's lives. :)
Please get a second opinion. My out of pocket expenses were $400 per eye and that included new lense implants that have me seeing 20/20 for the first time in 65 years.
My doctor is part of a small family practice of doctors who were all the head of their respective Ohio State classes and internships.
You don’t have to pay thousands for good care.
Surgery is outpatient at their office and I was home before noon.
Get recommendations from family and friends.
WOW!
Thank you all so much for all the great stories and info. I have to go back and reread them, of course. I do believe they all make wonderful sense.
I’m not afraid of the surgery as much as I am about making the wrong choice, and no, I don’t feel quite comfortable with this Doc, so I may well seek a 2nd.
Sorry I didn’t realize there was another post about this recently, I’ll look for it, thanks!
I am looking forward to seeing better, kind of exciting after 45 years of glasses!
Thank you all! <3 (that’s a heart) :)
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
I had forgotten how yellow everything had gotten. Afterwards everything was clean.
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Prior to my cataract surgeries, I could drive fine at night. I didn’t understand why everyone else was complaining about xenon headlights, or HID lights or the super bright lights all new trucks have. That didn’t bother me.
But after my surgery... Oh my.
It’s true for me, and I suppose most cataract patients. After surgery you are surprised at how much brighter things are. After the cloudy lenses are removed.
Medicare covers the Standard (usually distance) Fixed Lens replacement.
There are advanced Lenses now available that simulate the movements of your Natural Lens, but you have to pay out of pocket for the additional cost.
If you need both Eyes done, they usually do the “worst” Eye first. Never have both Eyes done at the same time. My Cataract Surgeries were done two Months apart.
The surgeon did the same surgery on his wife a few months before my procedures, and she raved about the difference, and how well her husband did. (Could have been a sales pitch, but she was very sincere.)
One thing that was not explained to me well was that when you go home and the anesthesia starts to wear off, your eye will be looking down for a while. I actually called the office and got the "Oh, that's normal. Don't worry about it." Took about an hour for "normal" to show up.
I was shocked at the difference in color perception, especially how "BLUE" blue became.
I wear glasses to drive, especially at night, and leave the glasses off most of the rest of the time.
Good luck with your decision.
I had cataract surgery on my right eye about your age. Suggest an upgrade lens (they had 3 different types) and I went with the mid-range. Day surgery, no big deal, lots of eye drops.
While you will often be the youngest patient in the Doctors office, cataracts in your 50’s is more common than you may think.
My other eye is just about ready 10 years after the first.
Good luck.
My dad and mom both had cataract surgery when they were in their late ‘70’s.
Both times they said that for 4-6 hours after they removed the bandages the thought they were blinded in that eye.
Then their brain ‘made an adjustment’ and suddenly they could see just fine.
And actually much better than prior to the operation.
FR is getting old.
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Indeed. We will soon go from talking cataract surgery to when should you get that hip replacement.
And oh yeah.... Know any good nursing homes?
My left eye got a noticeable cataract when I was 53. (Noticed that I was seeing 3 moons at night with left eye instead of one).
By age 56 I could no longer read with my left eye (Now I was seeing 12-18 moons with the left eye, all popping out of one another).
Right eye - 20/20 correctible, no noticeable impact yet. So time came to get the left eye fixed.
Additional problem - I always had heavy astigmatism and -7 prescription. So - if they fixed the left eye to be close to 20/20, I could no longer wear glasses because a glass prism for a -7 prescription is too thick for the brain to be able to put that image together with 20/20 vision from the left eye.
The solution? Got the left eye fixed to 20/20, and I wear a soft contact lens in the right eye. So I now see 20/20 distance, but have to wear bi-focal reading glasses - top part for in-between computer screen viewing, bottom part for closeup reading.
Science is amazing, isn’t it? My VA doctor who did the surgery did an A+ job.
Hope this helps you.
I’ll repeat the information that I gave on the last cataract thread, since no one has said it yet:
You have a choice of where you want your vision to be best. Most people choose to have excellent long-range vision, and to wear reading glasses.
I chose the opposite. I now read without glasses and have two pairs of glasses-—one for the computer and one for distance. You can apparently choose anywhere in between, but I can’t see the point of choosing in the middle unles you spend every waking moment at the computer.
I was told that if your doctor recommends the surgery, have it right away, because the longer you wait, the harder it is to remove the lens and that could cause complications.
Good luck and don’t be nervous. It is a short, painless procedure. The worst parts are the anxiety and one set of eyedrops that burns quite a bit right before the surgery. I think they were the antibiotic eyedrops but not sure. And that goes away very soon. Prayers for an excellent outcome.
Hope everything goes smoothly for you.
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99% of the time, the so-called laser surgery is totally unnecessary, does not result in a better outcome, and sometimes a worse outcome. It’s totally a gimmick for the eye surgeon to gouge you, and is NOT covered by insurance OR medicare for a reason. It’s also debatable whether it’s worthwhile to correct an astigmatism if it’s really small. Again, insurance usually won’t pay for surgical correction of astigmatism.
Likewise, the fancy AND expensive alternatives to plain ol’ monocular IOLs (ike progessive IOLs, etc.) frequently have worse outcomes than the plain ‘ol monocular IOLs, and are yet ANOTHER mostly unnecessary profit center for the eye surgeons. the fancy IOLS too are not covered by private insurance or medicare for a reason.
sadly enough, even the best of eye surgeons will often try to sell you on unnecessary “undercoating” when you buy that new lens.
Also, if you don’t have both eyes done back to back, you’re going to be stuck for two (or more) pairs of expensive eyeglasses, one set after the first eye and a second set after the second eye, so best to do each eye back to back with a couple of weeks between. Either wait until both “qualify” or see if the surgeon can justify both.
Regardless, you’ll need good pairs of progressive eyeglass lenses because with monocular IOLs, you lose all ability to accommodate, that is, you’ll have a fixed focal length lens instead of your original natural zoom lens.
If both eyes are done, one thing to keep in mind is that you can have one eye set to long distance and one set about 1.5 diopters near-sighted, which is called monovision. I did that, and it’s OK, but still doesn’t give great vision as a good pair of progressive eyeglasses, so I’ve elected to correct the mono vision with my progressive prescription.
Also, I don’t know why the surgeon is making YOU file for insurance qualification, that’s something that ANY surgeon normally does, especially eye surgeons. That alone would make me look at some other surgeons.
Nothing to it when I had it done I DIDN’T FEEL A THING.
I was afraid of having anything to do with the eye and had worn glasses then contacts for forty years.
As long as you have someone to drive you there and back there is nothing to worry about.
Don’t hesitate for an instant there is a whole new world to be seen
My wife just had this done. She did the right eye and had the “distance” lens put in. It worked out so well she just had the left eye done. 20-20 vision. She bought Walmart 3X glasses for reading. She has been very happy with the whole process. I would do it my eyes were bad enough but they are not at this time. She is 70 and I am 74.
both my brother and brother-in-law [age 45] had cataract surgery and both developed wet macular degeneration. they both need monthly shots in their eyes. i need the surgery but cannot fathom that loss of vision, when i can still see with glasses. you only get one set of eyes. good luck with your decision.
Prayers you get it successfully treated !
FYI - there is a third option, lens implants that include little focal mechanisms that are operated by the muscles of the eye, much like real natural eye focusing.
Go with the laser. Even Dr. Nick Riviera could do it.
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