I don’t recall a stitch to hold my lens in place, but I wasn’t quite with it for the procedure. I was also fortunate, in that the physician who performed my surgery is noted as the best in the state by his peers.
But, an error in the incision, whether by technique or by difference in anatomy COULD cause a problem.
The lens can dislodge, either by rubbing the eye, incorrect placement, anatomical difference that prevents the lens from fully seating, etc. One would notice significant focus problems, as the lens isn’t in place to focus the image onto the retina.
In my case, I DID get scintillation, which I became accustomed to. That is secondary to light striking the edge of the lens and interfering with the main image light. It only happens when light from overhead is at a particular angle, so I’ve also learned to avoid that from happening as much as possible, as it is a bit distracting.
ANY competent professional should explain the risks and possible problems that can occur, it prevents unrealistic expectations and early intervention, should a problem occur. This is especially important, as in some, retinal detachment can occur, as the patient’s retina may be a bit more fragile from an underlying condition.
Patients would also be aware of possible posterior capsule becoming opaque, due to epithelial cells remaining there that could also cloud, rather like the cataract. THAT is easily treated in the office with a few minutes worth of laser procedure.
As with any surgery, if the medical professional doesn’t discuss and explain the possible complications and side effects of the procedure and implant, seek another professional. One that WILL discuss those.
I’m not sure whether my problem should be termed a failure of the surgery, or a failure of the recovery process, but my 2nd cataract surgery essentially had to be redone two days later.
I turned my eyes pretty far to the side to identify a sudden noise and my vision in the newly “fixed” eye suddenly went blurry, but returned to normal after several minutes. I called the doc anyway who said come right in, and a quick look told him the lens had physically slipped out of position and was not back in the right place. He called it “out of the bag”. Essentially they created a little pocket for the lens to rest in, but there is also a small slit they make to slide the new lens into place. And the lens started to slide out through the slit.
So they repositioned the lens and actually put a stitch in my eye to hold the slit closed so the lens couldn’t slip out again.
The good news is there there were no long term negative consequences. My vision out of that eye is even a little better than the other eye.
I had bilateral cataract surgery, as I noted in post #11. Everything went well, except that my vision is not the expected 20/20 on the left and 20/50 on the right (so that I would not have to use reading glasses). I now have -2 diopter correction with +2-+3 astigma correction. I previously had RK, and my opthalmologist said that this complicated matters. He had to use what he called an “orange light” so that I could get properly corrected. I don’t know what the orange light is, but I definitely could see it (and it cost me $1,000 above what Medicare covered – I’m 73.) (I have 16 slits in each cornea due to RK times 2 on the left and times 3 on the right.) The doctor guaranteed that I would have no myopia after the surgery and that if I weren’t satisfied, he would redo it. But now he insists that I don’t have myopia, although my new lenses show a -2 diopter correction bilaterally.
I read that lasers will soon be available for cataract surgery in the very near future.
The Alcon Company will be leading the technological wave, however, intraocular removal and removal of the failed lens will still be necessary.
Nonetheless, of the three major risk factors involved in cataract surgery, namely, incision, capsulotomy and lens removal, the new laser technology (using the same femtosecond laser involved with Lasik surgery) appears to be superior in safety and accuracy. In particular with regards to reduced risk of infection due to the microscopic accuracy of laser incisions.
It should be noted that the technology doesn’t come cheap and it is expected that practices which perform less than 1,000 procedures per year probably won’t be able to justify the expense of the Alcon equipment - at least in the near term - say the initial 3 -4 years.
From what I could ascertain, the site IS technically accurate. That said, I, like most of the readers of SD, don’t read Hebrew.
It IS one of the few sites that show the lens being inserted with the manufacturers tool.
I haven’t heard of this procedure. One WOULD still have to use the antibiotics though, if an intra ocular lens were installed, as my father and myself have had.
I’m also uncertain as to how they dispose of vapor, as the laser would vaporize the defective lens and hence, leave behind water vapor and residue of the lens in the lens capsule. I’ll have to look the procedure up after work.
Never heard of orange light, perhaps a laser capsule procedure?
I can see quite well for distance, from being slightly myopic previously. That said, I DO need reading glasses, as the artificial lens is NOT as good as the “original equipment”, it’s fixed focus.
When I get the other eye done, I’ll get a distance lens too, as I DO prefer to see in detail at distance, rather than the somewhat more common tradeoff of one eye having a close focus “reading” lens and the other far distance focus lens.
I’m only 50, but have trauma induced cataracts, well, one now. The right eye had the surgery and now needs to have the posterior lens capsule laser surgery opened, as residual epithelial cells from the old lens remained on the capsule (think a bag that held the biological lens) and now is acting like a cataract.
That is one of the most common side effects of surgery. As I don’t currently have medical insurance, the cost would be $1500.00 (to which I exclaimed that I didn’t want to BUY that laser)…
Since no one has mentioned what has happened to me, I will tell my story. First cataract operation went well and I now have 20-20 vision in that eye, for the first time in my life, as far as I can recall (I started wearing glasses at 8, so for 66 years). During the second op it became obvious that there was a problem. He kept asking for different instruments and it took longer. When he finally finished, I asked him about that and he explained that the old lens had disintegrated and he had had trouble getting all the pieces out. What he didn’t tell me till I had a problem was that he had left a piece of the old lens behind he was afraid of doing permanent damage. The next day I came back and he took off the shield and everything seemed the same as the day after the first surgery. But the day after that, a gray veil descended over that eye. That was a Sunday. I called Monday morning and was told to come in Tuesday. He looked at it through the scope, nodded and then explained to me about the piece of old lens. It had been in an out of the way corner, which is why he couldn’t extract it and he took a chance that when the eye healed it would be trapped there and wouldn’t bother me at all. It moved.
So he explained that it might just continue to thin by itself and eventually go away (it hasn’t in 7 weeks) and that if not, they could maybe zap it with a laser or even operate and remove it. Now I have an a appointment in two weeks with the head of ophthalmology at the hospital who will decide what to do and do it, being the expert in these matters. As of now, I am essentially one-eyed. I have some vision in the other eye, but it is so fuzzy that the good eye takes over completely.
A friend of mine had a common complication a year or so after a very successful pair of surgeries. One eye developed some sort of grey veil, but it was in front of the new lens, not behind, as mine is. One minute with a laser and it was gone.
A capsular tension ring was inserted in the right eye, but not the left. I don’t know why just in one and not the other. Nonetheless, I saw the orange light in both eyes.
Followup Wehn I saw the head honcho, he scheduled me for an operation to repair the first surgery. It took place 11 days ago and seems to have been completely successful. The eye isn’t prefect, but he says that will take a couple weeks. It is so much better than before the first operation that I will happy if it doesn’t improve. He mentioned that there are complications in about 5% of cases. So it is not that rare. The first surgeon didn’t mention that statistic. The repair surgery was a lot like the original from my point of view.
Wouldn’t another possibility be an error in calibration by the surgeon? I ask this because I had a corneal disease that required transplants. I had to use steroid drops for years, and those give you cataracts. I had trouble finding a specialist who would even do the surgery and was told it would be very tough to calibrate (their word) the artificial lens with my transplanted cornea. I finally did find a (highly respected) surgeon, and while the surgery was successful in that my vision is improved, when I’m driving at night, streetlights and headlights flare, which can put the adventure back into driving. Come to think of it, maybe there’s some question as to what “success” means in cataract surgery–if you can see better EXCEPT…is that success?
Glad everything is finally working out for you. It does take a couple of weeks for your eyesight to stabilize after the surgery sometimes. Mine hasn’t changed since the surgery, altho I had hoped that it would get better. My vision is no better than before the surgery, just a different and opposite astigma, but no complications. My vision still deteriorates at night due to the previous RK, and I might have to get a different pair of new lenses for night, as I had before (but the old pair has the wrong astigma correction).
NO injection for cataract surgery can “nick the optic nerve”. PERIOD, the lens is at the front of the eye, the optic nerve is BEHIND the eye, an inch and change away. Optic nerve damage IS known to occur, secondary to increased intraocular pressure, essentially a brief case of glaucoma of excessive form. eyesurgerynew.com/eye-surgery/post-eye-surgery-care-tips
I had cataract surgery 3 weeks ago on 1 eye. Everything seemed fine for a couple of days, but now I have blurred vision and my vision is worse than before. The doctor says the inside of my eye has healed, but the outside of my eye, I assume around the incision, is “lumpy and bumpy”. He says the eye lid is pulling on the lumpy, bumpy part. My eyes have always been extremely dry. I use saline regularly and have used glasses all my life. He now has me using lubricating drops and ointment at night. He says it might take several months for the eye to “smooth out” and my vision to clear. To type this I have to lean up to the screen to see clearly enough so I guess I am better off than other folks. The doctor says that when (more like “if”) I have the other eye done the same thing will happen. I used the different drops before and after surgery and still this happened.
I read lots of posts and no one said anything about this. Has anyone experienced any similar complication, and if so how long did it last? The lubricating drops cost a fortune! At least he gave me some samples .
I just returned from my eye surgeon and have to undergo surgeries on both eyes again, but a simple procedure with a YAG laser because the capsules in which the lenses are emplaced have clouded over. Not the same thing but another complication. I do not know if the cataract surgery caused that.
