I’m in my mid-40s, too young to have cataracts, but unfortunately, I’m an outlier.
I had cataract surgery performed on my right eye on Monday, with a toric lens implant. Tuesday, the bandages were removed, and the eye was functioning at 20:40. I was told that it would stabilize in the coming days. However, vision in that eye seems to be getting worse; blurrier with each passing day. I’m having a hard time with balance, and my body involuntarily keeps leaning to the right. Pressure in that eye is high, and along with a battery of other eyedrops, I’ve got special eyedrops to relieve pressure. It doesn’t feel like they’re working.
My checkup visit to the ophthalmologist is on Monday, and I can’t get in earlier. I’m told this is normal, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way. I can only read out of one eye; it’s scheduled for surgery Monday after next, but I might pass. Reading and writing is central to my work, and I can’t take off for a month while my eyes are out of commission. I also live alone, so I’d be stranded.
No, Google was not my friend. I tried searching, and most results are TL/DR articles from medical journals, or studies behind paywalls.
So, have any Dopers that have undergone cataract surgery experienced the same thing?
After my cataract surgery, I had a problem with an irritated cornea causing blurry vision. It took about 2 months to get better. The condition was called map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy. My doctor kept adjusting the strength of the steroid eye drops. Also, after the surgery I had astigmatism that hadn’t been there before.
I would hazard a guess that if you don’t see things right, it could affect your sense of balance. IANAD.
I’m about the OP’s age, and was just told I need cataract surgery. I’m told that I have two “baby” cataracts (my term), one near the center of each lens. I have the mildish, but annoying, ghosting in my eyesight to prove it
At this point, I don’t have to rush out right now and have the surgery. My eyesight is at 20/40 with glasses now – I was told I cannot be corrected to 20/20 given the cataracts. When given a visual acuity test (making out letters), the 20/20 level letters get ghosted too much to be distinct. Even with the 20/40 letters, I’m semi-guessing.
Anyway, the cataract surgery was sold to me as mind-numbingly routine, practically devoid of any risk of complication, and a breeze to recover from. I do want to eventually get it done, probably within two years or so. I’d like to get back to 20/20 vision, or close, because reading has become a lot more difficult for me over the last few years. I’d love to get back to being able to pick up any book or magazine, and being able to comfortably read it in any sitting or lying position the way I used to be able to.
To the OP: I think that the fact that you are having problems with balance, in particular, sounds worrying. Cataract surgery (which I have had on both eyes) should not affect balance. I would make sure a doctor knows about this ASAP.
Sorry, but you are dreaming. The operation may be routine and safe (as operations go), but cataract surgery does not get you back to perfect, normal vision. The eye’s natural lenses have an adjustable focus that changes depending on whether we are looking at something far or close up. The lens implants normally used in cataract surgery have a fixed focus. (I believe there are implant lenses that can change focus to some degree available nowadays, but from what I hear they do not work that well, and are expensive and not usually covered by insurance.) If your surgeon is excellent and you are lucky (I think luck still plays a large part in it), you may end up with near 20/20 vision at some particular distance, but you will need glasses for other distances, and will probably need bifocals or vari-focus lenses.
I have had both eyes done. I am lucky in that my left eye (which ws always my dominant eye) now has reasonably close to 20/20 distance vision, and I do not need glasses for walking around or driving. (The right eye did not come out so well, and is not very well focused at any distance without correction by glasses, but this is not really much of an issue for my distance vision.) However, I most certainly do need glasses both for reading or other close work, and for using the computer. In fact, I mainly use bifocals with different focal lengths in the lower part, for reading close up, and the upper part, for the computer screen. Even though the screen is not all that much further away from where I would normally hold a book or other printed material, it calls for a different power of lens.
Furthermore, although I have had multiple eye tests and multiple new prescriptions for glasses in the over ten years since the last cataract surgery was done, it has proven an absolute nightmare to get lenses that are truly suitable for use with the computer, and I still only have one pair of glasses (out of what has now become quite a large collection) that is truly comfortable for prolonged computer use.
It’s weird - all the people I know that had that surgery had no problems. But on the net, including SDMB, I hear all kinds of stories of woe from people who had the surgery.
I had cataract surgery, on both eyes, a year or so ago. Monofocal in one eye, toric in the other. Went from -13/-14 myopia to 20/20 distance vision in both eyes, and for reading need reading glasses - the cheap standard ones at +1.5 or +2.0 do very well. In fact, I can read without glasses, but not very comfortably. I work with the computer 10+ hrs/day, and don’t use glasses.
I wasn’t clear – I hadn’t meant to get corrected to the point of not needing glasses. I’ve been in glasses since high school, and fully expect to wear them for liife.
Regardles of what my actual visual acuity numbers turn out to be … if I can somehow, someway read easily and comfortably after cataract surgery, I’ll be thrilled. If I have to have a set of reading glasses and a set of “driving” glasses at the ready, so be it.
I’m wearing my first set of vari-focus (aka “progressives”) lenses right now. Have had them for about a month. Still requires a lot of finagling and achieving just-so positions to read. But then again, these glasses correct only to 20/40, and the cataract-caused ghosting is still there.
Fair enough then. If you are already used to glasses, and even progressives, the surgery will probably be a big plus for you. You will probably need new glasses, but it won’t be any more of a hassle than you are already used to. In my case, before the surgery my focus was still pretty good. I was using some weak reading glasses, but was fine with everything else, and I might not have really needed the reading glasses if it hadn’t been for the extra blurriness caused by the cataracts. I did try progressives, but I did not like them very much, and found I did not really need glasses for distance anyway. I have been much happier with my bifocals, but YMMV.
I’m not really in love with my progressives, either. They’re great for driving and outdoor activities … but abysmal for reading and doing computer work. I may end up getting no-line bifocals down the road. Just wish there was a money-back guarantee of some kind so that I could try out various prescriptions and lens types, and only pay for the ones that really do the job.
It got a lot better over the weekend, but things seem to change by the minute. According to the latest checkup, I’m floating back and forth between 20/25 and 20/blurry. No problems with balance or leaning.
With my robot eye, colors seem incredibly saturated, like a flat screen television on vivid mode. Kind of neat, actually. No ghosting, either.
My mom’s cataract surgery a few years was picture perfect.
My dad’s cataract surgery a few months ago wasn’t as good. Well, initially it was good, but then his eyes degraded a bit. Something apparently regrew - I forget the details. He just had a laser surgery (not Lasik…) as a touch up, and apparently is good to go now.
**elmwood **- glad it’s getting better. I hope it stabilizes, and in a good way.
Yeah, I had the “laser treatment” after having mine done. I got the impression that it is quite commonly needed a few weeks or months after the original operation, but it it is really not surgery (well, maybe technically it is, but nothing is getting cut) and not a big deal at all. It only takes a moment or two, and there is no pain or even real discomfort, and no need for anaesthetic. They just zap the lens with a laser to clear away any film that may have formed on it.
