I’m thinking that I’ve had to wear glasses since i was in grade school. And I’m used to that. But it will really freak me out of i can’t focus close. When my time comes, i may opt for good near focus, and continue to wear glasses for distance.
Yeah, you know, I had specified that reading and computer were my preferences, and as it turns out my new eyes are perfect for working at a computer, but not what I expected for reading. And yeah, not being able to see stuff shoved up to my face is not ideal.
All that said, I’m pretty happy with where I am. Today I put on a mask and was pinching the metal bit at the top and thinking about how not to fog up my glasses, and then I realized I had no glasses. So that was all right. 
My night vision is fine. No issues, no halos or glare (apparently often an issue with multi focal implants). Just normal vision.
OP here.
I had my left eye done in 2018. Works great. Near, mid or far.
But, as I was told my right eye now has a fast acting cataract. Very fast it would seem. I went from seems a little blurry, to can’t read out of my right eye in about 4 months. Shapes, and objects are ok.
My left eye, the one I got fixed (see the first post in this thread) is doing great. But is doing all of the work.
June 16th is my surgery date. Need to be at the surgery center at 6am. We are a solid 2 hours away. Gonna be a long day, especially for my Wife.
The good news is they may be able to do the follow up exam the same day, say 4pm, and we can go home instead of having to do another 2 hours each way on the road the next day.
I really, really need this done. Everyone that has a cataract should. Easy peasy.
Good luck!!
Consider staying in a hotel the night before so you’re not leaving home at 3 AM. Also consider staying the night after. It’ll save you a hell of a lot of driving - and with fuel prices the way they are, if you DO need to do the followup exam the next day instead of the same day, the savings in fuel will almost pay for the hotel.
Do you mean she had the older style multifocal?
Frustrating that a surgery meant to improve her vision caused her to lose the ability to do something that crucial. Before my surgery, I’d given up on driving after dark because I couldn’t see well enough. The glare etc. is far less disabling than the cataracts were.
Yeah, we talked this all over. But we have dogs to consider that we can’t just leave at home. My Wife and I usually get up at about 4am anyway. So we can swing this.
That’s very exciting, good luck!
A very minor update on adjusting to life post-glasses:
- I was weed-whacking today and got beaned in the eye by a stray particle (which I had to wash out). I do have safety goggles, just didn’t think to wear them.
- Apparently, for years my ritual was to take my fitbit and hook it onto my glasses before showering. Now I keep forgetting my fitbit upstairs in the bathroom because that step is missing.
At least I’ve stopped scrabbling around on the bedside table in the morning to find my glasses.
Yeah, living in snow country at altitude means you don’t go anywhere without sunglasses. We weed-whack once or twice a year. That’s the lawn mowing we do.
I do not leave the house without sunglasses.
I was in Pittsburgh once on an overcast day, and of course I had my sunglasses. I wore them because I do. One of my nephews thought I was trying to look cool (that would take more than sunglasses)
I used to have 6-8 pairs of cheapo reading glasses around. Home office, work office, car, dopp kit… And always had to have a pair on me when going to a restaurant.
Not no more. I cleaned them all up and donated them to a local library (they had a jar of them). That felt great.
Agreed, but it is considered elective until you almost can’t see. Sadly, I can’t afford elective surgery.
Bummer. I would hope that optometrists are pretty sympathetic to this. One thing for me (outside of not being able to read out of my right eye) it seems to make me tired. I work on a computer all day.
Also seems to mess up my balance. I would thing those reasons would make it plenty necessary.
The unfortunate truth about having lens implants is that no matter WHAT you choose, it will not fully mimic the eyes’ ability to alter focus depending on distance. There will be some area of vision where you need improved correction, be it distance, intermediate, or close up. Maybe when my kids are as old as I am now, there’ll be better options.
Before surgery, I would often take off my glasses to read at night - because I was nearsighted, and needed the exact opposite effect to be able to read. I think my progressives had either very small nearsightedness correction, or possibly even magnification, at the lowest part of the lens.
99% of the time, the only time I use glasses at all is on the computer. I do keep reading glasses with me when out and about - cheap drugstore readers (the computer glasses are prescription, and do not leave my computer desk). If it’s a quick glance to read a label, I can usually get by with either shining my phone’s light on the thing, or using the phone’s camera app to view it on the screen (I have a “reading glasses” app that handles both at once). I would NOT like to try to read a book that way. And I am basically only reading books using my Kindle. I buy paper books every now and then to support bookstores, but the Kindle is just so much easier.
A couple months back, I went to see the dermatologist for my long-overdue annual check. She asked me to remove my glasses. I looked at her blankly - I was not wearing glasses. She had to remind me “your SUNGLASSES” (the “you dumbass” was unsaid, and maybe not even implied). I had completely forgotten the sunglasses, as I had pushed them to the top of my head. I cracked up.
I do like being able to easily get sunglasses for driving - back when I needed distance correction, I had to either spend $$ for prescription sunglasses (where polarization was either not available, or an extra add-on that never quite worked right), or get the clip-on sort that require 2 hands to put on or remove - NOT great if you are, say, driving through a tunnel, or the increasingly-rare flip-up kind that nobody sells any more.
You still don’t qualify, huh? 
The definition I was given was “2 or more diopters between the two eyes” or “cannot be gotten to 20:20 with corrective lenses”. It may be worth checking every couple of months - or talk to your insurance company (if you have coverage now) to find out what their definition is. From your posting history here, you have been struggling with this for years now.
One of my concerns, back in 2017 when I realized this was going on, was that my depth perception was definitely screwed up. I was walking down some stairs in the bright sunlight, and got worried. Luckily there was a handrail - as even with GOOD vision, stairs and I… well, staircases have tried to kill me numerous times.
Oh boy. I have to disagree. The new lenses allow for distance, mid and close. Yeah they cost a bit more depending on insurance.
My left eye that I had done 4 years ago works great with all distance. And they have only gotten better.
When talking to the Dr. and surgery consultant about if I wanted to pay a bit more than insurance would not cover, I said of course. They may have well asked ‘do you want to limp a little or a lot’.
Hi All! OP here.
I just had my right cataract replaced on Thursday 1/16. I had my left one done ~5 years ago.
I guess I will just do a play by play.
- Arrive at surgery center at 6am. (my choice)
- Get checked in and then in 5 minutes go to pre-op.
- Take shirt off and put on gown. I left my pants and even my shoes on.
- Do the usual. IV, BP, heart rate, blood O2 levels. Lot’s of eye drops to numb the eye and I suppose also anti-biotics and stuff.
- Talk to about 3 nurses, the anesthesiologist and the doctor in pre-op.
- The pre-op bed with me on it is wheeled into surgery. The machine/laser for lack of a better word is pretty big. but it just has an ‘arm’ that is positioned over my eye. My head is not clamped down for steadiness or anything. but some sort of jig/fixture is sticky taped to my forehead.
- I’m sedated, but can hardly tell. I could have easily had a conversation.
- Surgery was a few bright lights and then three blurry dots. At one point the surgeon asked me to look at the blurry dot on the left.
- Big surgical machine makes some funny sounds for a few minutes. There was no pain.
- Then, I’m done and wheeled into recovery. Water, juice or soda? I pick juice. Cheapskates gave me about 4oz. But at least it was Ocean Spray.
- The post-op nurse called my ride (my Wife) and made sure she was there. They said I could put on my shirt and go.
- I put on my shirt, and a nurse walked me to my Wife’s car (Wife could not come in because of COVID restrictions. Patients only. From what I saw, no-one pays attention to that).
Arrived at 6:00 AM. Back in the car at 7:30 AM. In and out in 1.5 hours.
Recovery -
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After surgery. Went to visit my mom in Denver. Then went back to the Surgery Center for a post op checkup at 2 PM. Everything looks good.
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Wife drove us about half way home and stopped at RiverBend restaurant in Baily CO. Sat on the deck. We had lunch and a beer. My Wife drove the last hour home and we just watched a little TV. Was a long day for both of us because of the 4 hour drive, and having to hang out in Denver.
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Day after 1/17 - Still pretty blurry on eye that had surgery. It’s to be expected though. Played 4 games of chess with my Wife. Watched a bit more TV. Did computer stuff.
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Today 1/18. Won’t call it crystal clear, but getting close. The eye is still getting over the trauma of surgery and the implanted lens is ‘seating’ itself.
I have an eye drop schedule for the next 3 weeks. And I need to wear a cover on the eye when I sleep so I don’t accidentally rub the eye for a few more days. I will have one or two (don’t know) follow up visits with my local optometrist.
I thought I would follow up to my own OP, since I had the other eye done, and since it was only a few days ago I’m in a good position to answer questions from a patients perspective.
I have been taking Amlodipine for my high blood pressure for three months, and the fluctuations have stopped. I see well all the time now. So that was it after all.
Glad to see they figured it out!
Thank you for posting. Did they put you on a regular stretcher or a chair fot surgery?
You didn’t mention pain during recovery. I guess they gave you something to take?
I go Tues for a pre-op visit and they’ll schedule the surgery. I’m not sure which eye they’ll do first.
I’ll be relieved to get both eyes done. I’ve known for several years that my cataracts would need surgery. My ophthalmologist has been checking them annually.
On my first surgery I was put in a Lazy Boy before surgery. It was different… But I got all the eye drops and stuff there. Then I was moved to an op gurney.
On this recent surgery, I went right into pre-op. Onto the bed/stretcher/gurney that was then rolled into the op room. I didn’t need to take off my pants or shoes. Just my shirt for the monitors they stick on you.
I have to do eye drops for three more weeks. I suspect anti-inflammation and anti-biotics. Not supposed to lift anything heavy. My Wife is doing some cleaning now, I wanted to help, but she shooed me away. So I’m on the computer.
Last night my Wife and I played 3 games of chess and a game of cribbage while listening to classic rock and drinking beers (that’s our normal routine).
Zero pain during or after. It took 90 minutes. In and out the door.
Right eye that I just had the surgery on gets a little blurry as the day goes on. But I suspect that’s just recovery.
I totally understand that any surgery is difficult to volunteer for. This, though, is the easiest of any.
@aceplace57 I suspect that they will not do both in one visit.
They said I could do the other eye in about 30 days. Depending on my recovery from the 1st procedure.
I wouldn’t want to lose my vision entirely. I’ll wait until the blurriness in the first eye goes away.
I didn’t realize it lasted awhile until I read your post.