I had my first eyeball de-cataracted this morning. The actual procedure lasted maybe 20 minutes, and I would describe it as moderately unpleasant but bearable.
I felt fine immediately afterwards, but a few hours later there was an annoying level of discomfort in the eye, more than I had expected. Neither oral ibuprofen nor ketorolac eye drops helped much. A cool compress gave slight relief.
As I write this it’s been 14 hours. The vision is still a little blurry and some discomfort remains. I don’t notice my new eye giving me any brighter or more vivid colors as promised, not yet, anyway.
Surgery #2 is in one month.
The many stories in this thread were helpful to me so I felt a duty to report in.
Thanks for reporting. Here’s my update. After what amounted to 3 years of crazy underemployment and unemployment, I was able to afford a checkup again. My left eye is seeing colors like there is a screen that doesn’t ruin the color, but takes away the shine that indicates light direction and 3D. The right eye hasn’t changed.
The optometrist said she could send me to a specialist but that it would be unlikely that insurance will kick in for the surgery. I cannot afford to get the surgery without insurance due to the situation I mentioned at top. So I wait and keep my fingers crossed. American healthcare needs much improvement.
Sorry about your situation, carnut, I hope you find a way to get it done.
It’s now been 24 hours. The pain is gone, but I am warned that swelling may begin. The blurriness is pretty gone as well; in my operative eye I can see as good - if not better - than I can in the other eye with my glasses.
Things are bright and shiny too. Having had just one eye done, it is easy to make an old eye/new eye comparison. It’s as if someone squeegee’d my right eye.
I had double cataract surgery end of January/ beginning of February. It truly was no big deal. I was home each time by 11 am and dozed the rest of the day. I kept the eye shield on for about a week. Did the drops on schedule. I never had any discomfort, except during the second surgery when I could feel the cutting of my eyeball. It was over in a few seconds and is quite common. There is a fine line WRT anesthetics. Can’t be too much because the patient needs to be responsive. I had corrective lens in each eye (for astigmatism ) and now need only readers. The weirdest time was the 2 weeks between surgeries. My left eye was done first and was 20/20 but my right eye was unchanged. I popped the left lens out of my spectacles but I looked like an idiot. I was a tad bit disoriented between surgeries.
For me, the most striking thing about the interval between surgeries was looking at something white with one eye or the other closed. I found out that what I had thought of as “white” was actually kind of sepia, like an early 20th century newspaper photo.
This is timely, as I am having two cataract surgeries this month starting next Thursday. At the same time, they’re going to put in lenses so I won’t need glasses or contacts again. (Well, maybe for reading, but that remains to be … seen, heh.) I am not a good candidate for Lasik but can have the lens implants. Will read through this thread.
I’m not doing the multifocal. My doctor said since I was not using the multifocal contact lenses before, it’s best not to us them for implants now. I’ll be using one eye for distance, one for near, just like my contacts. But I’ll definitely be reporting back.
I started the drops today in preparation for surgery on Thursday. My understanding is they’re going to laser my eyeballs a bit to correct my astigmatism too. That’s probably an oversimplification, or maybe I have it completely wrong, but I think there’s a chance I won’t need readers afterward.
It is now 48 hours since my procedure. So far, it seems to be a success. The operation itself was painless – they numbed up my eye real good and pumped in a sedative through an IV to keep me relaxed. A bit uncomfortable a couple of times but only for a minute or two. The whole thing was over quickly. Cataract removal and permanent lens implant for distance vision. I have to wear a shield over the eye to bed for a week.
My eye felt very uncomfortable and scratchy the rest of the day but much better yesterday. Still a little throbbing, but since yesterday I can see amazingly well out of that eye. Still wearing a contact in my other eye, and I have to be sure not to, out of habit, try to take the contact out of the other eye at night too, heh. That would prove rather disastrous.
Next up is the other eye, the week after next.
My insurance covers only the cataract portion. All this other stuff plus deductions and what not for the cataract part, it’s going to cost me $5500 out of pocket. But considering the cost of glasses and contact lenses, I figure this will actually pay for itself after a few years.
EDIT: Oh, and if I look at something white with my now good eye and then with my yet-to-be-operated-on eye, it’s amazing how white it looks and how dingy and yellowish it looks, respectively. It really drives home the cataracts’ effect.
My brother has cataract surgery scheduled for Monday. He turns 57 later this month, so he’s somewhat young for it. I talked to him the other day about it. He said he sees the cloudiness in his vision so it’s apparently needed.
Thanks @Siam_Sam, I’m looking forward to what this kind of color correction will do for me. I do a lot of graphics in my work so color accuracy is important. I’m also hoping there will be an answer for my floater problem soon and we can handle both issues at once. If I can see well, I can earn money. If I can’t see well, my skills are useless.
Four-and-a-half days on, and my eye feels great and I can see perfectly. I’m still following orders – wearing the shield at night for a week, no water in the eye, no bending. But for all practical purposes, it seems to be over. I just hope the other eye goes this smoothly.
Thank you to the originator of this thread. I will be making my first appointment with the surgeon very soon. My optometrist has told me that the cataract will need attention in 3-4 years. However, he kind of brushes me off when I tell him that even with my new prescription (May 2021) I still see cloudy in my right eye. It gets worse when daylight leaves.
My sister had both eyes done around 2015. One was perfect, the other was not…she is deceased now, and I forget the particulars. She did have the multifocal lenses.
Lots of first hand information here… Thank you.
I had one eye done 2 weeks ago, the other is scheduled 2 weeks from now.
The pros: Distance vision in the corrected eye is amazing, even better than with glasses. Likely as good as it has ever been.
The cons: I was a bit disappointed in the much talked-about vividness of the whites and colors in my repaired eye. If there is a difference, it is subtle. Maybe I was already vivid.
Also, there was more pain than I expected. It only lasted that afternoon, but it was the opposite of fun.
And finally, I need to solve the issue of still needing correction for reading/crosswords/computer work. I do not want to be carrying readers up on my noggin or, lawd amighty, on a chain 'round my neck. I will probably go with rx progressives once all the dust is settled.
And there is this: I seem to be noticing more floaters in the worked-on eyeball. Anyone else notice this?
When I had lasik surgery, I was handed the line that I was only noticing the floaters because I was seeing them better. I didn’t buy that excuse then and I don’t now. I think that flattening the eye during surgery (to hold it in place) loosens the drier bits of vitreous fluid that sit at the edge of the eye when the eye shape changes. It’s like filling a tennis ball with paint and then squeezing it after it has been sitting on the shelf for a few months. The dry bits that flake into the still wet paint are floaters. If you didn’t squeeze the ball, you’d have fewer floaters.
I already have lots of floaters, one of which is particularly bad. There have been surgeries that strain the bits out of the vitreous fluid but I have no idea how successful they have been.
I had not noticed much new vividness either, but then I started comparing my fixed eye with my other. Closing one to look at something, then with the other eye. And the difference is striking.
I’ve always had floaters, so I’m not sure if I have more than before.
