Hi all… I have a question for anyone who has gone through the operation and can comment about their results? I know everyone is different but being so young I am terrified that my vision is going to change drastically… I’ve read a lot and educated myself on the surgical procedure itself but what’s hard to find is real people with their real results. Some seem to post on medical sites saying they can’t see clearly from their face to 6 foot outward while others say they see everything clearly at all distances.
I am considering mono vision with a distance bias (meaning one eye is distance and the other is intermediate, requiring reading glasses for up close)… I am assuming this gives the most glasses free options? Anyone who’s done it this way? How’s your vision and how often do you reach for glasses?
Any help would be greatly appreciated… I am scared!!!
There are millions of people who have had this procedure, so it seems odd that you can’t find anybody to talk to about it. Having cataracts at age 31 also seems odd, as most everybody you see at a cataract clinic are 50s and older, and other than having a problem from birth, literature I see says that 40s is kind of the younger end of the spectrum. I’m assuming that you’ve already made a preliminary visit to the cataract clinic? They can tell you what to expect after surgery far better than anecdotal evidence.
As for the latter, I’ve had it done and had no ill effects, but there are others on this board who have had problems. The trouble with reading those accounts is that it will just up your anxiety level without good reason. Sure there can be problems, but for every bad result there are millions of good results.
As for glasses, my vision is now 20/25 because I have a slight astigmatism, meaning the eye is slightly out of round. While I can drive without glasses, wearing them makes things far clearer. The biggest issue with the surgery is that your eyes no longer adjust well on their own. I don’t need glasses for watching TV or working on the computer, but do use them for reading. If you don’t wear glasses now, you probably won’t need them after surgery.
I had mine done when I was 62, courtesy of the NHS. At that point my vision was getting quite blurred and driving in the dark was impossible (big handicap for a truck driver).
The optometrist spent ages measuring my eyes and deciding on the appropriate focal length. I was not given any choice about it. The operations (one eye at a time - 6 weeks apart) were not at all painful. Done under a local as you have to cooperate, so any phobia about things poking your eye might be a handicap. They had a pretty nurse standing by to hold my hand which made things a lot better:)
Immediately after the op, I was totally dazzled by the sun. Tears streaming down my face for at least an hour afterwards while my wife drove me home. I soon got used to it though and very soon, my vision was clear. I have difficulty focussing on anything closer than a couple of feet, but after that - no problem at all. I can read the sight chart almost all the way down. I use cheap supermarket reading glasses (1½ times magnification) and pretty much treat them as disposable, as they live in my shirt pocket.
DO NOT BE SCARED. Take the advice of your optometrist and you will be amazed at the instant improvement.
My implants were done as a teenager (both eyes, not at the same time) and the difference was night and day. The lenses were designed for medium to distance vision but as I’ve gotten older I’ve become nearsighted and now require glasses for distance vision. My close-up vision is still excellent and I do not require glasses for reading or computing, but I find it more comfortable to work with my monitor a little further away and my glasses on.
Chefguy - yeah, the only person I know who had surgery for cataracts is my grandfather and I was looking for more “young” people maybe? I trust his opinion but he’s also in his 80s so his vision may seem much better than someone who has cataract surgery and is younger than that. I got mine due to steroid usage for eye inflammation a few years ago. They also think my pregnancy may have caused them to speed up as well.
Thanks for the responses, though. It seems most people have a good result…
My mom’s had surgery on both eyes at a youngish age (50s, though) and was told the steroids she was put on long-term for treating an autoimmune disease a couple of years ago are why she got them too. She’s very happy with the results of the surgeries, by the way.
I had cataract surgery on my left eye at the age of 48, with a lens implanted to correct my vision in that eye. I wear contacts, but I didn’t have to wear a contact in they eye for about 2 years, and now I wear one with a slight correction. I will probably need cataract surgery in my right eye someday.
I did not want “monovision” because I had a disastrous experience with monovision with my contacts. My eyes just don’t play nice that way, I found out. (Plus my old eye doctor had retired, and I had told his replacement “no monovision, I’m fine with reading glasses” but she knew better…and didn’t notice the big ol’ cataract that was causing my left eye vision problems. I changed doctors after that, and the cataract surgery was done at Kaiser.)
It was a very quick surgery. I was off work for a few days, more due to not being able to drive than anything else. The worst part, to me, was the fact that my surgery was scheduled in the afternoon, so no eating or drinking before the surgery. It was a very hot day, and my husband’s car did not have working air conditioning at the time. By the time we got to the hospital I was hot, dehydrated and super-cranky from low blood sugar. The nice nurse fixed me up with an IV right away, and then I don’t remember much until it was time to go home.
One thing I’ll warn you about concerning the procedure (at my clinic, anyway). They prep you very well with eyedrops to start numbing things up, and chatting about any physical problems like diabetes, etc. What they didn’t tell me (and it pissed me off) was that some guy was going to (brace yourself) stick a needle in my eye to complete the deadening of the optic nerve. It’s not actually painful, but it IS very disconcerting. The guy says that you’ll feel pressure in your eye, but the reality is rather uncomfortable and I did hear a woman panicking in there. Even when I went in for the second eye and was expecting it, it was disconcerting.
The surgery itself is quick and painless. Your optic nerve is completely dead, so at most you might see fuzzy movement or light, but probably not. Afterward, they taped my eyelid shut and told me not to take the tape off until feeling returned to my eye; it was probably 2-3 hours. I could see clearly immediately and the change was dramatic.
What kind of cataracts? Nuclear sclerotic cataracts are the most common. A more difficult type is posterior polar. I had both kinds, as well as retinal degeneration, and had to have general anesthesia because of the risk of subluxation given my various underlying eye problems. So yeah, the cataract surgery WAS kind of scary.
But it came out just fine!
I think the eyes are generally done one at a time (they were for me; I actually had to wait months between surgeries). So if the first eye is a problem, at least they learn from that experience and can be alert for problems when they do the second eye.
I am not an ophthalmologist, but given all my eye problems I’ve been followed by specialists most of my life. It seems to me that a good physician will explain to you what’s up with the early catracts - is that your only problem, and if so, what is the cause? Are there other eye condition involved? What kind of prognosis does some one in your situation have? If your doctor can’t answer these questions, find someone else.
Anyway, it’s understandable to be a little worried, but trust me - if you are having vision problems as a result of your cataracts, you will be thrilled at the improvement afterwards.
My friend is in her mid-30s and will be having hers done soon. I went with my father (70) when he had his and it was quick and he could see better almost immediately. His only issue was on the second one, where the tech missed with the sedative in his hand vein and he was awake when he should have been kind of out of it. But it will be noticeable if something like that happens before you go in. Not something to worry about. His were corrected well enough that he has a very mild prescription for distance in bifocals for reading.
Cairocarol - thanks for the encouraging words. I have a Posterier Subcapsular type… They are the ones associated with steroid usage. I was put on the strongest steroid eye drop by a very unethical (later found out) for 2 years for eye inflammation. He just kept refillig the rx and telling me I was a “non responder” and that was great because some people get glaucoma from steroid usage… Never mentioned cataracts. I was shocked to say the least. But, I’m trying to cope with the aftermath as best I can for now… Can’t go back and change it. I trusted the wrong dr.
I guess my biggest fear is the fear of change. Vision is something that you get used to and having it change can be super difficult to adjust to… I find even just adjusting to this new bad vision with all the floaters and the haze is difficult in itself. It’s getting so bad that I almost almost welcome the surgery if it will help me see clearly again because right now- nothing is clear.
