Question: with modern IOLs, do you still get your visible-spectrum extended into the low ultraviolet after cataract surgery? IIRC it was a common side-effect.
Well, I read this yesterday and kinda wondered about it (as my uncle had this surgery done a year or so ago).
Then today Google News tells me that as an extremely myopic individial, I’m more likely to get glaucoma, which means the cataracts won’t matter I suppose. :dubious:
So… um… down with visual impairment!
um - I’ve got both. The cataracts are causing me more visual problems on a day to day basis presently. The glaucoma is controlled by medication (which also causes dry eye but I digress); so as long as the medication keeps working and I stay on it, the glaucoma isn’t an issue (well, add to that must have insurance 'cause I have to see my eye doctor something like 4 times a year to keep it monitored and the script for the glaucoma is $75 per month, the script for the dry eyes is $120 per month).
so, yea, unfortunately, teh cataracts do matter. the glaucoma has more serious potential consequences of course, but hopefully if you do get it, medication will work for you (took 3 tries in my case to get something that did, but there’s quite a few to try).
I tell my eye doctor I’m an efficient patient for him to show his interns, have got several eye conditions all at the same time (also have a something something neva - essentially a freckle inside my eye that has to be monitored to make sure it doesn’t turn cancerous. fun, eh?)
now, aren’t you glad you asked???
Well, when reading the eyechart, I saw a C? G? (I don’t know what it was) as an 8. The opthamologist said there were no numbers on the chart. Oopsies.
Basically, my poor eyesight was impeding on my work and my general enjoyment of life. I could no longer read the smallest of bands that I use on birds, even with a jeweler’s loupe. I was having trouble identifying birds in the air. I could no longer read the fine print on packaging. I had been getting stronger and stronger reading glasses, and using brighter lights, but reading even newsprint was getting difficult. You would not believe how large the font size was set on my computers. And night driving was an adventure.
All this time, I just thought that this was the way eyes go bad. I thought a pair of prescription glasses would clear everything up.
I do now have prescription glasses, with the left lens being thicker. You lose close focus after an implant, because the artificial lens just can’t accommodate that short of a distance - for me, it’s about 15 inches. But my vision is much sharper now (I think I tend to ignore the signals from my right, still somewhat foggy cataract eye). There’s a little bit of a halo effect at night, but driving is so much better.
JRDelirious, I’d heard that colors, particularly blues, might appear more saturated after surgery. It’s hard for me to say, since what I notice mostly is the absence of fog. The IOLs come with UV-blocking properties. Heh, it’d be sort of cool to see in the UV range - Budgies would never look the same… They Live!
