I had both eyes done around Thanksgiving. One before, one after. Little over 4 months now. All is well and as has been stated it’s a piece of cake. I did go to one of the bigger clinics in my part of the world so they have it down to a science. A mild IV sedative, local anesthetic (eye drops), dilating drops. Procedure itself takes 15 minutes. Whole visit was hour and a half - two hours. Post op anti-biotic drop for a week, 2 others for 4 weeks. My vision had gotten to where I was seeing double center lines in the middle of the road and couldn’t honestly make out the BIG E on the eye chart and I was 20/20 the next day on my followup. Can’t complain. No pain or complications but the eyeballs themselves do have to kind of adjust gradually after the surgery. Itchiness, periodic redness, minor irritation/sensitivity. I’m still using regular lubricating drops/wearing shades more than usual and feel like at 6 months I should be completely back to normal but yeah, the vision thing was fixed the very next day. LOVE IT!
Got the surgery done today and I am very happy to report that I not only survived but can already see better! Not perfect yet but a BIG improvement. It didn’t hurt at all, in fact… I dozed off LOL. One really cool thing, I was staring into 3 bright lights, and they were very fuzzy looking, and I could see the new lens sliding into place, and those 3 lights were suddenly bright, crisp & clear!
The anithesia wiped me out, and when my cousin brought me home, I pottied the dogs and then we all piled in bed for a long nap. Still feeling a wee bit groggy, but all in all, I am ready to have the second eye done!
Anna
Great news!
PapSett - No Seeing Eye dog for you! I’m glad it worked so well for you.
StG
That’s great! Will you have to wear your old glasses with one lens removed, until the second eye is done?
I actually opted to keep the near-sighted- where I can see up close without my glasses but need them for distances, like riving. It’s what I have had all my life and I am used to. I do a lot of ‘up-close’ work like drawing and painting, so I want to continue to be able to do that without my glasses.
I saw you write that, but didn’t think it through. Glad you can read a computer screen! 
So very cool about seeing the lens going in, and remembering seeing it. That must have been amazing.
I think this thread should be a sticky, because people ask about this all the time, and you posted before and after on the same day.
wonderlust, you will have the same results. Let me know when its happening and I’ll send good thoughts…but you won’t need them.
FTR, the only reason I left that job was the not enough pay thing. We all really did like what we did. The doctors loved it as well and did lots of pro bono work and Medicaid work and pretty didn’t care about the money as long as they could pay the mortgage on their very modest homes.
I have a check up in the morning and we will discuss when we can do the other eye then.
I just snuggled down on the couch with my critters and watched the ORIGINAL VHS Return of the Jedi… I was AMAZED at the depth of the colors! I truly had not realized what I was missing!
Before cataracts surgery, my landlady would have every light in the house on, all day long. When she got home from the surgery, an overcast morning, she saw better with every light off than before with them on. She exclaimed “and to think I put it off for so long!”
I’m glad your surgery went well
My uncorrected vision is currently -18 in one eye and -13 in the other, so I know exactly what you mean. I call it my “micro-vision” and since I’ve had it nearly all my life, I hate to give it up. However, a friend of mine is a world-class maker of custom medical machinery, who creates bespoke tools for procedures that have to be absolutely accurate. He has these very, very cool magnifying tools that can almost duplicate “micro-vision.” I plan to invest in one or two if I get the surgery done, so that I can still look at interesting rocks and stuff in the same way I currently can. (My geologist friend was so jealous when I told him about all the tiny fossils I could see in some rocks we were examining.)
More generally:
I posted a somewhat similar question to the OP’s on the SDMB a while ago and was generally encouraged to proceed. Since then, I’ve gone ahead with a consult and found that the risks for me are higher than normal, since my retinas are about 1/4 the thickness of a normal retina and are consequently more likely to tear/detach. So I’m going to find out more details about what to expect afterward if there is a complication (in terms of recovery times/permanent damage) before I go ahead with the surgery. But it is getting to the point where I will simply have to do it in my eye that has a cataract - my vision is worse every day, and glasses/contacts can’t give me decent correction any more.
Also, my mother (whose retinas are fine, not like mine) had the surgery and it was a piece of cake! The doctor did do a little bit of laser touch-up later (at no charge, since the doctor felt it was her fault), but overall it was a great experience.
Just wanted to pop in and say that I had my post-op exam this morning, and the doctor said it could not have gone better! I was able to read the very smallest line on the chart, and he said he didn’t think HE would be able to read that!
Another appointent next week as a follow up and then we start talking about the left eye…
Woohoo! Break out the champagne!
Yeah, just make sure you cover the cork with a towel.
Haha! You could put an eye out!
I love it when a plan comes together.
StG
Just a quick update: I had my 1 week exam today an everything is still going perfectly, and… I have the other eye scheduled for 4/23! So excited to get it done!
I hope that maybe this thread might help anyone debating the surgery to take the plunge… it has made my quality of life SO much better!
Glad to hear your progress. My first eye is scheduled for April 24. We haven’t chosen lenses yet, though. He’s pretty sure Toric lenses would be best, but he’s going to run my measurements through some models and call me with his recommendation. I wish he’d call already, so I could stop fretting about what type of vision I’ll be likely to have for the next 30 years.
I finalized what kind of vision I want for my surgery in a week from today. I’m not frightened about the surgery itself, but quite terrified that there is no easy “safety net” for me following surgery, in terms of distance vision.
Like PapSett, I’m in my 50’s and have always been nearsighted. But in my case I wear a very strong prescription progressive glasses for everyday distance, midrange, and reading. In addition I need single vision reading glasses, single vision computer glasses, and single vision distance sunglasses. That’s 4 pairs of different glasses, and I’ve needed this for many years.
The plan is that my new IOL will improve my nearsightedness, expanding my near vision out to midrange. I will no longer need glasses for reading and computer work, which I do a lot of. This part makes me happy.
The terrifying part is that once the first eye is done, I will no longer be able to use any of my existing glasses for distance. No driving, no seeing across the room, no TV, essentially no orientation in space until I get new glasses. He said using my old glasses with one side empty will not work, as the perceived relative size of things will conflict. This essentially disables my other eye’s (corrected) vision too. So I’ll find myself with one eye with great near-to-midrange, and the other eye with cloudy only very near vision.
The day after surgery, in the afternoon, I’m going for a re-check and he’ll take measurements for a completely new pair of glasses. I live alone and will feel very vulnerable, not being able to see until I get those made. Every place in town takes a week or more, except for one small Lenscrafters, which does not have a large stock of lenses. They told me there’s about a 50/50 chance that they will have on hand what’s needed to make my glasses in a day instead of a week. I may have to settle for no anti-reflective coating as a trade-off for seeing soon rather than later.
Following the second surgery I assume I’ll need one of those glasses lenses replaced asap as well. I don’t know if I’ll need to update this entire new pair of glasses weeks later, when both eyes have healed completely. I’m wondering how many times I’ll have to re-do these glasses to get them right.
The uncertainties around when I’ll be able to be self-sufficient is terrifying to me. I don’t know if I’ll be unable to drive or see across a room for weeks, or days. And then to go through it a second time with the second surgery.
If anyone’s been in similar circumstances, I’d really appreciate hearing how this worked out for them!
Keep in mind that your vision may well change for weeks after the surgery. My experience was definitely atypical, even rare, but I have needed two new prescription lenses for my right eye, which was operated on for a cataract. One was a couple of weeks after my surgery in November, the other was just this week. I have decided not to have the other eye done unless it becomes really bad.
I had an unusual corneal reaction to the surgery (map-dot-fingerprint syndrome). Astigmatism in the eye was found to have increased after this problem was resolved. I don’t know if that was due to the MDF or not.
If you read the fine print on the consent to surgery, it probably lists many possible outcomes, all of which you accept as a condition of the surgery.
Right now my vision is reasonable with the latest lens in my glasses.
I don’t understand why your progressive lenses don’t permit you to do close work such as reading or computer use, but of course I’m not an ophthalmologist or even an optician.
My surgery was supposed to eventually cause me not to need any glasses at all, but it didn’t work out that way. The doctor says he can fix my right eye with laser surgery on the cornea, but given the problems I had, I want no part of it.
Again – my experience is far from typical.