Guy I know around here just had his right eye removed. Why? Ever increasing cycle of unstoppable deterioration and infections from what started as a routine cataract procedure about 5 years ago.
Admittedly he’s old: 79. But still. Stuff *can *go wrong with this (or any) procedure. Speaking just for me if/when it happens to me I’m planning to wait until the deterioration is significant but not debilitating.
I had both my cataracts done about four years ago. I was 43 at the time. I was on a regimen of prednesone for kidney disease, and that led to cataracts in both eyes.
My doctor at Kaiser was the only one in the state (CO) who was willing to do both at the same time, and the recovery time for me was a matter of hours.
Within six or so, I was seeing better, and by the next morning, I was driving, running errands and just enjoying seeing things again.
Doing both at the same time is a decision to be made between you and your doctor, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was simply amazing to regain my sight that quickly.
Medicare pays for corrective lenses. That is the only eye correction it will pay for. It will not pay for laser, RK, or PRK, since corrective lenses are sufficient. At one time, the FDA did not approve cataract surgery until the cataracts were “ripe.” The FDA changed that position some years ago.
71, just had mine done a few months ago. One was really bad, the other eye was not nearly as bad but going that way.
I opted for far vision in both eyes and I went through all the levels of the $3 glasses to find the best compromise for computer - reading.
Really small writing, I need good light and sometimes a magnifying glass.
The hardest thing for me was the change from needing glasses for far and no glasses for near over to the opposite. I forget that I don’t need the glasses for the TV but I do for the remote. On bad days, I cuss a lot. I will get the habits changed, just taking longer that I would have liked.
you could try bifocals with readers on the bottom and no correction on the top.
you could also try trifocals with readers on the bottom, computer in the middle and no correction on the top.
keep a small pocket magnifier with you. good for labels and instructions when out and about.
I use a cheap pair (£3.00 from Hong Kong) of +1.5 glasses for reading and for the computer. For everything else no glasses are needed. At that price I consider them almost disposable as the ears usually break after a couple of months of being in and out of my shirt pocket.
I also carry a credit card size illuminated magnifier, for the tiny print like you find on food labels.
Over here it is very rare to have both done at once as you would be effectively blind for a few hours after surgery. Since it is done with a local anaesthetic, there is no time saving for the surgeon to do them both together. It is not painful at all, but pretty weird to lie there while the guy in the white coat sticks things into your eyeball. By way of distraction, he did have a pretty nurse on his team to hold my hand:)
My wife was recently told that she needed cataract surgery, but her ophthalmologist recommended that she wait a year or two, because there is significant progress being made at the moment in the procedure, and he expects that newly developed techniques will be greatly to her advantage. It is my understanding that it has something to do with the characteristics of the replacement lens. (I have no citations or any other information to add to this hearsay that I am tossing into the ring, upon which some other doper might be more knowledgeable.)
Very interesting!
It looks as if there will be implants available that allow focusing.: In With the New: The Latest in Cataract Surgery
The problem is, that just like with computerised gadgets, there is always something new in the pipeline.
Mine was done as part of the warranty agreement that came with my Lasik surgery. My eye doctor noticed cataracts in my left eye but not my right and it caused my vision to deteriorate to the point where I was eligible for a upgrade. The upgrade consisted of replacing my lens with an acrylic one in which they shaped to my perspiration. I think I paid something like $520 out of pocket and still don’t need glasses 13 years after the original Lasik; something I really wasn’t expecting to last so long.
I went in for cataract surgery two years ago after a successful operation for the same thing in my right eye. During surgery involving the phacoemulsifier unit, my lens capsule was ruptured and my retina detached at the same time. After some fancy foot work and fast talking I was told the lens might just be out of alignment slightly, then when I was sent home with unbelievably high ocular pressure in the eye, I had to go back immediately and was told I had a retinal detachment and would be scheduled for a retina exam at another clinic. I was referred to a retinal specialist to reattach the retina. After three failed surgeries over a two year period, the last one involving a buckle on the eye and silicon oil injection, I was told my vision in the eye may be permanently lost. I had 20/30 vision before the blinding occurred. There would be no cataract surgery for me if I had known of the consequences before surgery. Let your vision be your guide on this.
Hi! IANAD, but I’m a lay clinic director at an ophthalmology practice that specializes in cataract surgery. Two main reasons one of our doctors would advise someone with an incipient cataract to wait:
Insurance will only cover the surgery once the cataract reaches a certain maturity level. (This is not a subjective “Yeah it really sucks now,” but a set of tests that determine light scatter and glare.)
Cataract surgery technology is advancing far and fast. Think cell phone fast. For example, phacoemulsification (ultrasound disintegration of the cataract, which replaced the traditional hand-held chopping blades) is less than 40 years old. Multifocal lens implants, which can reduce or eliminate the need for glasses after surgery, are only about 10-15 years old, and are improving rapidly. Laser cataract surgery, where a computer-guided laser automates the first steps in the procedure, is less than five years old in the U.S. Waiting five or ten years might make a big difference in your quality of vision postoperatively, as you will have technology available to you that isn’t ready yet.
I don’t know the numbers, but I had what are called “rapid onset” cataracts, and in maybe 3 or 4 months went from normal vision to not being able to drive and not even being able to cross a street safely. I still had to wait nearly 3 months for the surgery. My boss (a nurse) told me that since I was in my 40s and working, the docs would bump me ahead of the retirees who didn’t need it so urgently, but that didn’t happen.
A doctor can perform one in 12-15 minutes, but there’s an hour or two of pre-op, anesthesia, and post-op wrapped around that. Also, unless the doctor is being shuttled from one operating room to the next like an assembly line worker in reverse (which any surgeon I’ve known would refuse to do), there’s the time it takes to turn (clean and change) the OR. Also, since there is anesthesia involved, cataract patients must be NPO (i.e. nothing to eat or drink) from midnight the day before surgery, so there’s a limit to how far into a day they can schedule patients before they squawk.
Finally, a cataract surgeon can’t simply operate all day every day. They need clinic days available to examine and diagnose new patients, as well as to see post-operative patients who had surgery yesterday or last week.
Bottom line: our busiest, hungriest cataract surgeons operate twice a week, maybe 2 1/2 days on a really crazy week, and a very full day for one of them is 16-17 patients. And that’s at our ambulatory surgery center that does almost nothing but cataracts all day, every day, and is therefore rocket fast and efficient compared to a hospital or general surgery center.
IANAMD but it is my understanding that your (1) is no longer true, and I speak from personal experience. Formerly FDA did not approve of this surgery unless the cataracts were “ripe.” Using cataract surgery just to correct vision that glasses could correct was not allowed. FDA removed that restriction years ago. It was subjective for me. I was asked if the cataracts were interfering with my vision. They really weren’t. They said it was up to me. I told them to do it because it would have to be done eventually, and I was told that I would not need glasses afterwards. I was told by the ophthalmologist that my vision in one eye would be corrected to 20/20 and in the other about 20/40 so I would not need reading glasses. Wrong on both. I now wear progressive lenses.
This. At least ten years ago, an optometrist told my wife that she was developing a cataract. Her most recent optometrist finds no signs of cataract.
I’ve had both eyes fixed. One was perfectly successful; the other was not. I eventually developed a torn retina and, three operations later, I have no useful vision in that eye.