Cataract surgery

[C5 Golfer]

I just had my left eye done. what an experience to have your lens replaced, totally painless except for the little sharp pain of the needle below your eye to dumb it. 2 weeks from now I will have the right eye done... and then hopefully 20/20 vision returns and I can see my golf ball again when it lands on the green.

anyone else ever had cataract surgery?

[SunSurfer]

Not had it done.

Seen and anaesthetised lots.

Wonderful operation for restoring people's independence and function. I rmember a guy who was planning on buying a car again after his second eye got done. He had had to stop driving because of the loss of vision.

Hope you get a great result with your other eye as well!

SunSurfer

[skatha]

I just had my left eye done. what an experience to have your lens replaced, totally painless except for the little sharp pain of the needle below your eye to dumb it. 2 weeks from now I will have the right eye done... and then hopefully 20/20 vision returns and I can see my golf ball again when it lands on the green.

anyone else ever had cataract surgery?

Actually, I'm in that grey area-too old for Lasik and too poor for intra-ocular implants.....my dad (aged 73 today) had it done and has settled out at 20/20 in one eye and 20/50 in the other

[C5 Golfer]

Actually, I'm in that grey area-too old for Lasik and too poor for intra-ocular implants.....my dad (aged 73 today) had it done and has settled out at 20/20 in one eye and 20/50 in the other

it is an expensive op --- with my co-insurance my out of pocket looks to be around $1200 an eye. The Doc says I should settle in somewhere around 20/20 but wont know for sure for several days to weeks. I think they said that based on the pin hole eye test with which I was able to see 20/20

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

I just had my left eye done. what an experience to have your lens replaced, totally painless except for the little sharp pain of the needle below your eye to dumb it. 2 weeks from now I will have the right eye done... and then hopefully 20/20 vision returns and I can see my golf ball again when it lands on the green.

anyone else ever had cataract surgery?

No, but scheduled.

Three weeks without contacts, then topography, then surgery on the right eye. This is a result of an earlier surgery a few years back. A vitrectomy Currently vision is below 20/60 WITH my glasses and getting worse faster and faster. Need to correct this.

[skatha]

it is an expensive op --- with my co-insurance my out of pocket looks to be around $1200 an eye. The Doc says I should settle in somewhere around 20/20 but wont know for sure for several days to weeks. I think they said that based on the pin hole eye test with which I was able to see 20/20

It's about $8K an eye without insurance.....commercial insurers don't want to cover elective surgery. I'm not wearing my contacts now because I end up wearing reading glasses 90% of the time when I have my contacts in. I have some big sunglasses that fit over my glasses now to wear outside-those lenses that change outside react to UV light so they don't work in your car when you're driving...thank God my self-tolerance of nerdy behavior went up the minute I turned 40....

Will I drop the dime on the surgery-I think I should get my kids thru college first!

[C5 Golfer]

No, but scheduled.

Currently vision is below 20/60 WITH my glasses and getting worse faster and faster. Need to correct this.

The faster and faster decline is what I also experienced.. it had me worried I would not be able to see next year. I was 20/75 in left eye and 20/40 in right. so I was actually not legal to drive at night and barely legal during the day. when I looked at a stop light there were three red lights. two next to each other, and one on top - like a rack of 3 pool balls. This morning was the first time I could wake up and see what time it was on the clock and I just now turned down the brightness on my computer screen... too bright now that my left retina sees what is out there.

let us know how your surgery goes... and your experience.

[patmoore]

I've had very poor vision since the fifth grade. I got my first set of hard lenses in 1961.

I have extraordinary close up vision when not wearing glasses for contacts and I know I'd lose that if I were to do either Lasik or Cataract surgery.

I'm too old for Lasik and still a few years away from cataract surgery. My dad had the cataract surgery and was able to drive without glasses. About to turn 90 he recently stopped driving.

[C5 Golfer]

.

I have extraordinary close up vision when not wearing glasses for contacts and I know I'd lose that if I were to do either Lasik or Cataract surgery.

I was told I would need to use glasses for close up work since my distance vision would be corrected.. I also had great close up vision without contacts before the surgery, even with my contacts in I could read a menu or a book. I would give up my near sightedness to see sharp again.

[skatha]

LOL! Listen to you old farts talk about seeing up close! When I used to take the kids to the bus, I'd put the paper on the curb, laid out, so I could see the print when I was standing.....anything closer than my arms fully extended, I can't see. The situation is better with glasses but I see bifocals in my near future....

[C5 Golfer]

LOL! Listen to you old farts talk about seeing up close! When I used to take the kids to the bus, I'd put the paper on the curb, laid out, so I could see the print when I was standing.....anything closer than my arms fully extended, I can't see. The situation is better with glasses but I see bifocals in my near future....

good one Skatha... I have a 37-38" sleeve length so it really helps to see a menu when I leave the Old Fart glasses at home.

I remember a couple of years ago I was on a first date with a fine young lady - she embarrassingly left her reading glasses at home and I had to read the entire menu to her.

[skatha]

good one Skatha... I have a 37-38" sleeve length so it really helps to see a menu when I leave the Old Fart glasses at home.

I remember a couple of years ago I was on a first date with a fine young lady - she embarrassingly left her reading glasses at home and I had to read the entire menu to her.

How chivalrous!

I'm having a hard time with reading in the dark now, too.....I've handed a few menus to the hubby myself

[bobble]

i'm in my mid 40's. i had a cataract in my left eye. it was bad. i couldn't see my face in the bathroom mirror from the overhead lights. i was fine in dim light.

i posted this awhile ago. check out my 3D picture of Camera Whore Trent. i blurred the left image to simulate approximately what i saw.

i'm glad i had the surgery. i originally wanted to go with a multifocal implant but the surgeon advised me that a monofocal was my better option because i was only having one eye done. so far its been good. occasionally i'll see some glare bouncing off the lens at night.

surgery was painless. the only discomfort i experienced was the initial injection in my arm of a mild anesthestic. post surgery it took about two weeks before my pupil returned to its original size. the eye drops they gave me during surgery took a long time to wear out. the pupil was almost closed... looked like a pinhole. eventually it returned to normal.

i took eye drops for a couple weeks after surgery. i was taking two types of eye drops. when one of them ran out i had a strange pain -- my whole eye ached like i was staring into a bright light even in the dark. i went back to the eye surgeon and was prescribed more eye drops. the pain went away.

my corrected vision is about 20/30. in my right uncorrected eye, i'm about 20/650 so i wear a contact lens in my right eye.

i can't wear glasses with a blank lens. the eye doctor warned me that it wouldn't work. you don't realize it but when you wear eye glasses the distance of the eye glass lens to the retina alters the scale of the image. when i tried using my glasses with the lens removed i saw two distinct images that were scaled differently. it gave me a headache -- the brain can't combine the images. you won't have this problem with contact lenses because the lens is close to the retina.

i wear reading glasses at work when needed. at home i just remove the contact lens to read in bed. i'm not about to get lasik for my right eye. i'm told i have yet another cataract forming. could be years. not in a rush.

love boarding without glasses!!!! always hated when my glasses fogged up.

the really good news is that you'll find that you will have more confidence in flat light. its not dramatic but it made a difference in my riding. so you have something to look forward to when you go boarding on crappy days.

[skatha]

It's good you didn't go for the multifocal lens-I had a female patient, avid golfer, who regrets getting hers. It's okay with reading but she has a hard time playing golf because all images looking thru the lower half on the lens are magnified

[C5 Golfer]

It's good you didn't go for the multifocal lens-I had a female patient, avid golfer, who regrets getting hers. It's okay with reading but she has a hard time playing golf because all images looking thru the lower half on the lens are magnified

That is why I did not opt for the higher cost lens, Vitamin G (golf) is an important supplement to my mental health. 3-4X a week for best results.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Tired of wearing my glasses already!! Topography session to map the eye in a couple weeks. (videokeratography)

I will likely require LRI and a toric lense to try to correct pretty severe astigmatism. More info here.

[C5 Golfer]

Second check up and my left eye is now performs 20/20 - perfect -- the incision is a little slow to heal for some reason.

Monday will have my Right eye done...

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Second check up and my left eye is now performs 20/20 - perfect -- the incision is a little slow to heal for some reason.

Monday will have my Right eye done...

Great News!! I would be so happy to get back to 20/20. If I can make it to 20/30 I will be very pleased.

Topography done. Check. Axial Length Measurement (ALM) done, Check.

Just need to get a surgery date now. Could be a while they say. Glad to be able to wear my contacts again.

[bobble]

@C5 Golfer -- good luck on the right eye.

@oldsnowboards -- was just checking your vitectomy link. did you have floaters prior to surgery? prior to my cataract surgery i had a posterior vitreus detachment. saw big black floaters. first time it happened i thought a black bird flew in front of my face. i didn't know what had happened. whirled around looking for the bird. later in the day i saw black flashes and lightning bolts. saw a doctor. not much could be done except routine exams to check the retina for detachment. since then the floaters are always present but more like clouds or filaments. its the one thing that bugs me because the floaters will appear and partially obscure my vision. would like to get rid of them.

one interesting note - after my surgery, anything that's colored white appears bright white (almost blue-sh) while in my natural lens it appears slightly muted like a brownish tint. i've gotten used to it.

[C5 Golfer]

@C5 Golfer -- good luck on the right eye.

@oldsnowboards -- was just checking your vitectomy link. did you have floaters prior to surgery? prior to my cataract surgery i had a posterior vitreus detachment. saw big black floaters. first time it happened i thought a black bird flew in front of my face. i didn't know what had happened. whirled around looking for the bird. later in the day i saw black flashes and lightning bolts. saw a doctor. not much could be done except routine exams to check the retina for detachment. since then the floaters are always present but more like clouds or filaments. its the one thing that bugs me because the floaters will appear and partially obscure my vision. would like to get rid of them.

one interesting note - after my surgery, anything that's colored white appears bright white (almost blue-sh) while in my natural lens it appears slightly muted like a brownish tint. i've gotten used to it.

Thanks.. RE: Floaters -- I have them in both eyes.. the right being the worst, not to the extreme of which you speak but sometimes just as I putt my golf ball a short 2 footer, that damn floater comes by and I miss the putt. It appears so far the left eye floater is not as prevelent or noticeable as before surgery -- I am hoping right eye floater won't be as noticable but won't know until next week.

RE: white colored surfaces.. I see the same thing.. brillant colors in my left - like my white SUV -- it is so good looking in white out of the left eye.. the right with the cataract it is a dirty off white - looks like it needs a bath... And also when watching TV on my big plasma... wowowowowow what an image -- it is like someone turn the brightness up.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

@C5 Golfer -- good luck on the right eye.

@oldsnowboards -- was just checking your vitectomy link. did you have floaters prior to surgery? prior to my cataract surgery i had a posterior vitreus detachment. saw big black floaters. first time it happened i thought a black bird flew in front of my face. i didn't know what had happened. whirled around looking for the bird. later in the day i saw black flashes and lightning bolts. saw a doctor. not much could be done except routine exams to check the retina for detachment. since then the floaters are always present but more like clouds or filaments. its the one thing that bugs me because the floaters will appear and partially obscure my vision. would like to get rid of them.

one interesting note - after my surgery, anything that's colored white appears bright white (almost blue-sh) while in my natural lens it appears slightly muted like a brownish tint. i've gotten used to it.

Yes, I have had floaters since I was a kid. In the past few years , prior to the surgery, they had gotten so bad in the right eye that it was obscuring my vision. Much like a cloud , rather than single floaters. Much like someone putting vaseline on your glasses. It was effecting my vision, especially while riding. Flat light days were really , really bad. They did lazer surgery to tack down the edges of the retina then did the victrectomy to remove the "mass" of debri "floaters". Yep. Three needles in your eye while you are awake, trippy to say the least. "Please sign the paper AGAIN saying you know this may cause blindness" , a bit unnerving just before surgery. I was told that a catarac would likely form within a year or so. It has been over three. Now it is time to take care of it before next season if at all possible. It is no longer in the range that can be corrected optically.

Note: To luckers and fellow BOL members , "Floaters" are very common and not to be too concerned about. If you allow your brain to simply "see around" them you will not have issues. If they become pronounced quickly then see your dr. asap. Such as after a head injury , etc.

[skatha]

i had a posterior vitreus detachment. saw big black floaters. first time it happened i thought a black bird flew in front of my face. i didn't know what had happened. whirled around looking for the bird. later in the day i saw black flashes and lightning bolts. saw a doctor. not much could be done except routine exams to check the retina for detachment. since then the floaters are always present but more like clouds or filaments. its the one thing that bugs me because the floaters will appear and partially obscure my vision. would like to get rid of them.

one interesting note - after my surgery, anything that's colored white appears bright white (almost blue-sh) while in my natural lens it appears slightly muted like a brownish tint. i've gotten used to it.

Cataracts usually impart a yellowish-brownish tint to the images that goes through them. Ophthalmologists wait until the cataract is "mature" before they remove them-as is, they are hard enough to shatter once a high speed drill is touched to them and then the ophthalmologist picks out the pieces.

Floaters are actually desquamated epithelial tissue from your retina floating around in your vitreous. They are more noticable in nearsighted people.

As you get older, the water content in your vitreous drops. The material shrinks and pulls away from your retina. The result can be the scotomas and scintillations that you see. The more serious condition that needs to be evaluated, of course, is a retinal detachment because that is vision threatening whereas a vitreous separation is not (it just means you are getting old)

You can also have scintilllations with ocular migraines-which are usually painless. A scintillation is the zig-zaggy light you can see. You can make yourself have them with rubbing your eyes, as a FYI

As for head trauma, I've seen bunches of head trauma. Most people don't have scotomas or scintillations-they have ocular nerve palsies or loss of visual fields. As for eye trauma, I've seen everything from lens detachments to open globe injuries. Open globe injuries are THE WORST in terms of making ME queasy...

[C5 Golfer]

Right Eye Floaters -- Seems it is not so apparent. the Floater was fuzy before and now 2 days after Cataract was removed and new lens installed... it is a sharper focused floater and it does not hinder reading or computer work now as much as before. I am sure it helps now that both eyes are corrected to 20/20 - hopefully no more missed short putts due to that.

[patmoore]

Have had huge problem with floaters in my left eye for years. Condition is called Asteroid Hyalosis. In extreme cases, the vitreous can be drained and replaced with salt water (I think that's what the doctor said) but it's a last resort.

When skiing/riding in foggy conditions I have to close my left eye because the floaters are do bad.

I'm told I'm still a few years away from cataract surgery. Looking forward to getting back good vision!

[skatha]

Have had huge problem with floaters in my left eye for years. Condition is called Asteroid Hyalosis.

The condition you just described is mineral deposits forming in the vitreous associated with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and ciliary body tumors. It is NOT the simple vitreous floaters that most nearsighted people have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_hyalosis