Cataract Surgery

I've also heard of them doing one eye for reading and one eye for distance and somehow your brain adjusts to this. Sounds like it would give me a headache.

@gwhap

I have not yet ripe cataracts ( let's see if they suddenly ripen if I run the surgeons foot over in my wheelchair?)

Anyway I play with LEDS, my own choice for carry light is a four 7777's (now called Promethius ) Preon MKIII it's triple A battery powered ,so easy to freed away from home ,it also puts out a crazy amount of light(sometimes it outshines my larger lights .

Lights are a hobby and this one is near perfect from firefly mode that is like 1 lumen all the way to turbo like 300 lumen , it has the output for anything you may need it for.

I retired from emergency services so for me a knife a penlight!etc are just everyday survival items everyone should carry .

Happy eye opening day!LOL

@Moppys_jalopy said

I've also heard of them doing one eye for reading and one eye for distance and somehow your brain adjusts to this. Sounds like it would give me a headache.

I know people who have had that done with regular glasses and contacts and most people HATED it, especially if they had one eye that was VERY dominant over the other.

(EVERYONE has a dominant eye)

My mom had both eyes just done in the past 6 months. It went well both surgeries. She no longer needs glasses. She used to have to wear them all them time. For her it was a success

From what I heard from people who have had multifocal lenses is that they do not have as good resolution as lenses set for infinity/distance and using reading glasses.

I've also heard of them doing one eye for reading and one eye for distance and somehow your brain adjusts to this. Sounds like it would give me a headache.

My distant vision is excellent, better than my prescription glasses but the cataracts probably were the cause of that. I did get a (very) slightly different prescription for each eye - one to emphasize distance in my dominant eye, and one to help for in close - it isn't noticeable. My lens consist on alternating concentric circles (lens) for distance and near vision. As a result - especially for near vision, the amount of light that gets through is much less. I like to fish and bought an expensive pair of polarized sunglasses. Absolute CANNOT wear them. Transitioning from light to dark backgrounds just doesn't work with this lens. Doc told me a lot of people have said the same thing. The glasses do look good open my wife!!

The glasses do look good open my wife!!

Are they some sort of speculum-like glasses, @gwhap? 😁

I had both eyes done via the laser this past Spring; one week before they have you take lubricating drops prior to surgery. The day of the procedure, you go to an out-patient OR facility and they have you set-up with an IV for administering some drugs to relax you ( like Versed; I hate that drug so I requested propofol). The drugs are just to calm the "nervous' person, you could really do without them but try talking the doctor into that-they just want to get as many patients through in a day as possible.

Once they wheel you into the OR, they add more eyedrops (in addition to many in the prep area) to numb the eye and set the laser into place. I did not feel a thing and your eye is obviously open for the procedure. The laser removes the cataract in probably five minute or less. The gurney is then re-positioned to the area where your doctor will insert the new lens into position. The whole procedure is maybe 15 minutes total with a cooperative patient.

A person drives you home and your take three different drugs multiple times daily for two weeks. I had a pre-op appointment with the doctor the day after the procedure to check on lense stability and check your vision acuity.

@watertrain said

I had both eyes done via the laser this past Spring; one week before they have you take lubricating drops prior to surgery. The day of the procedure, you go to an out-patient OR facility and they have you set-up with an IV for administering some drugs to relax you ( like Versed; I hate that drug so I requested propofol). The drugs are just to calm the "nervous' person, you could really do without them but try talking the doctor into that-they just want to get as many patients through in a day as possible.

I don't care how calm, macho and NOT nervous the patient thinks he is.

They really want to have you relaxed, but more important, they want to make sure you do not actuate any reflexes while they are cutting on your eyes. They don't want to injure your iris, ciliary body or vitreous body inside the eye.

That is the reason---not so they can see more patients in a given day.

I have had both eyes done, about 3 weeks apart. That was about 5 years ago and it was done using "cutting" and not a laser. I was out of work for the day of the procedure but went back to work the following day with only one restriction, not to lift over 50 lbs, which I cannot do anyway. My vision has improved to 20/20 and no longer need glasses for driving, however, I need "cheaters" to see anything up close including reading and typing on my computer. In my case, some scar tissue has developed which can be removed with a laser that takes about 15 seconds in the eye dr.'s office.

How do they hold your eye still?

Telling me not to move my eye is like telling me to breathe normally or don't think about licking pussy. Now that you said it, it's nearly impossible.

How do they hold your eye still?

Telling me not to move my eye is like telling me to breathe normally or don't think about licking pussy. Now that you said it, it's nearly impossible.

They numb your eye with drops or an injection , cover your other eye so you can’t see what’s going on and use a clip to hold you eyelid open. All you see is bright light.

I can't give you specifics about the surgery itself, but I can assure you that there have been improvements. Both of my parents had cataract surgery. When my mom had hers done close to 20 years ago, her eye was covered and she couldn't read or do crossword puzzles (she loved crossword puzzles). My dad had his done just about 3 years ago, and he couldn't drive himself, but otherwise he didnt have anywhere near the limitations my mom had.

I had cataract surgery 3 years ago and chose a multi-focal lens - e.g. you get both near and far-sight ability, no need for reading glasses. Starting about six months ago I started to notice difficulty reading small print, which gradually got worse to the point it's now very difficult to read text messages or print on the computer. Where I can I've had to increase font size and turn on bold text. I've lost contrast, the print and the background blend in. When they switched the default here on Zity to a dark background, I could not read colored print agains the darker background so I'm using the light background. Saw the eye doc this week and scar tissue has developed under the lens they put in on each eye. “Following cataract surgery, it’s possible to experience issues with the lens membrane. It can become thickened, which may negatively affect your vision. A YAG laser capsulotomy is the one treatment option for this cataract surgery complication.” Going to have it done in a couple of weeks. Doc says it's fairly common and is very low risk. More info at -

https://www.nvisioncenters.com/cataracts/yag/

Think of the lens in your eye as a round envelope with a transparent round letter inside, which is called the nucleus of the lens. Cataract development usually involves clouding of that nucleus, although less commonly, the back surface of the inside of the envelope becomes opaque. The first is called a nuclear cataract, the second is called a posterior subcapsular cataract (PSC). At surgery, the “letter” or nucleus is removed after removing a large circular piece of the anterior capsule or the front of the envelope. If a PSC is present, the inside of the back of the envelope is gently cleaned, so as to retain its integrity. After that the intraocular lens of choice is slid through the round opening or anterior capsule and centered. The small incision into the eye is closed and the surgery is over. Well over 80% of cataract surgical procedures develop the posterior capsular membrane noted by gwhap. YAG capsulotomy is the treatment of choice. It is a simple office procedure involving dilation of your eye, seating you in front of the machine and after a few “Zaps” you are finished.

As for me, I have been near-sighted my whole life. When it came time to have my surgery, I requested my surgeon to set the power of the intraocular lens at a range so that I could see my face in the mirror for shaving and computer use without glasses, etc., which means I still wear glasses all the rest of the time, with clear vision at any point in the spectrum. I have never adopted the habit of working on the computer without glasses, however, as it is just simpler to keep them on.

I had a corneal transplant in 2004 and a detached retina in 2012. Both surgeries were done at the outpatient surgery center at Emory and they went well

Had it done a year ago and amazing how clear my vision now is. Mine was a bit more tricky because I take Flomax (you can read about that by Googling) I also had the older, non-laser procedure performed by a noted expert in the field. I was always afraid of having my eye worked on being - awake and seeing what was being done - but whatever the anesthetist used, all I saw was purple, and only semi-conscious. I had just a simple, single focus lens used and my vision was set for optima viewing at arms length so I do not need glasses for computer work.

…... Saw the eye doc this week and scar tissue has developed under the lens they put in on each eye. “Following cataract surgery, it’s possible to experience issues with the lens membrane. It can become thickened, which may negatively affect your vision. A YAG laser capsulotomy is the one treatment option for this cataract surgery complication.” Going to have it done in a couple of weeks.

Had the YAG capsulotomy done on my right eye a couple days ago. The entire visit took 30 minutes, the laser part was less than 5 minutes. Instantaneous improvement of my vision. Before walking in I couldn't read the print on a business card and could barely see text messages on my phone, far vision was very cloudy. 1000% better vision. Getting the left eye done tomorrow.

I had old scissor hands do mine finally in march April 3 weeks apart had I opted for the laser it would have resulted in OOP of $4000 , I apologized to the surgeon and said since I was blind I missed my money tree bloom and have no idea when they leaves fell other than the guy cutting my grass seemed very cheerful ?

my surgeon did both eyes the same , we discussed it in the office , having ”seen” earlier cataract surgeries with the two different lenses thing it worried me . He said nope we do them the same now not one for distance and one for close up , experience showed them do a distance lens and fine tune the close up with glasses . After healing my vision uncorrected is better than 20/50 and my glasses went from trifocals to bifocals and I am happy ,took me awhile to dissipate the anger & frustration of being legally blind for 4 years . With any kind of surgery for me screw “relaxing “ they aren’t willing to risk it and so I get the full general anesthetic + deal ( with my known food and drug allergies I can’t have propfol, or any halogenated ethers , so all the fun “club drugs” are off the table and gas passers have to mix and match to get the results they want or expect ( oh God all the wasted time in school isn’t wasted on patients like me , they have to work for it )

so between delays because I wasn’t “ripe” yet , then scheduling and having them cancel ,then Delays because of pandemic & funnily getting hit by a truck & broken ribs that had to heal March was a great relief , I have a follow up visit next month as well as a check up with my usual doc who keeps tabs on my diabetic retinopathy.

and just for reference my lens implants have built in blue Light blocking , pisses people off trying to up sell me on glasses .

@sap Sounds like a great outcome. But what an Ordeal leading up to it.

@gwhap , your not kidding sir ,it was almost worth the wait , to see the world again .

@SAP For so many with disabilities, the world gradually gets smaller. Glad to hear it opened up some for you. Keep fighting.

I had my left one done a few months ago and it was a breeze, I was on the table for 15 minutes. The procedure might seem “Edgar Allan Poe” was I was awake during the procedure, but there was no pain what so ever and I wore my day clothes. Having been blind in the eye, I could see perfectly as soon as they took the shroud off my head straight after the surgery.

Some of us don't realize/appreciate how lucky we are. At almost 82 I still pass the driving test without glasses.