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For those of you that have the Tecnis Symfony lens or lenses, can you read your iPhone? If so how far away and how clearly? I'm 32 years old and had my right lens replaced with a monofocal lens two years ago. My left eye has a cataract that has formed and I'm looking into the Tecnis Symfony in order to still keep some of my near vision without having to use reading glasses. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
2 likes, 189 replies
acc925 SomeGuy
Posted
I'm sorry I can't help you. I've never heard of Tecnis Symfony lenses. I lucked out and didn't require glasses after my surgery, in spite of the surgeon tellig me I most likely would need them. I too had the monofocal lenses. Good luck. Do you due diligence and research, research, research.
adlibi acc925
Posted
softwaredev SomeGuy
Posted
With Symfony IOLs I am able to use a smartphone without any trouble with its usual fonts I've never changed, held at what seems like a normal distance (don't have a ruler handy to measure). I haven't been using an iPhone, I don't know what size screen your model is. After my surgery (in December 2014 for both eyes) it was first an HTC One M7 with a 4.7" screen, now a Samsung Galaxy S7 with a 5.1" screen. On sites with multiple columns like some newspapers, the print may be a bit small in multicolumn mode (to where I'd need to adjust where I hold the phone and concentrate), but usually that isn't how you'd read those anywa. On Android at least double tapping to expand one column to its full width leaves it easily readable (or putting the phone on its side in landscape mode might also work with small multi-column fonts).
In my case I was highly myopic beforehand, which meant there was more room for error in the choice of lens power and one of my eyes wound up slightly farsighted, +0.5D, which reduces its near vision a bit. The other eye was on target at 0D, so its mostly that one eye being used for really near distances so I'm mostly reading the smartphone with one eye I suspect like you would be (though the other eye still has better near than you would with a monofocal so it may be contributing some). I have 20/25 near vision at my best near distance, where I naturally hold the chart, and can read the small print on eyedrop bottles (though for that I do need to hunt for the best distance to hold it). I do need to use reading glasses for rare closeup tasks like threading a needle.
Its often suggested that people get micro-monovision with the Symfony, with one eye adusted slightly nearer in like -0.5D (and I may get a laser tweak to switch my farsighted eye to that someday) since that isn't enough to have much of an impact on distance vision. If you have good distance vision with your monofocal eye then you might consider getting the Symfony with a bit of micro-monovision to ensure you have enough to read your eyephone. Unfortunately everyone's results differ depending on the rest of their visual system and so even studies on lenses merely give guidance as to average results. A small minority of patients with the Symfony do need reading glasses for near. I haven't checked into the issue, but I have to wonder how much of a difference age makes, if younger patients are more likely to have more sensitive retinas and higher quality visual systems to get better results. (I'm not as young as you, but I got my surgery at age 52 which is still atypically young for a cataract patient by a couple of decades or so).
I went for the Symfony due to its lower risk of visual artifacts compared to a multifocal. (actually it wasn't approved here in the US at the time so I went to Europe to get it, figuring I may be living with the results another few decades so it was worth some hassle&expense). However if you wanted to ensure more near vision, then you might consider a multifocal lens (in the US a bifocal, elsewhere a trifocal) if you were willing to deal with some risk of halo&glare issues at night. The risk is lower in the newest multifocals than it used to be, but not as low as with the Symfony. I'd initially planned to go outside the US for a trifocal, but decided the lower risk of the Symfony was a good compromise, though more importantly its better intermediate vision since I use that more. Occasionally I still wonder if I should have gone for a trifocal for a broader range of vision since I could have gotten a lens exchange to the Symfony if I had issues, its hard to know if I'd have noticed the difference with the intermediate or not.
Since you are only doing one eye, that would lower the impact of any halo&glare issues if you did have them if you went for a multifocal. My night vision with the Symfony is better than I can remember it being before surgery with contacts or glasses. I've no glare issues, less than I can remember with contacts&glasses, but I am in the tiny minority that does see a halo with the Symfony but its so light, translucent, that I see through/past it and don't consider it a problem.
brian35898 SomeGuy
Posted
I had the Symfony implanted to my right eye one week ago ( in US)-
If you have a monofocal IOL already, you will be functioning as a "monovision" patient and will rely on one eye for reading.
That's how I'm functioning currently while I decide on what to do with my left eye.
I'm finding the range of intermediate vision to be about from 14 inches to 26. I wear readers to get close near vision. It's my feeling that the Symfony is functional as a monovision but would work better if in BOTH eyes. Looking at my iPhone in low light conditions is difficult and I have to enlarge fonts.
There is a reduction in vision in dim light conditions and halos and rings around lights- which does not bother me but may bother someone else. Everyone responds to these changes differently.
You might consider explanting the monofocal and getting a Symfony in that eye as well. There are , of course, risks to removing an IOL.
I am 58, a cataract surgeon myself. I have NO financial relationship with Abbott and paid FULL price for my surgery, and have NO relationship to my surgeon other than as a patient.
Good luck with your surgery!
Foureyes brian35898
Posted
alexandra47598 brian35898
Posted
can you recommend someone in a Boston for a second opinion soon
Sue.An brian35898
Posted
brenda_65733 brian35898
Posted
Hello Brian,I am scheduled to have cataracts removed from both eyes on consecutive days, September 11th and 12th and follow up on September 13th. Are there cons to having the surgeries this close together? I am 66 years old, am near sighted (-6), wear progressive lens glasses and will have Symfony lenses inserted. The cataract surgeon says he has no concerns performing back to back surgeries but given what I have read on this sight I was wondering if I should space out the surgeries by a couple of months to see how I fare with the Symfony lens.
?Thank you for your feedback.
Sue.An brenda_65733
Posted
Hi Brenda - I just had my 2nd surgery 6 weeks after first eye (both with Symfony lens). I don't know where you live but here in Canada most provinces wait a minimum of a week between surgeries - a lot have a min wait if 4 weeks.
Follow wing surgery you will be te hired to wea an eyecshoeld for a week and wontnbe ablebtomsleep onnthat side.
Is there a reason why you are having this done back to back? Are you travelling to another country to have it done?
My advice would be to wait between surgery. You will want (surgeon should want) to know your outcome on first eye so as to make adjustments on 2nd eye. Also you'll want forstbsurvefy to heal.
at201 brenda_65733
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brenda_65733 Sue.An
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Thank you for your feedback. I have decided to postpone the second surgery for a couple of weeks. I live in Ontario but am opting to have surgery at a private clinic and not wait 6 months for OHIP. I was given the impression by the eye surgeon that the Symfony lens was not available if I chose to have my surgery in the hospital, even if I was willing to pay additional for this lens.
Sue.An brenda_65733
Posted
I live in New Brunswick Brenda. I am not sure your doctor is providing you with the correct information. Medicare covered my surgery and the cost of a regular lens. I wanted the Symfony lens which Medicare covered with cost of standard lens and I paid the difference $900 per lens. That was paid to hospital as the surgeons get same amount of covereage regardless of the lens chosen. Govt of Canada in June 2012 put a halt to specialists selling the premiums lenses as these were charged at different rates depending g on surgeon and province. If you go private you'll be paying for surgery and lens.
I will try to find that legislation and send you the link.
I got both eyes done with Symfony lenses st a cost of $900 per eye. Medicare covered the rest . Your cataracts though have to be impeding your vision for Medicare to cover. 20/40 I believe ,
betsy83524 at201
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MyopicWriter betsy83524
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Hi, I have this same situation--except it's the right eye with the Tecnis monofocal, and after having that and losing near and intermediate vision, I was really reluctant to have that in the other. So I requested the Symfony for my left eye, 18 months later. I think the combo is the best solution, for me, as my intermediate vision is much better now--I can see in the fridge, for example, where as before I needed glasses for that. I still need glasses to read, but that's doable.
Recently, I went back to the optometrist and discovered I still have a bit of astigmatism, and am farsighted in both eyes now--she gave me a +75 in each eye. I now have progressive glasses with astigmatism correction and the +.75, which really improves my intermediate vision a lot. I discovered I could see the big TV screen a lot better--I can see all the writing with no fuzziness at all! I honestly didn't think anyone saw that!
As for halos, they don't bother me, since my monofocal eye compensates for that at night. All in all, this was probably the best solution I could hope for, although it would have been nice if both surgeries hadn't left me farsighted and astigmatic. Still much better than being extremely myopic and astigmatic.
MyopicWriter
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at201 betsy83524
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Before you make any decision about the type of lens (monofocal or Symfony) or the best target focus distance for the lens for the right eye, you need to know the exact prescription which you have for the left eye right now. Did you end up being farsighted or having a significant amount of astigmatism? Hopefully not, but you need to confirm that before selecting the next step.
Night-Hawk MyopicWriter
Posted
Yep it sounded to me like you ended up too farsighted, thats why its best to target for slight nearsighted like -0.25D to help avoid that outcome.
I don't have a problem reading most labels in the fridge or the cupboard even with my Tecnis monofocal toric set for distance since it came out pretty close to the target -0.25D to 0D, so thats possible with a monofocal if it didn't end up farsighted.
A Symfony would help more with reading the computer monitor and smartphone displays however, since I need about +1D glasses to do that comfortably with a monofocal distance IOL.
So I am considering for my other eye when it needs cataract surgery, perhaps a Symfony toric set for -0.25D to -0.50D which could extend its range to most reading situations too using that one eye like a kind of mini-monovision combo.
betsy83524 Night-Hawk
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MyopicWriter Night-Hawk
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Yes, I think a lot of my problems have turned out to be the farsightedness. It's such a new concept for me, having always been very nearsighted, that I couldn't imagine it at first.
The new glasses do help, but it's strange to see my eyes magnified when I look in a mirror. Maybe I'll look into contacts.
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