Acceptable Symfony result?

@logan72565, Very sorry to hear how one eye deteriorated from "reading J1 a couple week post-Op" to "more like J7" now. The problem eye is "only possible to read at arms length and not at all clear... just doable."

@Sue.An, both you and my hubby are eyeglasses-free post-Op. But that is not the manufacturer's promise to every one. The experts' general consensus is: "those who likes playing golf, doesn’t read that much and doesn’t mind the possibility of occasional glasses would be very happy with a Symfony or Mplus lens. A bookworm who loves reading or someone who loves sewing would probably prefer a trifocal lens."

Not surprisingly, Dr Pascal Rozot's case study on Zeiss atLARA ended with this statement:  "the patient was counseled that she might need to use glasses when reading up close, particularly for a long period of time."

I will have to find a review I read comparing Symfony Restor and monofocal but if I remember correctly 85% of those with Symfony lenses indicated they wear glasses none to rarely do although not guaranteed / a large percentage of people can read without classes.  Will find that study and post.

The greater consideration is night time halos specifically the concentric circles.

You have to remember that majority of posters here post first time after surgery and have a question or concern not to say how great their vision is.   There are a few of us (me included) that stumbled upon this site doing research after devastating news we have cataracts and so I have found that they are posting good things about their surgery.  I can think of 4 of us in that situation and all are pleased with results - excluding your husband who is obviously pleased with his results too with Symfony.

Am finding it tough to gently approach this delicate subject. There are quite a few members with poor post-Op near-vision at first, but later improved or went for laser PRK.  Read them at the other discussion by  "WebDev" entitled "near vision poor after getting Symfony...seeking others' experience" (391 replies). This place is better than an encyclopedia.

Yes have read that thread and do note many needed time to heal before getting better results or ‘tweaking’ to get better nearer results.  Have to wonder though if not due to reasons such as toric Symfony Lens rotating and better to have lasik than another surgery to rotate it back or power calculation slightly off.  And if better after lasik or PRK to me says power calculation could be off (either because of pre-surgery measurements or due to where IOL settles as it does shift back and forth for a number of weeks.  

But most of those commenting on that thread did come on the forum after surgery and wanting to comment and seek advice for unpleasant night vision effects &/or not optimal vision results.

I will find that study - I believe the percentage of people not needing reading  glasses at all or rarely with Symfony was about 85% so quite good odds.   If I hadn’t researched at all prior to surgery it is highly unlikely that I would seek out a forum to post my results.   Just human nature I suppose.  And honestly all the research in the world can’t prevent some things that are out of your control or the surgeon’s from happening.

Hi Frances,

Do a google search for "jaeger-chart" and you should see a result "Jaeger Eye Chart - All About Vision". It 's an eye chart you can print off for near vision testing at 14"

Test each and and then together and let us know what your results are.

What country did you have your lenses done in?

United States 

Here's the link to file a complaint about the Symfony lens with the FDA's Medwatch database (you can remain anonymous). Use the "Consumer/Patient" button (anyone can file, even outside the US) https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/index.cfm?action=reporting.home

Frances has it been 6 weeks since your surgeries?  Sometimes with the toric version of Symfony lenses it rotates during healing process.  This would account for blurry vision but your surgeon should be able to check if lens has rotated.   If it has surgeon can perform surgery to rotate it back but might be simpler to have lasik performed to correct.   If lens is in correct place and it’s been 6 weeks you should have full eye exam to check all has healed well and test vision near and far.  Get a written prescription - that way you will know if there is another reason for why there is blurriness or reading distance not optimal.  Perhaps there is still astigmatism or eyes over corrected.  

Hi sue yes it’s been 2 months and he said everything looked great. Everyday it’s something different. Reading without readers is a big problem for me it makes me angry as I thought it would be a little better then it is.   Sometimes it feels like there is something in my eye mostly my right eye my left doesn’t  seem to bother me as much. That eye was done 5 weeks ago 

Hi frances75444, agree with all the well-meaning suggestions to be patient as each person is different in neural adaptation to the newly implanted lenses.  Does anyone know, when is the best time to follow-up with a laser (PRK) enhancement after a cataract surgery? Four months later? Six months later? Or a year later?

Surgeons general just let you know it is great (unless there is something about the healing) that isn’t on track/normal.  They test your vision but don’t hand you an exact prescription (mine didn’t).  So I can’t stress enough that a visit to your optometrist to get a written prescription would be beneficial.  Even if to confirm all is great.   It will also provide a baseline for your regular future visits to check vision against.

I believe you can have it done after 3 months.  I would think your eye would have to be completely healed from cataract surgery.  So if you had a prolonged healing that timing may be longer.  Surgeon should be able to confirm that for you.

Oh okay I will call them AGAIN tomorrow I call them all the time I’m sure they are not happy with me. But I don’t care thank you Sue 

I'm behind in reading this forum. Very happy to see the link to file a complaint. Thanks andi77. I plan on using it.

Thanks andi. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised to see so many complaints.  It helps to feel that I'm not alone ... especially after hearing my local doctor tell me that nobody else has complained about these lenses but me. (I'm not sure if I should laugh at that last comment or not). If I come across as overly negative, I don't mean to be. I feel like I'm trying to find answers to so many things that are unknown or not understood or not explained thoroughly. This forum is a great resource/tool.

He said "nobody" else complained? Maybe a lot of people don't end up complaining because they're afraid of a lens exchange, so they just accept it the way it is.

Yup, that's what he said. It does make me wonder if I'm overreacting. (But it was also his suggestion to cancel the surgery on the 2nd eye and give it "a few months" to see if I adapt before going ahead with the 2nd Symfony lens.) 

On the Maude complaint database I forgot to add that you have to click on each individual link in the center column where it says "Brand Name" to read the complaints. I thought it was obvious but I see some people don't realize you have to do that to read the complaints. Here's the link again (copy and paste and remove spaces) - search for Symfony and change to ALL YEARS and 500 records per report page www . accessdata . fda. gov / scripts / cdrh / cfdocs / cfmaude/ TextSearch . cfm

Also, I forgot to mention that IOL manufacturers are mandatory reporters (doctors and patients that file complaints are not mandatory reporters), so it looks like most of the Symfony complaints were filed by Johnson & Johnson (or Abbott before Johnson & Johnson bought Abbott) after doctors (and sometimes patients) filed complaints with either Abbott or Johnson & Johnson. Anyone can also contact Johnson & Johnson directly to file a complaint (do a search online for their contact info) that Johnson & Johnson is then required by law to report to the FDA.

Also for anyone who doesn't already know this, the official brochure for the Symfony lens says the following (copy and paste link and remove spaces and read it under the section "Warnings" - there are the same warnings for the Symfony toric IOL except it also warns about how the lens can rotate in the eye):

surgical . jnjvision . com / us / iols / extended-depth-of-focus / tecnis-symfony

surgical . jnjvision . com / us / iols / extended-depth-of-focus / tecnis-symfony-toric

"TECNIS Symfony® IOL may cause a reduction in contrast sensitivity compared to a monofocal IOL, patients implanted with the lens should be informed to exercise special caution when driving at night or in poor visibility conditions. Some visual effects associated with the TECNIS Symfony® IOL may be expected due to the lens design that delivers elongation of focus. These may include a perception of halos, glare, or starbursts around lights under nighttime conditions. The experience of these phenomena will be bothersome or very bothersome in some people, particularly in low-illumination conditions."