Anyone choose Crystalens?

I, too, would love to hear if anyone had the Crystalens. When they first came out, I almost had them implanted for my crap eyes, but my mom talked me out of it (very happy that she did). As stupid as it sounds, I never even thought about them for cataract surgery, just for bad vision (I know, I know...connect the dots).

Please let us know what you choose and how it goes.

The very best of luck to you!

So, why are you happy that your Mom talked you out of the Crystalens? Have you had cataract surgery with a different lens implanted? I am finding it hard to get patient input about the Crystalens option!

I'm so sorry that I missed one very important thing about my non-experience: this was about 25 years ago when they first came out and replacing your natural lens with an artificial one became possible for those of us who wore Coke bottle glasses and nothing could be done for us. It was so tempting after years of trying to find a surgery/solution for my myopic eyes. It had nothing to do with Crystalens; just the idea of replacing natural lenses. My mom was an RN and her first question to me was, "Why would you want to replace your perfectly healthy lenses?" Of course, I value her advice and so I waited and wore (with more or less with adequate results) contacts for another 15+ years until really deteriorating eyes and the beginning of cataracts made it a no-brainer solution to have the surgery.

I had Zeiss multifocals (one is a toric for astigmatism). While I'm beyond thrilled (best vision in over 40 years), I think that there are so many wonderful choices out there now. What has been a godsend for me may not work for someone else.

I wrote about my experience back in June or July last year, with follow-ups, and now mainly lurk on the site. I forget sometimes that not everyone knows my story and it sure bit me in the buns here! I wish you the very best of success in whichever choice you make. It's been nearly 6 months for me and I still look out of the window in awe at leaves on the trees.

Thanks for giving me "the rest of the story." I hadn't heard of the Zeiss; my surgeon recommended either Symfony or Crystalens. I assume other options were not suitable for my situation. I certainly hope I achieve the result you have. So glad that you found your nirvana!

Depending where you live you may not have access to Zeiss lenses. Sadly we cannot get access to these in Canada and I don't believe they are available in USA either.

Mike, what great info! I've also now read that there is a greater chance of a particular complication that requires another procedure to correct (YAG?) that is fairly common it seems. So, now I am definitely leaning toward the Symfony. I rarely drive at night (though that may be a chicken and egg problem; do I not drive because of the glare or just because I avoid it in general. Heh.) It seems that the Symfony offers a greater opportunity for multi focus vision with a potential side effect that minimizes over time, with luck, or can be tolerated.

I'm going to ask my surgeon about your info re: Crystalens and see what his response is. Thanks so much for the input.

Just did that. Thanks. From my thinking at the moment, pretty scary stuff. Thanks for helping in my continuing education!

Hello Mike,

I'm assuming you read my responses to Ladyleader about my experience and great results with the Symfony lenses. i just read your last post about your vision being so bad that you would rather see clearly with rings than cloudy with starbursts. I wanted to share with you that my vision was so bad that I could not read the largest letters on the eye chart at the DMV, even with my classes on. Now with the Symfony lens, I can see clearly at all distances. I can read very small print on my phone, use my computer, and drive all without glasses. I do not see rings, and the starbursts I see from headlights are not cloudy. They are very clear and actually look beautiful compared to the blurry headlights I saw before my surgery. For me, seeing a few starbursts, only when it is very dark, is a small tradeoff for the crystal clear vision I now experience. I was also very nervous and unsure for a long time prior to my surgery about what would be best for my vision, but in the end, I trusted my doctor and am very happy with the outcome.

Your experience is very similar to my own except I do see concentric circles around certain lights at night with Symfony lenses. I am still pleased with the vision I have though and don't wear glasses except for the tiniest print.

Thanks for sharing your good results I read about a lot of the good results here on this forum but I also read a few not so good ones I am hoping to get similar good results

I am not sure how to compare my vision to the big e on the DMV charts as I have not been there in about 10 years but I was told at my first and ever eye evaluation in Nov of 2018 that I have 20/40 vision which is borderline passing for drivers license

I was also told that I have aggressive cataracts which I never heard that term used before

Since than it has been getting progressively worse to the point that I am nearly blind when the sun is out The green light is hard to see until i get close to it so I usually try to follow another car and watch their brake lights With sunglasses it's slightly better

but sometimes I wear 2 sunglasses one on top of the other yo cut down on the intensity of the bright sun

At night the cloudiness is not visible and the only problem I have is with the starburst from the LED headlights otherwise if I am the only one on the road at night I can still see pretty good

Hi Mike - I can relate to your experience with eyesight. I regularly have eye exams every 2 years and 6 months after getting new prescription things started to deteriorate. I thought it was just a matter of needing stronger glasses although I had a nagging feeling something else was going on. Road signs were hard to read. Night driving was to a point I didn't drive on unfamiliar roads. Waited for Jan 2017 for eye appointment (new insurance plan year) and quickly learned I had rapid progression of cataracts - which 8 months earlier had no signs of. Even with glasses couldn't read big E on eye chart. Right eye was 20/60 and Left was 20/50. Healthcare in canada covers the surgery but had to wait 3 months for consult with surgeon and 4 months for first surgery and 6 weeks later had 2nd surgery. I am fortunate that the surgeries were covered and all I paid out of pocket was $900 each eye for upgrade to Symfony lenses.

At 53 I work full time and lead active lifestyle and live to travel so really wanted to be able to see well at all distances. My surgeon told me about the night time halis with Symfony IOLs so I knew about the compromise and I was fortunate enough to stumble across this forum where I learned the halos were actually more like concentric circles (many) around certain light sources. My surgeries worked out fine and I have excellent vision during the day and with good lighting. I only teach for glasses in dim lighting (or use flashlight feature on iphone for menus in restaurants when lighting not optimal).

There is a compromise to every lens and the added worry the power calculation off a bit (more do with a premium lens as your expectation of being glasses free is there as well as added expense). No lens is perfect. However the odds are in your favour as there is s high success rate.

For myself I weighed the pros & cons taking onto account my work requirements, hobbies etc. Thankfully I still drive at night despite the concentric circles. Although they are noticeable with time I tuned them out. There was also more glare first 6 months which isn't an issue now. Definitely much improved than driving with cataracts.

As I have been near sighted since 12 experiencing things like snorkeling and being able to see fish and coral for first time clearly is a definite benefit.

I hope all goes well for you in your decision. If you have a particular lens in mind please research a good surgeon who does a lot of surgeries and is comfortable implanting that lens. Often a surgeon will recommend what they are mist at ease with.

Good luck to you.

Mine went from bad to worse in about 4 months

Inside the house is not so bad but going outside in the sun without sunglasses is horrible Also at work we have a lot of fluorescent lights above so it;s bad over there too

Another thing that is bad is the computer I can no longer see the black text on white background so I switched to high contrast black but now other people complain that they can't read the email because it comes out yellow text on white background

I wanted to ask you a question

You said you had 6 weeks between the 2 surgeries

What was that period like ?

Was the other bad eye interfering with the good eye ?

Could you have gone longer before doing the second eye ?

I would like to do one eye first than wait a while for it to stabilize and for me to get used to the rings and any other issues and than decide if I want to do the second eye with the same iol ar maybe go with a mono focal in the other eye

My manager said to me after my surgeries she was happy everything worked out. Said it was almost like I was legally blind. I too struggled with reading anything on my computer. Nose was like 6 inches from screen!

Yes I could have waited longer between surgeries but there really was no additional benefit for me. Eyes ate fully healed at 6 weeks (many here on the forums have them done 1 or 2 weeks apart which I wouldn't recommend due to reasons you state. That IOL is only 1mm thick whereas your natural lens is 4. During those initial 6 weeks (and why you really can't get an accurate new prescription should you need glasses) is the IOL shifts back and forth before adhering to tissue. The power can be off .25 diopter either way due to that movement.

In Canada due to this procedure being completely covered there is a minimum wait of 4 weeks and often due to shortage of surgeons and operating rooms wait times can be longer.

During those 6 weeks I managed by poking a lens put of my glasses. From less than 24 hours after surgery I could see very well with Symfony. For driving that eye took over pretty much for every distance except reading. With just one eye dine reading distance was 16 to 18 inches whereas cataract eye could read at 6 inches. Once 2nd surgery was done reading distance improved to 14 inches and within months I could read at a very comfortable 11 inches. My regular optometrist was against my going with Symfony lenses - she said many with multifocal lenses had problems with halos and still needed glasses to see well. However Symfony were so new to Canada (6 months on the market) so I thought she was talking about true multifocals. In any case have seen her twice since my surgeries and he admits I have very good vision.

I believe one reason those 6 weeks weren't too bad that Symfony is an EDOF lens providing seamless vision so there isn't a focal point that one eye won't see which otherwise with a monofcal would cause depth perception issues. Also prior to surgery I was nearsighted only - prescription of -3.25 in RE and -2.25 LE so perhaps the worse the initial eyesight is the more challenging the period is with one surgery done.

Barring any complications you should fine for 2nd surgery in 4 to 6 weeks. Ample time for first eye to settle and surgeon to make any adjustments to power calculation in 2nd eye.

Wishing you every success. I know how nerve wracking this time is for you.

Hello Mike,

I read your questions to Sue about the time between her two surgeries, so I thought I would share my experience as well. My second surgery was exactly one month after the first surgery. However, the plan with my surgeon was to do the second surgery two weeks after the first surgery. When I saw my surgeon 12 days after the first surgery, he said my right eye was healing well, my vision was great and we were good to go two days later. Unfortunately, his scheduling assistant did not put me on the schedule, so I had to wait two more weeks. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. The time between the two surgeries was a challenging. My first surgery was on my right eye, which I considered my dominant eye. My vision in my left eye was worse than my right eye had been (left eye 20/70), so after my first surgery, I was seeing very clearly in my right eye and dealing with very poor vision in my left eye. I tried taking the right lens out of my glasses, but that did not work for me because the difference between my two eyes was so great even using my prescription left eye lens. i started trying to just use or focus on everything with my right eye.

I can relate to everything you said about driving, especially in the sun; very hard to distinguish if the light was green, hard to see the white lines in the road. Also, not seeing the black writing on the computer. It was also very hard to read the newspaper, because the ink looked light gray. Everything you said, I also experienced. The only thing different in my experience is that my cataracts came on more gradually, over a period of about 3 years. During that time though, I experienced other issues because of severe dry eyes.

I hope your surgery goes as well as mine and Sue's did. I know it is very nerve racking trying to decide on the lens. Keep us posted on your progress.

Thank you Sue for sharing your experience between the 2 surgeries I am scheduled for 2 weeks after but I feel that is too soon plus it's getting too close to spring time and the pollen flying

so I am not sure I will be able to stop myself from rubbing my eye

and perhaps disturbing the lens

I was wondering if your nearsightedness helped achieve those good results At this time I can't read anything Too close is too blurry probably due to presbyopia and too far is cloudy due to cataracts so I just use a small magnifier I have never used glasses before so the surgeon told me that I will need glasses up to arms length which is still better than having cataracts

Do you know if they did LRI on your eye ?

It's on one of the forms that I have to check off or not

I was just wondering if they do that on a routine basis as part of the surgery or is that just in case of astigmatism ?

Thank you Phillis as well for your experiences between surgeries

You said your cataract was more gradual do you know if it was sub capsular type ?

I was wondering if you have tried any eye drops for cataracts or for dry eyes ?

i do not know if my cataract was sub capsular type.

I have been using RESTASIS prescription eye drops for about 3 1/2 years now. When I first started using them my dry eyes were so bad that the cornea specialist said it looked like I had scuff marks on my corneas. My vision was really bad at that point. After about a year the dryness had improved significantly, but it was still an issue. When I started seeing my current eye doctor he prescribed a second prescription eye drop called Xxidra. I used it in addition to the RESTASIS from February until my first surgery in August. After my surgeries, I used several prescription eye drops specifically prescribed for cataract surgery patients for about four weeks. During that time and every day after I use the RESTASIS twice a day. In addition, when I first wake up I use an over the counter eye drop. At this point my dry eye problem is not a problem, but I will probably need to use the RESTASIS eye drops indefinitely.

I sure wish I knew with any certainty why I got the range of vision I ended up with.

From my understanding don't think it had to do with my near sightedness prior to surgeries. Once one's natural lens is removed there is no more accommodation. It likely does have an impact on power calculation - easier to calculate the lower prescription is (I think). I didn't have much astigmatism prior to surgery so not sure if LRI performed. RE had .25 astigmatism at 6 week check up but at my last optometrist appt it measured zero astigmatism. LE went from .50 astigmatism at 6 weeks and now is .75

I have speculated with a few on the forums that smaller pupils may account for better results. The other thing I recently learned is light cored eyes pupils constrict more. Better then for younger patients as pupils can dilate beyond IOL causing a separate visual disturbance.

Are you going for monofocals or Symfony? Reason I ask is there have been people post that they opted for monofocals but surgeon charged significantly more saying they'd do LRI procedure. their surgeries should have been covered by healthcare but if LRI done surgeon can then charge for use of laser whereas it would be free to patient otherwise.

But if going with Symfony there is a toric lens as well as regular lenses so depending on level of astigmatism you have you may want a toric symfony.

I am a notorious eye rubber too. After the surgery I was given a plastic guard to tape on my eye overnight. Was told to wear it at night for a week but I was concerned about rubbing eye so wore it for 2 weeks.

I am not opting for monofocals because I hope to be able to ditch my glasses altogether. The Symfony has a toric lens available for the eye that has astigmatism, and the Crystalens has a Trualign product that corrects the astigmatism.

So far it seems that the Symfony gives the best result at all distances with the negative of having to adapt to the halos until they resolve. With the Crystalens I would likely need readers for near vision, and there is the downside that I will lose ANY clear near vision without glasses (right now I can take off my glasses and bring small print close to see it just fine; that would go away altogether.) I think that could be really annoying over time.

Yes this decision making process is a question of what would you rather (no win win strategies unfortunately).

You mention with Symfony that it's a matter of time before halos go away. In my experience the concentric circles are always going to be there. There has only been one posting that I recall here on the forums since I have been here (just shy of 2 years) where the person never did see the concentric circles. Most of us who have Symfony lenses including myself still see them and personally I am not expecting at this point for them to go away. Depending on distance from light source (I would say about a soccer field length) they are huge and as you get nearer the light source the circles condense and smaller till they disappear (like when you ate stopped for a red light).

One does get used to them and ignore or they become your new normal - but they don't disappear. However the trade-off if great all round vision for me. I can read, thread a needle or fix the small screw in my sunglasses all without glasses as well as drive and see distance well. I live in Canada so really only drive after dark a few months of the year. I made the decision based on my work requirements, hobbies, active lifestyle compared to amount of driving I do st night and for myself this decision works. The bonus was glare was much better than I lived (and drove with cataracts). The circles although bizarre aren't as troublesome as the glare.

Wish you well in your decision.

So much to consider! Like you, I am active, don't do much night driving, and want as much vision (far, mid, and near) as I can get without glasses.

So, now I am adjusting my expectations regarding the eventual resolution of the halos. Sounds like they never really "go away;" you just get used to living with them. Since I avoid night driving for the most part any way it may not be a big deal for me. But, I am curious if you experience them in the day time, say when looking at a sunset (we live on the beach) or a floor lamp, or television, or a fire in the fireplace?

Thanks for all your great info. I am truly grateful.

HI - welcome. I agonized over the decision - never felt 100% confident in mine even leading into 2nd surgery. At one point had to make up my mind and take steps forward.

I did ask my surgeon though 2 final questions. 1) Did he see anything in my file that would make me an unsuitable candidate for symfony and 2) what would he choose if in my shoes.

First question he confirmed I was a good candidate. Second question he didn't answer. He simply stated he knew for younger patients it was a hard decision. Older patients gain something they had list years ago and were very happy with seeing well again. Whereas younger patients are asked to compromise and lose something - a trade off. Even now I can appreciate wisdom of his words. Also appreciate he didn't fully answer that 2nd question so as not to influence my decision. After 2nd surgery though at 24 hour checkup he remembered my question (and maybe only because it all went well) he said at 51 he would make same choice I did. True or mot made me feel better.

As to your question - I see no halos or concentric circles during day. Just crisp clear vision. It was all very bright first several months (cataracts make everything brownish) so did wear sunglasses even in my house for months. I don't see anything odd at night in my house either. TV even movie theatre all is good. Went to a play recently and that too was fine. There is a slight highlighting on TV with white lettering on black. That could be due to astigmatism in my Le or something to do with high contrast. But it is slight and I have to look for it.

I see the concentric circles starting at dusk and at night when lights are 50 feet or so away. They are light though like a spider web you can see objects through them. Almost like movies where police or war rooms use a glass and write on them and you can see what is on other side. Hard to explain. My initial weeks with symfony I didn't even see the circles as glare was bad around light sources but that diminished with time and I began to see the circles.

I drive at night - used to in the beginning choose roads with overhead lights (those I dont see circles around. But now I jump in the car and drive where I want without much thought. Mostly I see the circles around traffic lights car brake lights (only when applied) and certain porch LED lights. I watch soccer games - those big floodlights look normal too. Troublesome ate oncoming cars with those new blue-white headlights but I look to side of road to avoid getting glare in my eyes. Husband find those annoying too and he doesn't have cataracts.

Hope this helps. Be happy to answer any questions.

I don't think I have astigmatism but I really have no idea what that is

I already approved the use of femtosecond laser to make the initial incision since it is supposedly more accurate and I am guessing that if it's required they will use the same laser for the LRI So it should not be any additional charge

I am leaning toward the Symphony lens at the moment

I just saw a video where they explain that because of the surgery and the way the eye heals that it may cause some slight astigmatism so this LRI is not really correcting any astigmatism it just makes a few small incisions kind of like a relief cuts to reduce the chance of astigmatism after the surgery

Have you ever heard of or used MSM eye drops ?

Supposedly it's good for dry eyed

Hi Mile - Astigmatism usually is caused by an irregularly shaped cornea. Instead of the cornea having a symmetrically round shape (like a baseball), it is shaped more like an American football. Astigmatism usually causes vision to be blurred or distorted to some degree at all distances.

Symptoms of uncorrected astigmatism are eye strain and headaches, especially after reading or other prolonged visual tasks.

Squinting also is a very common symptom.

if you have a copy of your prescription the CYL number is amount of astigmatism you have.

You are correct LRI ( Limbal Relaxing Incisions) are partial thickness corneal incisions strategically placed to reduce or eliminate pre-existing astigmatism during cataract surgery or refractive lens exchange surgery. If opting for Symfony and having laser procedure LRI would be included in fees. Have seen a post or two where monofocal lenses which should be covered under US health plan but weren't because surgeon used laser for LRI and patient didn't know and wasn't advised about that.

Hope all goes well for your surgery. Let us know how you make out.