Blurred vision after Symfony lens implant
Posted , 11 users are following.
About 18 months ago, I had cataract surgey and an Symfony toric lens was implanted. During the day I have no problem. I can see distance fine and pretty well up close. I can see this screen fine but cannot read smaller print. My problem is at night. I have much worse vision now than I did before surgery. If I go into a movie theater, there is a glare all around the screen, same is true for television in the evening. Street lights have halos around them that I never had before. There is a glare that looks like I'm looking through oil on my lens. Within the halos, I can actually see the toric rings visible. It is very difficult to drive at night, walk in the neighborhood as the lights create large halos. Has anyone else had this problem?
0 likes, 23 replies
Salty0 maeca1950
Posted
I have to say that your post is a duplicate of the conversation I've been trying to have with my surgeon. I had surgery over 9 months ago here in the US . I'm not familiar with Symphony lenses but have one toric lenses and one standard lenses mfg unknown. After experiencing all the nasty after effects of surgery including burning gritty eyes, double vision, unbelievable glare and the inability to read anything on a screen with or without glasses for any length of time. I've come to realize that my situation has everything to do with light or the lack if it. I've seen a Retina specialist at the direct of my surgeon and he found no problems. I've been diagnosed with dry eyes syndrome and now have to deal with that issue but the real problem as I "see" it is the fact that the lenses (both of them) which replaced my natural lenses are smaller. WHAT? I only found this bit of information from the people who post on this site. Doctors in the US seem to think it's better to treat their patients like mushrooms, keeping them in the dark and feeding them crap! Here's the problems that tis smaller lenses creates in my opinion; when light is absent the eyes naturally dilate however since the lenses have been replaced with smaller lenses two things occur , I get binocular vision that is the feeling I'm looking through binoculars or a tunnel, both eyes have blank spots on the lower outside of my vision. I'm told that my brain will adapt, it's not. The other thing that occurs is a glare from any light source whether that be the phone, the kindle, the Fire tablet, the TV, or headlights from cars coming the opposite direction these are causing some kind of reaction within my eyes that are not natural and are the source of my problems seeing correctly.
The reality is the new lenses because of its size is not letting enough light in when I'm in a less than bright environment and because of this when I'm attempting to read from an electronic device which are now ubiquitous I have problems. Driving at night is out of the question, I tried I'm lethal on the road at night now. It was bad before with the cataracts but it was manageable. Now it's a disaster.
Sue.An Salty0
Posted
Salty - is the diameter of your lenses smaller than 6mm? There are studies done and a number of articles I found online that indicate when pupil dilates beyond the 6mm it causes many visual disturbances.
If your IOL is even less than the 6mm standard I can well imagine how disturbing seeing in less than optimal lighting must be. Have you had a yag done? Ia lens replacement out of the question?
Salty0 maeca1950
Posted
Sue, as I've said before the doctors here in the US seem to uphold standards that the less the patient knows the better getting information from them is like literally pulling teeth. If you don't know the questions to ask and I didn't , you end up going into this naive and basically blind although not literally, having said that it is only because of this forum that I've been able to get as much information as I have. The answer to your question regarding the size of the lenses that was implanted remains unknown to me , only that here in the states at least it's one size fits all but what that size is remains a question that needs an answer. When I heard that bit of information from the doctor I was so blown away that I failed to ask any follow up questions. As far as any additional procedures I've had none, the doctors are in th wait and see time heals all and people heal at different rates. A question for you, are there only one size replacement lenses available in Europe or Canada? I don't understand how they can go with the one size fits all concept although I understand from a financial aspect how that might be an easier solution. I figure just testing peoples eyes regarding dilation and then having to create a lens of a different size just might be too costly and time consuming for most manufacturers, so going with the one size fits all or. a significant percentage is appealing except for those who aren't in that percentage that fits. I don't know if I'm on the right track but I need answers. How Europe handles the sizing would be of great interest to me. Are there different sizes of replacement lenses available or am I barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for any information!
Sue.An Salty0
Posted
Salty most IOLs are standard 6mm today whether standard or premium lenses. There are a few that are 5mm. I was surprised by your comment that on another opinion the smaller size was commented on.
Perhaps from state to state there is big differences in how much dialogue there is between patients and doctors. Our wait times here in Canada are long and surgeons very busy. I do know if I hadn't gone online and researched I wouldn't have know what to ask. And in the end decision was not pushed one way or the other. I had to make up my own mind. Wasn't easy. I believe time will fix some issues as it takes s few weeks for healing to take place but betond that timeframe I have my doubts. And if one isn't seeing well after 6 weeks it is time to push for your doctor to re-examine why that is.
Salty0 maeca1950
Posted
Sue,
Been there and done that the doctors seem to be unsure to say the least. As strange as it may seem I can now feel when my eyes are dilating, which is really a bizarre situation. My surgeon went on maternity leave in July and I was handed off to an optometrist who provided me with a prescription for reading only glasses as well as a script for an extremely expensive eye drops which of course aren't covered under my present insurance, cost $526.00 per month. This is the treatment for dry eyes which I didn't have prior to this surgery. As I've said before I would gladly take my cataracts back and live with it if given the opportunity..
Sue.An Salty0
Posted
once vision cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts to 20/40 there is little choice. Best correction I coukd get was 20/50 LE and 20/60 RE. I shouldn't have been driving. Glare, double vision - could only read to big E on top of eye chart so really surgery was only option and I read nowadays a surgeon doesn't want that cataract to get too dense. Felt I was going blind.
You saw Martin's post - any chance you can seek a other opinion outside your state? Unfortunately even in same areas Doctors don't like to be critical of another surgeon's work or contradict them. Likely why Martin went to France for another opinion.
Might be worth it Salty to have someone else examine your eyes.
Can't recall who offhand but someone else posted their 2nd opinion doctor found a haptic out of place. This person was having all kinds of vision issues that their surgeon kept saying "dry eye, healing - give it time" not acknowledging any issues.
Salty0 Sue.An
Posted
I don't know whether I'm lazy or naive or perhaps both but at one point I was determined to seek a second opinion and went as far as looking into that at a major hospital which required me to jump through all sorts of hoops before they would give me an appointment, so it was back to original surgeon. They did send me to a retina specialist who saw no problems from that area. I am trying to speak with them again about what I believe might be going on as I've outlined in my post, it's all about the light which is available when I'm trying to read or in the case of night time driving the effects it has on my eyes as in glare. Night driving was why I sought the surgery originally. After the many months of observation I've come to the conclusion it's all about the light that these new lenses let in to my eyes or keep out and the only thing I can think of is that the lenses being smaller than the natural ones is part of the problem.