Cataract Post-Surgery Results
Posted , 13 users are following.
I had cataract surgery on my right eye on 10/24/2017 with a Tecnics toric monofocal IOL, standard blade surgery no femtolaser.
The vision in my right eye varied a lot for the first four weeks after surgery, some days rather blurry vision worse than 20/40 and a few days 20/25 or better. However the vision seems to be improving and stabilizing in the past two weeks since the post-surgery steroid and NSAID eyedrops were stopped.
Today is 6 weeks after the surgery and this morning my right eye vision was the best I've had so far - uncorrected it was better than 20/20, I could read the 20/15 and even the line below that (20/13) for short periods at 20feet distance. I have been getting excellent distance vision the past couple weeks pretty stable, better than 20/25 all morning to early afternoon especially good outdoors in sunlight.
However I've noticed my right eye vision degrades in lower light conditions such as driving at night - the signs on the freeway I have to be about half the distance away to read clearly compared to my left eye corrected with eyeglasses that seems to stay about 20/20-20/15 even under the night driving conditions. But in good lighting especially in the morning the right eye is getting close to equal with my left eye's excellent corrected with eyeglasses vision.
I went to an optometrist at 4 weeks after surgery and got this distance eyeglasses Rx:
OD(right) = PLANO -1.0D cylinder 115 axis
OS (left) = -0.50D -1.75D cylinder 177 axis
I believe the right eye's astigmatism that was measured at about -1D cylinder a couple weeks ago may have decreased at least in the first half of the day, it may be varying from morning to night. So the eyeglasses I ordered with the above Rx may not to be updated again in a few months since my eye still seems to be healing and improving more. I should get the new eyeglasses delivered later this week so it will be interesting to see if they improve my right eye's vision later in the day and evening to what I'm getting earlier in the day in good lighting.
1 like, 75 replies
Night-Hawk
Posted
As I had hoped for the cheap online eyeglasses vendor has a memorial day sale starting today thru Monday 20% off all orders.
So I placed an order today for a cheap single vision distance pair with the new Rx I got last weekend to test it out. I had some store credit left from the return of pairs months ago, so that covered the cost which was under $15 after the sale discount anyway.
If this pair's Rx works good for my right eye, then I could later on order other pairs like a progressive pair.
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted
Night-Hawk Sue.An
Posted
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted
Night-Hawk
Posted
The cheap distance only pair of eyeglasses I ordered with my latest Rx from 6months after cataract surgery arrived this past weekend.
The new right eye Rx appears to be good, especially on days when my vision in that eye is very good uncorrected which averages about 20/25, almost 20/20. With the glasses correcting for -1D cylinder astigmatism, that improves to about 20/15!
Of course on the few days a month I get blurrier vision around 20/30-20/40, the improvement gets it to about 20/25 or so.
So I suspect that eye's astigmatism probably varies day to day and times during a day, the -1.0D cylinder in the Rx is probably about average, but some days its a little lower or higher.
At least finally the axis/angle appears to be correct now with this Rx, but still a strange value - about 60 degrees different from the original axis value before surgery, so I suspect the toric monofocal corrected most or all of the original astigmatism and the residual cylinder I have now at this different axis angle may have been induced by the incision and how the cornea healed which is always unpredictable. Its not too much, but enough that it makes that right eye not reliable for distance vision so I need my left eye corrected as well for distance - so monovision probably isn't a good choice for me in the future. My future choice when my left eye ever needs cataract surgery years in the future: either distance monofocal toric for both eyes using glasses for intermediate and near, or go for a Symfony toric IOL for the left eye to hopefully get good distance vision, intermediate, and a little near for smartphone reading in a form of mini-monovision.
jantje32476 Night-Hawk
Posted
Thanks for your updates. Your right-eye vision is 20/20 after the operation. Are the 3 pairs of new glasses meant for your unoperated left-eye: a progressive pair, a computer vision (2-3feet distance) pair, and a reading (near) pair.
You reply to "debbie85613" (Blurred vision after cataracts surgery, 7 months ago) is informative and helpful, which would benefit many others seeking help here. Wish I can post the link here.
Night-Hawk
Posted
Even 7 months after the cataract surgery my right eye vision varies, on the best days its near 20/20 at times uncorrected but more often 20/25-20/30. I believe that variation is due to the residual astigmatism varying.
But with eyeglasses to correct for -1D astigmatism that allows for as good as 20/15 vision at times, though still varies up to 20/25 or so.
My left eye which has only a very early stage cataract that probably won't affect its vision for years, has has a stable Rx for years with about 2D astigmatism. So that eye always has needed eyeglasses for correction but with that it does very well and stable correcting to 20/15 easily for distance. I normally use a progressive eyeglasses pair for general use, but also have a computer (intermediate) distance pair and a fixed reading near pair as well for around the house.
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted
Thinking many people experience varying vision depending on the conditions. Bright light or sunny days always better than when lighting not as good I find.
Night-Hawk Sue.An
Posted
It will be a tough decision for me, but probably won't happen for several years - hoping there will be IOL improvements by then.
Otherwise I have to decide if the Symfony night vision artifacts are acceptable to gain the day/indoor focus range improvements. For me I only drive at night maybe once or twice a week, so its a small portion of my time compared to all the day/indoor periods.\
Though if I ended up with too much residual astigmatism like I did with my right eye, the Symfony probably wouldn't provide much advantage over the monofocal if I ended up still needing eyeglasses - thats always a risk with the surgery.
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted
No doubt not an easy decision and if a few years away hope there are more options for you.
Your comment that you drive at night only once or twice vs the portion of time during day was kind of the end analysis that made up my mind - more so for workday use as I drive fairly often at night but not long distances and usually on familiar routes. I haven’t made longer trips at night yet but I will this summer. With my daughter’s soccer I need to travel to cities 2 hours away and return trip is always after sundown. Last summer could not do any of the driving but this year will be different and I will be driving. Will let you know how I find it. From Nov to Feb drive home from work each day in the dark and managed well. In the beginning I was well aware of the circles but now I am used to them and not as bothered (not that they aren’t there) but it is kind of like those days you are driving and thinking about something and all of a sudden you can’t recall last 5 km and slightly worried you blew a red light at some point. Like you are on auto pilot or something.
If you do opt for Symfony or new lens similar inquire about an enhancement package as you will want power or astigmatism remaining corrected. It is when those 2 things are right that you benefit most from a premiums lens.
jantje32476 Night-Hawk
Posted
@Night-Hawk, I left you a msg at BritKennel's discussion: "a YouTube video entitled "Symfony Lens" published on Oct-1-2017 by Steven Solomon, mentions about the glare and halos starting at 3:15 (of 8:34) point."
From an article written by an eye-surgeon: "If your’re a taxi driver that drives at night for work the Symfony or Mplus lens may be the best option for you with occasional use of reading glasses."
@Sue.An, that is a brilliant idea. You might even make some money posting your 4-hour return trips on YouTube.
Night-Hawk
Posted
I renewed my driver's license yesterday at the local DMV office and of course had to do their eye test.
They just had charts hanging about 20feet away probably like the 20/40 line on a standard eye chart with 5 letters on each line.
But they had me read various lines on the chart with each eye alone and my right eye with the monofocal IOL was able to read OK of course but not my left eye which still has the natural lens and 2D astigmatism for almost 20/100 uncorrected vision.
So my new license still has the corrective lenses required on it.
I wear glasses driving anyway since I prefer 20/20 or better vision with my left eye corrected compared to 20/25-20/30 uncorrected with my right eye.
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted
Night-Hawk Sue.An
Posted
Sue.An Night-Hawk
Posted