Cataract Surgery

Thats true, thats my case.  I had cataract surgery on my right eye a month ago since the cataract had affect the vision for over a year and got worse than 20/50 best corrected, uncorrected it was super blurry probably worse than 20/200 at that point.  But my left eye has only a very early stage cataract that hasn't effect the vision and still corrects to better than 20/20 so no need to do that eye probably for years to come.  It would be nice to do the left eye, but too risky since it can see so well with eyeglasses and the procedure doesn't always get results that good.

Hi Hawk - wondering how your eye is doing and if it has stabilized?  Hoping you are enjoying better vision.

Thanks!

Yes my right eye has stayed very good vision 20/25-20/30 mostly for the past 9 days. I think I only had one day (Sat) in this past 9 days that was worse than that and it wasn't worse than 20/40-50 that day. 

So definitely better than the previous weeks when I only had a few days of good vision followed by worse days, some worse than 20/50.  Hopefully those days are gone and my vision is stabilizing now to around 20/25 and at times even near 20/20 at least in the morning and early afternoon, now that I am no longer taking the steroid and NSAID eyedrops.

I am now waiting for my new ordered eyeglasses to arrive, probably in a week and a half or so.  Will be good to see how much the 1D cylinder will correct me to and if the axis value is correct and hasn't changed by then.  If my right eye stays around 20/25 uncorrected, I think the astigmatism cylinder might be actually smaller than 1D, so its probably varying maybe from 0.5D to 1.0D+ and will hopefully stabilize at near the smaller value.

Are you able to see to read without glasses at 2 feet out or waiting on those glasses?  

I can't read text clearly within 3feet or so.

I have tested with about +0.75D that gives me good computer monitor distance vision and +1.50D or +2.00D reading glasses work for close up reading including smartphone.

So the eyeglasses I ordered include a progressive pair with +2.00D add for near, and a computer vision pair with the +0.75D add.  Currently I'm using my old pairs of these glasses with only the left eye lens doing all the work and the right eye only is really useful for distance >3feet.  The right eye is doing very well when its 20/25 like today for TV viewing at about 6feet.

The residual astigmatism acts as adding some blur to all distances but doesn't appear to be nearsighted or farsighted since the power is close to PLANO from the optometrist exam last week and confirmed when I try using a -0.25D or -0.50D power lens, that only improves distance vision slightly so I'm probably actually between PLANO and -0.25D for power, very close to the target in that respect.  Just a little extra residual astigmatism that may be varying, but with more healing time that might settle to a lower value too.

My vision continues to be quite stable for the past week and a half since I stopped the remaining steroid and NSAID drops, so I believe that allows more cornea healing to happen.

Each day for the past 10 days or so now, my right eye vision has been about 20/25 all morning and early afternoon. Today it improved to the best yet all morning and still great in the early afternoon, reaching solid 20/20 most of the time today! And with only a -0.25D correction I could make out the 20/15 line most of the time too.  This is the vision I had hoped for, so I hope the cornea is healing and stablizing here. I could tell early this morning my right eye had a new best vision when upon awaking I could read the day numbers on a calendar on a bulletin board in my bedroom from about 10feet away, which I couldn't quite make out from there before...

Most likely the -1D cylinder astigmatism measured at the optometrist a week ago must have reduced down to maybe -0.5D or so I'd estimate today. So the eyeglasses I ordered a week ago to be delivered in about another week will probably be out of date by then.  But I had to order then with the big 20% off sale only available at that time.  I can always do a return for 100% credit within 30days of receipt if they overcorrect too much over the next few weeks. 

If my right eye stays like it is today or even better, I could just use a clear lens or slight -0.25D correction and not even bother with the complexity of the cylinder/axis values for astigmatism - since I suspect those probably vary a bit still.

That is really good news.  I am still amazed how healing differs from person to person.  But at least you can be confident now that surgery results are good and on target to what was planned and hoped for.  Likely normal that for anything 3 feet in you’d need glasses.  It’s good that glasses provide a good and workable solution so that you can wait on other eye.  Mine both developed rapidly and I felt I had to make a decision quickly.  My driving and work life suffered.  I have my optometrist visit on Friday.

Yep, I hope this may give hope to others who don't get perfect 20/20 results the day after surgery like some do.  It can take weeks or even months for others to heal more it would seem. I still have the minor half circle at night on some bright outside lights that goes away if my pupil size is reduced just slightly from max.  I still hope that may go away eventually as the cornea incision site heals more.

With the residual astigmatism appearing to be reduced today, I noticed that helped sharpen the image at all distances. I  can read most text on my computer screen at my typical viewing distance of a little over 2feet today, though its a bit of strain without glasses, but definitely improved than before.  I will only need a small +0.75D correction to read the computer screen comfortably as I expected.  Also with weak +1.0 reading glasses, today I could read my smartphone with my right eye OK at maybe 20" or so which isn't bad - my arm isn't out all the way. Just indicates with lower residual astigmatism I get better results at all focus distances.