Cataract Surgery experience, outcome & questions regarding Alcon Acrosof IQ

Hi all, I've been lurking on this forum for months now since quite surprisingly being diagnosed with cortical cataracts at 60.

Firstly I am SO very grateful for all the advice here from members - I've taken considerable time painstakingly deliberating over 'every' detail in order to be the very best informed for my surgery which was last Thursday; concluding this forum more roundedly provided the right balance of info. Nothing like direct experience!

As I received my treatment on the NHS (at a private hospital) I was informed I would receive the "Alcon" monofocal lens; my consultant automatically assumed I would want to retain my near vision (I'm -2.25 left eye, -2.75 right) but as its only crystal clear up to about 18 inches (I strain to read my pc clearly), I decided to go for distance vision and reading glasses for everything else. I travel a lot for my photography & really wanted to see the landscape and the models I shoot for projects without glasses for the first time in over 30 years!

I found the surgery incredibly quick but not without the odd moment of pain - this seemed to be whenever the surgeon put pressure on my eye & can be best described as a sort of dull pain, like pressing down on a bruise. Seeing the lens unfurl was quite psychedelic - that was the bit I had been highly anticipating.

Once it was done I was a bit alarmed when the surgeon somewhat roughly wiped my eye with a sterile cloth, placing undue pressure on my eyeball to the extent where the white outline of the entire lens made it itself known momentarily and I felt a sudden twinge of pain. I wasn't sure he realised he had pressed on my eye quite so vigorously and really wish I had remarked on it at the time but I was in a post surgery daze. I have an opportunity to do just that at my second surgery & believe me, I will.

My left eye now has the most amazingly clear vision up to about 3 feet. I can watch tv without any blur at all and read labels on items at the local supermarket if the text is large enough. Colours are so much cooler & I've noticed my portrait edits have cooler, more life-like tones on the skin. I don't notice a massive change in blues to be honest, just an overall subtle coolness to everything where there was a warm tint before. Clouds are now white! It's amazing.

I am experiencing some peripheral flickering and the imbalance between both my eyes is more pronounced when reading than when focusing intermediate or distance, so not sure how I'm going to deal with that until the next surgery. In addition I have noticed the Blade Runner "cats eye" effect, or flicker, in my pupil which although purely cosmetic is a bit disconcerting.

So apart from relating my experience , I have two questions:

Firstly, I have a small astigmatism in my left eye of -0.50 cylinder, 120 axis so unsure how that will impact on my vision overall when I receive the second lens? Will I still need corrective glasses for distance?

Also, for those of you who've had the Alcon Acrosof IQ lens for a couple of years, is your vision still as good as day 1? I've worked myself up a bit since reading about "glistenings" - I think I've read every peer reviewed article there is and cannot decide what to believe. As an AML survivor, I'm use to researching medical articles (I find it fascinating for one thing) but cannot decide if this is something to worry about or not. It's probably pointless now.....

Am I being paranoid about a perfectly good lens?

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