Cataract surgery isn't exactly a walk in the park.
Posted , 8 users are following.
I'm shocked by how many people have had rather devastating outcomes. Prior to my cataract surgery, I believed this procedure was all but risk free.
Ever since LASIK came on the market and people were suddenly able to see without glasses/contact lenses after a procedure that took literally minutes, somethjng changed. Maybe we became a bit complacent, I don't know.
The fact remains that regardless of the method, surgery is surgery and there will always be very real risks. Nobody will ever care as much about your eyes, as you.
1 like, 27 replies
lin59 janet1974
Posted
My brother had cataract surgery and had lasik done in the past and wasn't able to get his pre-lasik measurements (it's more difficult to do the surgery without the pre-lasik measurements). He researched nothing, had his eye done and can see far distance and also computer length distance without glasses and I think so far he can also read without any correction except for tiny print (this is all out of the one eye he had cataract surgery on with the other eye closed). He had a regular monofocal IOL (and he doesn't know the name of it because I asked him and he replied "I have no idea"
. I hope mine turns out the same (I also had lasik and have no pre-lasik measurements).
lin59
Posted
The phrase "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind when I think of this lol.
lin59 janet1974
Posted
And I forgot to add that my brother is just past 60 and he's a software consultant (with 2 teenagers!) so he really needs his eyesight to be great.
peggy90432 janet1974
Posted
Hi Janet, indeed cataract surgery is not "nothing", contrary to the general feedback. My right eye was operated about 100 days ago, secondary cataract was detected about 60 days after the operation. Besides this, I have been feeling discomforts and it does not get any better, My eye is often misty, as if there is a fluid behind my eye which I cannot dry from outside, my upper eye lid in the farnd corner feels heavy and sticky, I don't know if it is the eye lid or something wrong with the cornea that makes me feel this way. Went to the surgeon who operated me, he gave me no explanations saying they are minor issues. He said he would pay attention to the development of the secondary cateract and my retina which is a bit thicker than standard. He also told me to bear the negative dysphotopsia (darck rim at far corner of eye) which can happen to some unlucky patients.
No, he did not take me to a walk in the park, and I am upset with him,. My left eye needs cataract surgery, too, but I am really reluctant to go back to him, he is my eye docotor in the past 15 years!
Sue.An janet1974
Posted
janet1974 Sue.An
Posted
My left eye was August 23, 2016. What a great two weeks it was before right was operated on. I had never seen such brilliant colors!
Surgeon and his nurse told me that vision couldn't possibly stay tbat clear. Do not recall why. I didn't understand it because if one is watching a football game, for example, casual observation of a green field, blue sky, etc isn't focusing near or far.
Totally confused!
Sue.An janet1974
Posted
Not sure if I understand. Are you watching live football game - most of that is distance vision. Same with TV. Intermediate vision usually considered seeing people across dinner table or computer. Near is reading. Idiom.
Do you had clear good vision prior to Aug 2016 surgery? Normally even with cataracts if optometrist can correct your vision with glasses or contact lenses they don't suggest cataract surgery in which your natural lens is removed and an IOL (intraocular lens) is inserted in its place. In Canada most people wait till vision cannot be corrected to 20/40 to do cataract surgery otherwise it is at their expense. If your eyes are 20/40 or worse our Medicare system covers cost of surgery and standard monofocal lens. If a patient wants a premium lens you then pay the difference between standard lens and premium lens. Surgery is covered regardless.
janet1974 Sue.An
Posted
Sorry. Specifically, I remember a beautiful fall day watching my son play football (a 9th grader so just on high school field)
I really don't recall if I focused on anything near or far because I was so amazed by the clarity and brilliance of everything. Nothing specific.
And my vision could have been TOTALLY corrected with glasses.
Sue.An janet1974
Posted
I am so sorry you were led to believe you needed this surgery. Cataract surgery is defining walk in the park and SHOULD only be done when vision cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts anymore. I know if I could have waited I would have. There are new and better technologies and lenses all the time. But sadly I won't be the one to benefit. I am thankful though this is not my gradma's surgery where you won't up with longer recuperation and thick coke bottle glasses. I recall watching my daughter play soccer prior to first eye being done I couldn't tell her from another player or reAd their jersey numbers with glasses on. Now I can.
My philosophy is keep getting an opinion till one sounds logical and with patient in mind.
I sure hope these forums help others in similar situations. It pays to research before any surgery.
janet1974 Sue.An
Posted
*This is where everything went to hell. The doctor DID say he could write me a Rx for new glasses, but....."How would you like to see and never wear glasses again?" What kind of question is that to a person who has to wear them??
And remember, I asked him why the optician wouldn't have said cataract surgery was an option. His response was that I should remember they are in the business of selling glasses/contacts.
I grew up in a family that believed doctors were people, too. Everyone makes mistakes and no one will care more about your case, than you. So ask questions! I asked whatever I could think of.