1. Community
  2. Eyes
  3. Cataract

Glasses don't work after surgery! Why?

Posted , 8 users are following.

CaroZim
CaroZim

I had surgery done on my right eye on Friday (set for near) - which is fantastic so far...  I'll update my (hopefully positive) results once I've had the left eye (set for far) done on 9th Feb.

Anyway, back to the glasses.  So I took an old pair of glasses to the optician and had them put a clear lens in the right eye so I could use them whilst I wait for the left eye to be done.  My left eye is -5.50 with astigmatism so I can't function with just one eye set for near.

When I put the glasses on yesterday I couldn't see a thing! It was like putting on someone else's glasses.  It wasn't quite double vision, but not far off.  If I cover one eye at a time then I can see fine, but with both eyes everything is totally out of whack!  Very annoying as I paid to have the lens replaced!

Thankfully I can wear a contact lens in my left eye until the next surgery so I'm okay during the day, but when I get home from work I'd like to be able to take the contact lens out but I'm going to have to keep it in if I want to do anything meaningful in the evenings.

Why has this happened?  Anyone else have this problem?

0 likes, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • at201
    at201 CaroZim

    Posted

    The optician should have known better. Any time, you have a difference of more than 1.5 D- 2.0D between the prescription of the left and the right eye in glasses, the big difference in the image between the 2 eyes is too big for the brain to cope with.

    One does not have the same issue (because of different image sizes) while wearing contact lenses because those are on the cornea.

    • CaroZim
      CaroZim at201

      Posted

      You're right the optician should have told me - I think maybe I didn't speak to the actual optician but rather the sales staff.  Still, good sales staff should have known that too.  Anything to make a sale, I suppose.

      I won't be going back there when my eyes stablise and I need computer glasses!

    • grouper150
      grouper150 at201

      Posted

      I disagree............contact lenses on the cornea did not work at all...........I could not tolerate the image(s) that resulted wearing a contact
    • at201
      at201 grouper150

      Posted

      There are different reasons which can cause similar issues. If the vision issue is not due to the difference in image sizes due to significantly different prescription, then switching from glasses to contact lenses will not help (it made a big helpful difference in my case).
    • CaroZim
      CaroZim grouper150

      Posted

      Thankfully a contact lens in the left eye works fine for me - I'd be in trouble if they didn't as I wouldn't be able to work and as I'm a teacher I don't feel able to take two weeks off whilst I wait for the left eye operation!

  • grouper150
    grouper150 CaroZim

    Posted

    I had a Symfony lens installed in my left eye; I see objects that appear apprx 30% smaller & farther away with the left eye, than I do with the right eye.......one time while driving, my vision went totally black, I mean blind....if I opened either eye alone I had vision, but opened together... BLACK

    Very scary........the explanation was that the difference in vision perceived between both eyes was too great to comprehend...

  • Eye-Kan-Sea
    Eye-Kan-Sea CaroZim

    Posted

    Your symptoms is called "ansisometropia" or when your eyes have a difference of 2d or more, the eye vision isn't balanced.  That happened to me too.  My eyes were -7.5.  I had the 2nd eye's cataract removed 3 months after the 1st eye.  After the 1st eye I thought I could reuse my eyeglasses by poping out the lens that had the surgery.  Vision was like the Twighlight Zone.  Eyeglasses don't work unless you use contact lens.  I opted to tossing out the eyeglasses and seeing thru the 1 good eye until the 2nd cataract surgery.  

  • soks
    soks CaroZim

    Posted

    I had not thought about this. Does this only affect those who use multi focal in one eye?  

    It may be a while that I may have to get my 2nd eye done. I have not got my affected eye fixed yet. Both eyes have -2D number.

    Can I not use 0D glasses for the fixed eye and the -2D for the unoperated eye??

    • CaroZim
      CaroZim soks

      Posted

      I have a monofocal in my right eye set to -2.00 (for close up).  My left eye is currently at -5.50 as it has not been operated on.  I had the right lens in my glasses replaced with a clear lens.  The difference between my eyes is currently -3.50 with the glasses.

      If you read above, this problem happens when you have a difference of more than -2.00 between both eyes (and it only happens with glasses not contact lenses).  Not sure how multifocals factor in - that's getting too complicated for me!  Maybe someone more knowledgeable will answer that.

      Bottom line is that I wasted my time and money getting my glasses changed as I can't wear them!

    • at201
      at201 soks

      Posted

      This happens even if there has been no cataract surgery and thus, no IOL installed. It depends only only on the relative power of the 2 eye glass lenses.

      The difference in the prescription of the 2 eyes at which one can have visual issues is not necessarily the same for everyone. Some people may start having problems with a difference of 1.5D, others may be okay at 2.0D, but start having issues at 2.25 D.

      To answer your specific question, in your situation I will probably just have -1.0 D for the unoperated eye. Or I may try using no glasses at all.

  • Shrimpie
    Shrimpie CaroZim

    Posted

    I had RLE surgery in June 2017 . After having 1st eye done as just coped with no glasses until 2nd eye was done a week later . You’ll be surprised how much you can actually see even although only 1 eye has been don 
    • Eye-Kan-Sea
      Eye-Kan-Sea Shrimpie

      Posted

      I was happy with my 1st eye. Near and intermediate distance was good, but distance was so-so. I was so happy for 3 months eventhough the other eye was blurry (-7.0). Then I did the blurry eye and now I'm even more happy. Cheers.

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.