Has Any One Else Noticed this Unusual Vision Issue with Symfony Lens

At201- I tried several “night vision” glasses including one prescription pair that adjusted the vision power and had tinted glass.. none had any impact on the concentric circles. 

My vision is crystal clear. I see more vividly at every distance than I ever remember seeing in my life!  I’m grateful for this. 

One of the things I do notice is the concentric circles get smaller as I get closer to the light source. 

For instance- when my coffee maker light illuminates when I set it to automatic and I turn off the kitchen light that tiny light illuminates a huge concentric pattern of light. If walk towards it it gets smaller and smaller..  

with this said I still see the road and the cars and the signs clearly when I’m on the road. I see better in a rain storm than I did before these Symfony multi focal implants. In fact for me the rain and fog too seem to diffuse the concentric circles halos and starburst. I live in Louisiana so we get a lot of this!

I’m getting more used to them and they don’t amaze me like they did 8 months ago.  I’ve noticed that Some lights make a larger pattern than others.  I try to focus on what I need to see and try to focus  my attention away from the impact of the lights and am doing ok driving at night. 

BTW- I have them in both eyes and both eyes see the circles halos and starburst equally!

I also see the multiple concentric circles around lights most vividly when those are about 100-300 feet away. Fortunately in a normal size room, I don't see those: I just see a glow around a light, which is not bothersome.

I think that the reason is that one is close to a light, the lighted and the dark bands of the circles get close enough to each other that the eye does not perceive those individually. As one gets a little further away, the circles become further and further apart (the outermost one being more than the width of a car around a headlight at about 200 feet). As one gets far away, most of the circles are spread so much apart that those are not in the line of vision as one looks at the light and also because they become fainter and fainter, one does not see those any more.

At a very far distance (such as when looking at a moon), I see only a single circle or halo around a light, but that may not be a unique characteristic of the Symfony lens.

 

I believe the issue is directly related to the pupil opening.  They are smaller during the day and expose less of the lens.  At night when the pupil dilates it exposes more of the lens and causes the reflections of the circles and starbursts in the eye.   Mine have been in over a year now....  circles and glare still there but they seem less annoying.....

Has anyone made a sketch of what the Symfony IOL circles and spiderweb artifacts look like for those prior to choosing the Symfony lens? Or online photos that simulate that as opposed to the halos and starbursts with multifocal IOLs?

Regarding a sketch of what the Symfony IOL circles and spiderweb artifacts look like, in the 4th post on this thread (page 1), Webdev stated:

' I found a Symfony patient whose son created images depicting the effect, and the depictions, posted on the patient's blog, are very similar to what I see. I believe urls are prohibited here, but you can find those pictures by searching for "My intraocular lens experience

David Taylor, Stevenage, England" in a search engine.'

I just searched and the sketch can be easily found there. There may be slight variations from that for individuals, but the basic pattern can be easily seen.

Give it time, I think it will get better. Still is with me, anyway.

The surgeons keep on saying that seeing the multiple circles would go away in a few months, when there is no real reason for those to go away since seeing the circles is a result of the design of the lenses. Any surgeon can see the circles in the lens design when they check one's eyes. Those are the circles in the lens, which creates the light and dark bands (by reflections at these) constituting the circles one sees around lights at night. Thus, my surgeon was not surprised at all that I was seeing these multiple circles around lights at night.

I have not seen the slightest change in seeing the circles over the last 14+ months since my getting the Symfony lens.

Yes. We all learn to deal with it, just like you are learning to deal with it because unfortunately, there is nothing else we can do about it without a not-so-good choice of lens replacement.

My feeling is that the better one sees the contrast between the dark and light areas, the more one sees the muliple circles. Also, if one sees glare or starburst, those effects may cause one to notice the circles less.

Hi J91151

I too have the Symfony lenses both eyes - 7 months in right eye and 6 in left.

It is unfortunate that doctors don’t fully explain or disclose the compromises.  I read about the multiple concentric circles on these forums prior to my surgeries but my surgeon was careful to inform me that there was a compromise to make regardless of the lens I chose.  And that the younger a patient was the greater the compromise.  It was decision I went back and forth with this decision a lot.

Losing near vision (as I was able to still read prior to cataract surgery) seemed like the worse of 2 difficult choices.not sure why - but surgeons don’t discuss monofocals much targeted for near - ususally just distance.  There are a few on the forums who went that route and seem happy with that and wear glasses for distance.  Had that been an option discussed with me perhaps I may have gone that route. 

However as time goes by I have gotten accustomed to the circles.  At first I didn’t see them due to strong glare and starbursts.  Those have settled down and now I see the circles.

Daytime vision is very good and I can read and see things closer than expected with Symfony -  11 inches and outwards.  Surgeon told me to expect 16 to 18 inches.

I guess you will need to ask yourself even if you knew in advance would you have made the right decision for you.  Since none of us without a lens exchange can really answer that question it becomes more of a matter of learning to accept and adapt.

It would be better though if surgeons could show patients photos of what they should have see.  I suspect many don’t because they are paid more for premium lenses.  I live in Canada where are surgeons are paid same amount regardless of the lens chosen.  I paid the hospital just for the difference in cost between a monofocal and Symfony ($900 per lens) so thinking that is why my surgeon was more upfront in describing compromises.  It was until after both my surgeries were done that he said he knew how hard the decision was but if it were him that was making the decision he too would go with a Symfony Lens.

I found that an eye doctor himself chose to get one eye implanted with a Symfony Toric IOL last year at age 49, even though his eyes didn't have cataracts bad enough to affect his vision which was still 20/20 or better without glasses in both eyes!  He just couldn't deal with reading glasses on/off so often. He detailed his experience with youtube videos which can easily be found with an internet search for: Shannon Wong, MD Symfony youtube

Someone posted as a comment on his youtube videos an excellent picture link showing the spiderweb-like artifact around certain lights and night and he confirmed that was what he sees too, but doesn't bother him.  He targeted about -0.50D for the Symfony Toric eye and got low residual astigmatism -0.25D and with that he can see J1 small text at 14" clearly with that eye alone and gets between 20/20 and 20/25 for distance in that eye, to go with his other eye without an IOL that gets 20/15.  Good to read about an eye doctor who is doing excellent with one Symfony eye and the other eye set for good far distance only!  He got good vision from his Symfony day fast too - the day after it was near perfect!

Thanks for posting that.  Going to google that video and have a look.  Like most things on life if one has a heads up on what to expect after cataract surgery people can make an informed decision that is right for them.  Still think there could be surprises as there can be other issues going on that affects the outcome and I do think there are surgeons that are better than others.

Hope you are doing well Night Hawk.

Meant to tell you I found that video and watched it.  Mimics a lot of how I see.  Not sure why a doctor would opt to have this procedure just to rid himself of glasses but being an opthamologist knows the risks and pros and cons and can make the best informed decision.  Guess this also gives him whole new understanding of what his patients go through and experience.

Yes the concentric circles for some aren’t too bothersome and others they are.  One can never speak for someone else but always better for people to know about them in advance.

Interesting to know that the toric version if it doesn’t rotate does work as well as non toric.  Seen a few posts where the toric version hasn’t worked as well for people but maybe due to the chance of rotation vs non toric one would be enough that the balance of postings here would be weighted more on toric version.

Thanks for sharing!

I was interested in that eye doctor's experience with a Symfony Toric since he is using it in one eye only with his other eye at good distance vision only.  That would be what I might go for in the future whenever my left eye's vision is affected (its only an early stage cataract for now).  My only other alternative would be mini-monovision with another toric monofocal set for intermediate vision.

I also liked the link in the comments section of that youtube video, for a picture of what the circles/spiderweb around lights looks like.  Helps me understand that artifact better. I figure it may not be a big deal for someone who doesn't drive at night very often.