Posted , 21 users are following.
i am reading about alot of issues after surgery which result in unwanted side affects which remain for the rest of life such as halos, starbursts etc. We are told that these are not common and tend to disappear over time. Would be good to hear about positive outcomes
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Sue.An2 Nivo14
Edited
Hi - not sure what I can add to the great responses below - except to delay your surgeries as much as possible till you've confident (as much as one can be) in your decision. This isn't a life threatening condition and you should be aware of pros and cons to each lens type as there really is no perfect lens and results will vary person to person with same lens. So although personal experiences are a good help don't replace any of our opinions and experiences for your own research and doctor's advice. Get a few opinions from various surgeons if you can. Each will have their go to lens they are confident with. Find one that will spend the time with you discussing options best for you.
I would also highly recommend you leave time (min 4 weeks) between surgeries. No matter which lens you choose the healing process will leave your vision +- .25 off target and this will give you and surgeon time to adjust target for other eye or maybe you don't want same lens implanted in 2nd eye. Many options you can have today allows for a mix and match approach with a monofocal in one eye and multifocal in the other.
Go in with realistic expectations - perfection is a rarity and a surgeon cannot guarantee glasses free. If they are that isn't a surgeon I would recommend. They may be more profit driven and after service could be poor.
Some symptoms will disappear with 6 months time (approx) and others will not. I have 2 symfony EDOF lenses and a lot of the glare subsided (not entirely though) and the concentric circles are still present today 2 years after surgery. I have adapted to them to the point I am not annoyed with them. But someone posted already there are physical attributes to multifocals but your personality will play into how you respond and perceive these.
For all these reasons lens replacement should only be for those with cataracts - bad enough vision cannot be corrected with glasses.
Wish you all the best in your journey
karla41669 Nivo14
Edited
I recently had Pan Optic surgery and it has left my vision blurry in both eyes and uncomfortable. I can read without glasses but it's not sharp. I have lost my distance and intermediate vision and cannot play Pickleball. When I go in grocery stores it's a blur and cannot watch TV at night without discomfort. This was by far the wrong decision of my life. I am going for second opinions locally to see what can be done. My Dr. did not offer me any alternatives other than recommending I see a specialist in Queens, NY. There is a procedure called YAG that I will pursue. I way set up appointment at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia, PA. My eyes were much better b4 this surgery...DON'T HAVE IT!
RonAKA karla41669
Posted
If you are considering the option of taking the lenses out and replacing them with something else (explant), you should defer the YAG as it complicates the explant procedure.
soks karla41669
Posted
did u have the surgery at wills eye?
clint41320 Nivo14
Edited
This thread was supposed to be the good results. What horror stories. This whole site has convinced me to hold off maybe to the point of death which sounds like I may be more lucky than having cataract surgery.
RonAKA clint41320
Posted
One thing you need to consider is that it is mainly bad experiences that motivate people to join a forum like this and post. There is going to be a definite bias in that direction.
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But, I think the other message is that multifocal IOLs have some real issues. The issues are worse for some and less for others. The tolerance of the issues also varies from person to person. Someone highly motivated to be eyeglass free is more likely to be tolerant, and accept the full outcome.
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I also believe there is some fault in the industry in the way they are promoted. They are commonly referred to as "Premium" lenses. This leads potential customers to conclude "you get what you pay for", and that if you pay the extra price you will get the best outcomes. This of course is not at all true. The lenses do have a premium PRICE but do not necessarily provide premium performance. For sure they provide different performance and in many cases provide the opportunity to be eyeglass free. But, from a pure quality point of view, with respect to actually delivering what they promise to deliver, standard aspheric monofocal lenses do a much better job. They are the most likely to deliver the best vision and fewest issues albeit at a planned distance. And unless you use a monovision configuration you are highly unlikely to be eyeglass free.
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I think the other part of the issue is the delivery of these so called "Premium" lenses. Many optical operations specialize in premium lenses and may not even offer standard monofocal lenses. Their business is set up around promoting the premium lenses with their premium price and premium profit margin. They are the ones that are most likely to push these lenses over standard lenses. If the customer is not prepared for the side issues with these lenses it can lead to some major disappointment, and unhappy customers.
rwbil clint41320
Edited
"This thread was supposed to be the good results"
Not sure about that as people who have good results are not searching for answers to problems. And I think you get a lot of people looking to obtain more information on various lens before undergoing surgery.
First and this is most important NO man made IOL out there compares to the youthful lens. The youthful lens is amazing adopting from close to far range. Again sorry, this is sooooo important, there is nothing out there that will do that!!!!! Forget those nonsense marketing brochures.
So you first have to look at all man made IOLs as something that is hopefully better than a cataract. This is why I say an Opthamalogist doing a clear lens exchange should be disbarred or whatever the medical equivalent term is. And it p*sses me off when Opthamalogist over promote premium lens without accurately describing the risk.
On top of that there are all sorts of issues that effect one's results like did they have lasiks, do they astigmatism, do they have short eyes and I could go on and on.
Cataract surgery is surgery and equipment, material and manufacturing and doctors are not perfect. Even with a monofocal lens there are risk and some people have bad outcomes. But again the vast majority of people's eyesight will be better than cataracts and remember that is the goal.
It is imperative you are fully aware of the tradeoff if you wish to obtain more intermediate or close vision. And I would argue the better the close vison the higher the tradeoff. Even though the data I have seen proves this out, I actually am hoping or maybe the more accurate term is fantasy praying that last statement is not the case as I am hoping the Synergy IOL miraculously does not fall into that camp. Hope is eternal.
Sadly being an engineer, I have to look at the stats and still waiting for more published stats to come out about the Synergy IOL to see just how bad the tradeoff will be. But I fully aware the risk will be much higher than a monofocal to obtain intermediate and close vision.
Finally I have a MF in one eye. And NO it is no where close to a youthful Lens. I do get what I call "Functional" close at the cost of dysphotopsias at night. My dysphotopsias fall into the mild to moderate category and for me the tradeoff is worth it.
Torontonian Nivo14
Edited
I am 4 weeks out from getting Tecnis Synergy IOL in both eyes same day in Toronto, Canada. my surgeon noted good results with other patients and that i was a good candidate. I have worn progressive glasses for about 10 years and not a fan of glasses. was never a candidate for Laser Eye correction. Had a bad cataract in right eye no cataract in left eye but looked at this as a opportunity to correct my vision or at least get less dependence on glasses. I am 51 and hope to be able to benefit from many years of the procedure.
I did my research and knew the trade off between multi focal and mono. I work in tech and on a computer a lot. I was willing to take the risk. Also liked no more cataracts could develop.
The wait for government assisted $ surgery here was 8 months, they would only do one eye at a time and they didn't offer the Synergy IOl. Cost was high with laser to do the cut but eyes are important so sucked up the $9K CDN$.
4 weeks out... my near vision is amazing and its so bright. Snyergy makes everything pop and no problems with low light reading. Halos do bother me at night but brain seems to be adapting. Long distance vision not perfect but good enough to drive etc. I have not wore glasses nor do I think I will need to. Follow up showed 20/20 even 20/25...
I think the most important thing is to set your expectations appropriately. You won't have perfect vision at every distance but make it clear with your surgeon your lifestyle and what you want out of it. I wanted most important to read/computer work/play golf/swim etc without reliance on glasses. I have all that now.
Yes the halos on lights bug me but I would do it all over again the same as it's huge to not need glasses now especially for 0 to 20 feet being so clear. Never saw the 4K Television like I do now!
Just make sure to set your expectations and communicate what you are looking to get out of it with your surgeon. I am glad I had the Synergy over the PanOptix tri focal but it was a hard choice. Multi focal IOLs certainly have come a long way. I believe its important to do your own research.
rwbil Torontonian
Posted
As someone that is waiting for Synergy to be approved in the US, great to hear a positive outcome.
One question on distance vision, what was your refractive target; plano? I have read due to the great close vision of 33cm, with this IOL and the fact doctors miss the mark it makes sense to actual target hyperopia just a little bit.
Did they test your far, intermediate and close vision at different ranges, and do you know what your refractive results are and how your results compared to the defocus curve (yes I know their is a standard deviation)?
Sue.An2 Torontonian
Posted
great to hear a good report. Agree with your thoughts on setting your expectations and having that discussion with the surgeon. I am in New Brunswick and opted for the Symfony lenses 3 years ago for similar reasons - and diagnosed with cataracts at 53 requiring surgery. Other than fine print or low light conditions I rarely wear glasses. Nice in canada it doesn't cost a fortune - just the difference in a monofocal and symfony IOL. surgery covered by medicare.
rwbil Torontonian
Posted
I just saw a youtube video regarding Nightime vision problems that showed a simulation of Symfony, PanOptics and the Synergy IOL. In that video the Synergy had the least dysphotopsias, which was a shocker, and certainly less than I currently have with my MF IOL. Hard to see how Synergy IOL dysphopsias could be less than the Symfony.
You can find the video by searching for the Eye surgery explained Nighttime vision problems after cataract: nighttime dysphotopsias
Can you let me know how your dyspotopsias compare to the simulation presented?
jennifer66810 rwbil
Posted
i am 3 weeks post Symfony toric surgery on my right eye and 5 weeks post Symfony (not toric) implant in my left eye. I watched the video you mentioned above. The general look of the halos I'm seeing at night around lights is the same as in the video, except that the halos I see are much larger - about twice as large I also see halos around the TV when the picture is a bright scene and even slightly around my phone screen as I type this. I find it pretty annoying and have even avoided driving at night because of it. I'm hoping that this issue will diminish at least somewhat with time. My pupils are large, and my surgeon said that is probably why I see worse halos than most people.
Sue.An2 jennifer66810
Posted
Hi Jennifer I had Symfony implanted 3 years ago and from what I recall the glare subsides with time (about 6 months). I see the TV and iphone just fine. I do still see huge concentric circles around certain lights at a certain distance (red street lights, cars when brakes applied, certain LED porch lights. I have to be a certain distance from lights to see those and as I get closer to them those circles disappear. That's likely why I do not see them inside my home (one advantage to bot living in a mansion - ha ha).
3 weeks tour eyes are still healing and likely you still use the drops prescribed. Give it time. I found glare and brightness difficult in the beginning so wore sunglasses inside for many weeks.
other than that do you see well? I rarely wear glasses and really enjoy the freedom.
Torontonian rwbil
Posted
had 1 month optometrist follow up and she did all tests and my result was a 0. she cant prescribe any glasses to better my vision.
She was impressed!
Swainy Nivo14
Posted
hi there
I had uneventful multifical lens inplants in the middle of 2020 and initially i was delighted to be glasses free. however from around October time i noticed that my left eye became a little cloudy so an uncomplicated YAG was done. again pleased with the result.
Then BANG early December (5 months post surgery) everything changed for me with both eyes, and not for the good. literally overnight i went from no side effects to every single one........ light sensitivety, including watching the tv, reading my mobile etc, starbursts, glare, halos around every light source day and night. traffic lights are the size of houses and car heads light day and night are dazzling with halos.
Anyone else experienced this? my surgeon says he has not.
im in a world of pain and anguish right now.
HELP!
Sue.An2 Swainy
Posted
Swainy please seek out a specialist to have a look. There may be another eye condition affecting your vision.