How do I know if the Rex for cataract lense AcrySof IQ IOL is too strong.

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my dr put +25.5 in left eye and +24.5 in right eye 3 weeks ago. First off my eye inside feels different. it feels almost swollen. Secondly, I've had headaches at corner of bridge of my nose and the eyebrow. I've had these before but not to this extent. I also have intermittent strabismus (lazy eye) affecting both eyes. I know its early on but I'm really experiencing difficulty with the new lenses and dr said they're fine. Does anyone know how the Rx of the cataract lens equate to a glasses rx. Id appreciate any help at all with this.

Ellen

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  • Edited

    Ellen it is not really possible to exactly compare eyeglass prescription powers to IOL powers. The underlying issue is that when we need eyeglasses to correct our vision there will likely be some error caused by the shape of the cornea as well as some error due to the shape of the lens. When cataract surgery is done the lens is replaced and that error is essentially gone, but the lens has to correct for error in the cornea. If a person with perfect vision (cornea and lens) and did not need glasses got cataract surgery they would get an IOL lens of about 19-20 D of power. When you get powers of less than that, then the IOL is correcting for near vision or myopia. If you get powers more than that then it indicates you were far sighted prior to surgery and probably had a +power prescription. As a guess the eyeglass prescription may have been in the range of +5.0 D.

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    EDIT: Oh, and I missed the most obvious answer to your question. Go to your optometrist and get your vision checked. The standard process that my surgeon uses is to check your eyes at 24 hours, and then if everything is OK, you see your optometrist at 3 weeks (where you are now). They will not likely give you a prescription for eye glasses as your eyes will not have totally healed yet, but they should tell you the numbers. Assuming the target was distance vision you are looking for something in the range of -0.25 to 0.0 D.

    • Posted

      thanks for that info. i did see the dr 24 hours after and 3 weeks after and they said all was ok. but im still getting eye headaches daily.

    • Posted

      If you ask what the prescription would be for eyeglass correction you will know if the lenses are the right power. Normally the target for distance is to be -0.25 D sphere. You could ask if you have any prism. Prism can be corrected with eyeglasses, but not with IOLs.

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