iol EDGE-GLARE anyone?

During the night is of course more visible but even during the day it happens with straylight from the side in the form of so called flickering. It's probably a squared-edge issue.

Then I guess if you can't get used to it you should have a lens exchange to that lens you researched that doesn't cause as many problems.

true. the problem is what lens use. I was about collamer but my surgeon doesn't use it. I see surgeon use the same lenses, no matter if someone has very strong glare and other annoyances from it.

Would like to get an update from you. Do you still see the edge glare after several months?

Thanks 

cr 

Want to make this thread active. Not many replies so this may not be a common problem.

I have this at night. Has anyone tried the alphagan drops? Can anyone share the pupil size and age chart that Nighthawk has shared in the past?

Did this really go away or reduce for anyone?

hi soks

Mine has not gone away and it has been 6 months since my surgery

i did try alphagan drop and it did go away but i can't tolerate the drop due the side effect

cr

hi crowd

what side effects did you get with alphagan?

how do you see the iol edge glare?

i see it at night outside the house. it is circles and arcs.

i see cobweb like circles of light and streak of lights at night

it is quite debilitating

when did you have surgery?

cr

I had my surgery 12 days ago.

I see the concentric circles but they are very light and only for some lights. My problem is one large circle per light which is much larger than the concentric circles. Multiple arcs shoot up from various light sources. They disappear with an oncoming car or overhead lights that constrict my pupil.

I installed micro led lights in my car that shoot blue light on me from 3 directions. This prevents the arcs from appearing or if they appear they are gone almost instantly.

Now I need to find a solution to when I am walking in the dark.

hi soks - have you had a follow-up visit with the surgeon? Hoping the arcs diminish with time.

I had both the dark crescent arcs and the light glare at the edge, it lasted somewhere between 4-6 months after the surgery and then all of a sudden i just realised that it wasn't happening any more!

If it is then I definitely don't notice it! Almost 18 months since my surgery now and no problems really at all, other than the stuff that is simply just a compromise of the procedure, needing good light conditions and having to read at a certain focus point etc.

Good luck!

Hi Sue,

My surgeon is out of state so if I go there I will go for the 1 months post-op visit. He referred me to a local surgeon. He is going to prescribe the alphagan drops.

That's really good to know. Thanks for posting it cleared especially when you were still experiencing it after 3 months. There is a paper from University of Utah Moran Eye Center that talks about this problem. When it resolves itself it is due to the IOL edge becoming opaque after healing.

hi crowd

what sides effects of alphagan did you experience?

I can reply if you want: it has a myopic effect (you see blurred), eye strain, headache, it burns.

hi adlibi

thanks for sharing. i do not get the myopic effect. i get slight headache which lasts for not more than 5 minutes. it is a weird kind of headache and the doctors are calling it brow ache.

i think there is eye strain. no burning but the pupils are visibly tiny dots. but these are from using 0.2%. Alphagan P is 0.15%. and Aphagan Z (not available in US) is 0.1%.

After a while the eye gets used to the drops so the effect is limited to few hours or even less.

that would be disappointing and would make me want lens exchange.

but would the glare persist with a monofocal?

I have two different material monofocal iol and with both I have annoying, not to say debilitating, glare. They have both squared, truncated edges. One has frosted (the Tecnis zcb00) but does not help at all with flickering. Reducing pupil masks the iol edges so less glare and halos.

I am pretty sure from reading I have done that these symptoms (edge glare and pupil dilating beyond IOL) would be present regardless of lens type if they have a square edge - round edge ones would help but then you might encounter pco sooner.

I tried to research the pupil constricting drops and couldn't find anything that would suggest/indicate that with prolonged use they would lose effectiveness. A good question though to ask your doctor.

adlibi where did you read that the eyes get used to the drops and this becomes less effective over time?

my surgeon's colleague from my city who prescribed me the drops asked to use them daily for an year. he said i would not need them after an year.

Yes think for majority of people this lessens with time.

Or it shrinks the pupil permanently?

soks - tead there are medications prescription and no prescription that can cause pupils to dilate: I wasn't aware of some of these on the list.

Here is a copy and paste:

The following prescription and non-prescription medicines can cause your pupils to dilate and affect their ability to react to light:

Antihistamines

Decongestants

Tricyclic antidepressants

Motion sickness medicines

Anti-nausea medicines

Anti-seizure drugs

Medications for Parkinson's disease

Botox and other medications containing botulinum toxin

Atropine (used for myopia control and other medical purposes)

As far as I am aware there is no lasting effects from using the drops to temporarily constrict the pupils.

If light coming from the side is the issue for flickering have you considered a pair of glasses that would restrict light from entering from the side? Like blinkers for a horse.

Might be worth a try to see if that is indeed the cause.

of course it's the cause, even just putting fingers around eyes helps. the cause is peripheral light. why is this the cause is not known, a still I think the cause is the iol's edge

unfortunately even with a successful cataract surgery and IOL is correctly placed edge glare occurs for some patients. Predicting who experiences this is often a mystery for surgeons. Statistically I read it happens less than 5% of the time. Although a low % doesn't alleviate the frustration for patients that experience this.Although it often disappears or diminishes but given it had been do long in your case it appears it may not. Given length of time it may also be too late for a lens exchange bit you might want to consult with an expert who specializes in exchanges to inquire whether it can be done.. B&L silicone lenses have round edges and likely eliminate this flickering you are experiencing.

I have a square edge IOL myself and recall having a bit of this flickering after my 2nd surgery on LE. For me it did go away.

Which B&L silicone has round edges?

which one? positive or negative? i don't want to cross the time where lens cannot be exchanged.

The doctor said it will shrink the pupil permanently before the age related reduction.

The positive. And from article I read it doesn't appear to resolve the issue 100% of the time for whatever reason and the trade off could be glistenings with a silicone IOL and earlier pco. Really is a crap shoot and wish there were more diagnostic tools available which would indicate which patients ate more susceptible to PD and ND. You'd think at least for pupil dilation there could be some way to measure that before surgery to determine diameter of pupil in various dark settings.

i think the number that 5% are affected is because these 5% are younger patients with larger pupil sizes. and since the number is small no one cares about them.

I think that perfectly explains it and disappointing it hasn't come about that the IOLs can't be made larger to accommodate that. Some articles I was reading dated back to 1998 (20 years ago) for those suffering from just what you describe. I wonder what they do for the poor children born with cataracts.

they should make larger iols (7mm) for younger patients with additional refraction for near. these patients would lose little bit of their near vision when their pupil size decreased due to natural aging just like presbyopia.

children get 100% PCO so they do vitrectomy for children and remove the posterior capsule during the surgery or some specific technique. I believe capsule in combination with the pupil and iol play key role in dysphotopsias.

Hi, I believe I have the same problem as you do. How bad was it right after surgery? Mine is in the left eye and noticeable when I look to the right. It's annoying, but I guess I can live with it. Would appreciate any input you can offer. Thank you.