IOL exchange surgery due to challending Symfony lens night driving dysphotopsia
Posted , 16 users are following.
I had Symfony lens implanted in both eyes one years ago when I was 58 and like many on the many of you on these discussion boards suffer from huge starburst from on-coming headlights and street lights, perfect, large concentric circles from red break lights and other lights, glowing ghost-like shadows of the moon, and white lettering/objectives with a black backing. Diving safely at night is becoming a big issue and the exhausting need to concentrate due to these distractions. If I had known that this level of visual artifacts problems were possible then I would have never gone with these lens let alone pay the high price. I read the clinical trials and the package insert and these side effects were not specific and appear to be underestimates and underreported. I reported these adverse events to Johnson and Johnson and encourage others to do the same. My vision is generally excellent at 20/20 and only have to were reading glasses for fine print. The risks of explantation/replacement/exchanges lens surgery are far higher and scarier than the first implant surgery. I am strongly considering having this surgery and am fine with trading off using reading glasses all the time if I can get these untoward effects to go away. Since I see so well now I am nervous about the risks of this exchange surgery and the risk that the dysphotopsia artifacts would still not go away. My questions are, have any of you with this situation had your lens replaced and what was the outcome? Did you use the the same surgeon? And how many just decided to live with the artifacts and why? Did get a second opinion? Help!
1 like, 25 replies
paul07903
Edited
Dear Tramont, Thank you for you comments. Really sorry to hear this. This is what I'm worried about. What if I go through the more risky exchange surgery only to come out the other end still with these artifact side effects? I also have heard that you can get halos (I have different kind of halo that forms concentric circles that mimic the lens design) and starbursts. Is it the lens or is it my brain? Paul
john56935 paul07903
Edited
Sorry to hear about your situation--here is my 2 cents. I had one symfony and stopped before they could do the other eye due to symptoms just as you describe. So you can try swapping out one symfony for a monofocal but i basically have the same thing with my natural eye and while it does reduce them a little, the symptoms are still as bad as you describe. If that is the case for you, would you then go ahead and swap out the other? Nice your doctor will do it for free--mine said insurance wouldn't cover it since the lens was working properly so it would cost me $10K to boot on top of the added risk. I have learned to live with it for over 3 years now and just didn't want to risk making things worse (or not that much better) since my daytime vision is very good. I may even put in another symfony to maximize my daytime vision and just live with the nighttime issues. I am in my mid 50s too but in theory our pupil size gets smaller as you age so I am hopeful they will diminish with time (like 10-20 years!). IOLs are all about trade-offs and while this forum is generally support and helpful, please keep in mind that it is a very small number of people with different preferences providing their particular experiences and outcomes. You can make the same choice as someone else and still get a different outcome which can make it hard to decide what the best decision really is. However, i think most would agree on here that monofocals generally reduce the risk of nighttime issues compared to the diffraction type lens and assumes that most can tolerate monovision more than the rings. Had i been properly counseled I probably would have gone that route myself! Hope if works out for you.
paul07903 john56935
Edited
John, I was thinking of swapping out both eyes/lenses. I would do one eye a time and see how it goes. I could learn to live with this I guess because my vision is so good and as you say it is all a trade off. I already have to use low-power reading glasses for the news paper so I wasn't able to rid them. I just wish the trade-off didn't include compromising my night driving. I can do it but don't feel comfortable or very safe and it it straining on my concentration. Being 59 I don't want to find myself in a situation where it gets worse with age and find myself not being able. I would rather use reading glasses and be able to drive at night but my vision overall may likely not be as good and then there's the risks. Its a tough one. It seems that very few people on this blog have gone forward and replaced them. I wonder if it is the cost or the risk that has made many just live with it. Paul
Sue.An2 paul07903
Edited
Paul - going to guess it is the risk vs money of doing an exchange. My surgeon in initial consult flat out told me he doesn't do them and I would have to find another surgeon.
There are a few on the forums like Julielynn who is very happy with her final outcome after several exchanges. She would credit that to the excellent surgeon she finally found.
If it is something you are considering - worth your while finding the right surgeon (no matter the cost). There is added risk and one would really have to accept that.
paul07903 Sue.An2
Posted
Hi Sue, I'm more worried about the risk of coming out worse than the money. Although I my surgeon has offered to due the surgery for free, who does do exchanges, I am still looking to see if there may be a better surgeon even if it costs me. Paul
paul07903
Posted
How do I find and jump to Julielynn's forum?
paul07903 Sue.An2
Edited
Sue.An, Never mind - I found it!
Sue.An2 paul07903
Edited
Good! I know Julielynn found an excellent surgeon in Florida. Maybe worth the trip?
assia99778 paul07903
Posted
Hellp Paul, how did you proceed? Did you have your lenses exchanged in the meantime? What was your experience and how you are getting on with the monofocals?