Just finished my consultation and wondering if I made the right decision
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I was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes recently and decided to have cataract surgery early rather than putting it off until they get worse.
My optometrist referred me to an experienced and respected ophthalmologist who has agreed to do the implants. At my consultation I was told I qualify for all types of IOLs, and she clearly favors Alcon products, specifically the Panoptics and Vivity IOLs.
I do a fair amount of night driving, so I declined the Panoptics because of glare, halos, and starbursts which I'm experiencing now and find very bothersome, even dangerous.
The Vivity is interesting and attractive except for the manufacturer's warning that it reduces contrast significantly over a monofocal IOL, a 40% reduction in MTF (modulation transfer function). This is concerning. How will that affect night driving?
To address my concerns, my ophthalmologist suggested implanting the Vivity in my non-dominant eye first. I have only a small amount of astigmatism in that eye. I'll have two weeks to decide if the contrast reduction is acceptable. She also suggested targeting -0.5D myopia in that eye (mini monovision) fora bit better near vision. That sounded like a good thing although I told her that I'm not opposed to wearing glasses for reading.
If the Vivity IOL works well in the non-dominant eye she will implant another Vivity (this time a toric) in my dominant eye at plano. If I'm experiencing poor contrast in the non-dominant eye she will implant an Alcon monofocal IOL instead. I agreed to this plan, and have scheduled pre-op screening in 10 days and first surgery in 3 weeks, and the second 2 weeks later.
Does this sound like a good strategy? Are there any drawbacks to this approach I should be aware of? Has anyone taken this course of action, and if so, how did it work out for you?
0 likes, 18 replies
clara26552
Edited
Eye33 clara26552
Edited
It seems like I only got about 5 to 10 minutes of "chair time" talking about options, but i did go to two different docs to get multiple opinions. That was good, because it forced me to do more research than I would have just going to the first doc. I then returned to the preferred doc with a dozen questions. I also asked them if I could talk to another human (patient) that did a vivity/panoptix combination. To my surprise, a week later they were able to connect me with another patient. I was VERY surprised. So much of what is in the forum and online are the issues or exceptions, so it helped me to talk with someone that had a good experience, but could also provide real life consideration for the recovery and trade-offs they've had.
clara26552
Posted
My pre-op screening was done today by the Chief Operating Officer of the clinic no less.
She did a number of measurements:
1.Retina thickness
2.Corneal astigmatism
3.Length of eyes
4.Cornea topography (cornea shape)
5.Keratonomy (curvature of cornea)
6.Pupil size (she said mine are average)
I have very little corneal astigmatism in the left eye, and she said that I probably will not need a toric IOL in that eye, but they will not know for sure until all the parameters are run through the (Barrett?) IOL calculator.
I reminded her that the left eye will be done first, and asked for a Vivity IOL targeting myopia of between -0.50 and -1.00 diopters, hoping for -0.75 D per RonAKA's recommendation for better near vision.
I paid $1450.00 for the Vivity lens. $1005.00 will be collected on surgery day. If I decide to have the Vivity IOL in the right eye, as well, the total out-of-pocket will come to $4910. If a toric monofocal, about a thousand less.