lens replacement advice
Posted , 16 users are following.
im almost 52, and been having to wear reading glasses for past cpl years. I tend to wear them all the time now, as use a computer and phone a fair bit. Without glasses near and intermediate txt is too blurry, and i think my distance vision is declining aswell. I have been in contact with praga medica, with a view to having lens replacement at a reasonable cost. They have offered me either panoptix trifocal or the vivity EFOF lenses. After some research i am totally confused as to my options, as i do drive often at night. This is a concern over trifocal with halos etc, and although the vivity reduces the halo effect, i may still need reading glasses, which is not an option, as i want to be glasses free
any help or advice will be greatly appreciated
0 likes, 34 replies
carlspaced1969
Edited
please dont think im being shallow to those that wear glasses. Its from my own personal point of view of myself
Its bad enough that im 52yrs old, 5ft6" short, totally bald with a metal plate in my back just about walking, now im having to wear glasses, as now my dam eyesight failing. They make me feel older than i am, they are annoying to wear, and ive gone through a few pairs due to loss or breakage and thats only in less than a year
I was really hoping IOL was the solution to this, and was willing to part with cash to do so (im seriously tight with money) If IOL is not worth it...i believe they trialing drops to help with presbyopia...fingers crossed they successful
pk3333 carlspaced1969
Posted
Hi Carl,
I'm new here and am in similar shoes as you, although I'm several years older. A few years ago I got really tired of wearing glasses, they were good light ones, but they still bothered me - a lot. I started looking into lens replacement as well. When you start doing that you discover there are many choices in the lenses and many potential trade offs.
I decided the best thing for me was to try contacts to see how my brain works with accomodating. I've been wearing multifocal contacts now for the past few years...and contact wear beats the heck out of glasses for me. I do extended wear contacts, so if I fall asleep in them, non big deal...take them out clean them and pop'm back in. Eezy peezy.
Last visit to the optometrist: They said they can't improve my reading any longer as I'm already at a high add prescription...told me to put readers on. So...I've also just begun testing monovision. I'm going back and forth between the multifocals and monovision and I'm finding monovision to give me sharper, brighter vision...with good distance and reading.
All that is a long-winded way of saying that you don't have to settle for glasses if you don't like them. I started wearing contacts at ~58 and love them in comparison. You can also use that time to find what types of IOL lenses you might like when the time comes.
lucy24197 carlspaced1969
Edited
Do a quick search on whether women find men with glasses more attractive, if that's your concern. Answer: Yes they do--by a VERY larger margin.
More importantly, this isn't cosmetic surgery to get rid of glasses. This is an amputation of your existing lens and replacing it with a prosthesis. Would you amputate your leg because you think your feet look too big? Would you cut off your foot rather than wear an orthopaedic shoe because the shoe is ugly? So, would you risk your vision so as not to wear glasses?
Doctors act like this is whiz-bang surgery to fix all your problems, and they gloss over the risks. I had my first eye done 7 weeks ago, second eye last week. After FINALLY getting a doctor to listen to me and really examine my eyes, today I was diagnosed with Cystoid Macular Edema caused by the surgery. This is going to result in a lot of additional medication, possible injections in the eyes, and if that doesn't work, laser surgery. None of which guarantees a cure. The only reason this has been at all worth it is that I was rapidly going blind.
BTW, I suspect My 5'6" husband has probably shrunk to 5'5" now, and looks better than he ever did now that his hair is mostly gone.
Guest carlspaced1969
Edited
I personally feel that until we have a true bio-mimicking artificial human lens implant with 3 to 4 Dioptres of natural accommodation (like the Juvene) the practice of clear lens exchange is borderline medical malpractice. Or at least ethically questionable.
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This is not in response to Carl, just a comment about this practice in general. It amazes my that this can even be legally offered. It's a destructive, irreversible, non-medically necessary procedure. But cataract surgery has become so routine and complication-free now that I guess clinics just want to cash in as much as possible. One yacht isn't enough.
lucy24197 Guest
Posted
Couldn't agree more.
Sue.An2 Guest
Posted
Agree totally. Unfortunately U see this practice a lot especially with people that opted for lasik to correct distance vision. They are sold clear lens exchange to correct presbyopia. Mg brother in law had it do e and he still doesn't think his natural lens was removed and he had basically had cataract surgery!
clara26552 carlspaced1969
Posted
I've recently had cataracts removed and Vivity IOLs implanted with my dominant eye targeting near plano, and the other under corrected by about -0.75D. I'm almost completely glasses independent and have no difficulty driving at night. You can read more about my experience here.
sierra76911 carlspaced1969
Posted
I'm considering CLE too. I need to get rid of glasses. I have a choice of PRK or CLE. Can anyone give me any feedback?
Bookwoman sierra76911
Posted
Please don't do unnecessary surgery on your eyes. Read lucy and david's responses above, which will give you all the feedback you need.
RonAKA sierra76911
Posted
I normally find it hard to recommend clear lens exchange unless there are some really unusual circumstances like very high myopia in both eyes and only one needs cataract surgery. Then it may make some sense to do the clear eye as well to reduce the differential between the eyes.
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If you decide on PRK or Lasik, make sure you get your eyes measured for cataract surgery before you do it, and you preserve those measurements. Best to do it with an IOLMaster 700 that measures the inside and outside of the cornea (TK). When it comes time to do cataract surgery those measurements can be incorporate into the IOL calculation formula. Prior refractive surgery makes it more difficult to get accurate measurements for cataract surgery.
Guest sierra76911
Posted
Just understand that CLE will not completely eliminate the need for glasses. Unless you go with multifocals or monovision you will regularly need reading glasses or progressives.