My experience of the Symfony Toric lens

This thickening of the capsule causes your vision to become cloudy. If this happens you may need to have laser treatment to make vision clear again.

Whatever you do - don’t have a YAG procedure done unless it is for PCO.  It definitely won’t do anything for starbursts or glare.  Also if you want a lens exchange in a few months time if these lenses are satisfactory to you a YAG procedure will make that almost impossible.

I had Symfony lenses implanted in July and August and now the glare and starbursts have subsided.  Likely yours will too on time.  But the concentric circles you see around certain lights ie car brakes are part of lens design that won’t go away - but these aren’t as troublesome as the starbursts.  I drive without any concern now at night.

Hi Ally,

I'm having YAG laser tomorrow morning for PCO that happened rather soon in my left eye (five months out of surgery). It is supposed to help with some blurriness I've been experiencing in that eye, but doc said nothing about the halos and starbursts, which he still says I need to be patient with. Night driving is becoming tolerable, but it's more that I've gotten used to the new normal of starbursts and halos; I am hoping that his word is correct and that these issues will eventually subside.

Sue.An., according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, PCO can occur to some degree as early as one week after surgery. Other articles I've read say it can occur a few month to a few years after. I guess it depends on how thorough the surgeon was and other individual response factors.

ill report what my surgeon says tomorrow. I totally trust her as she is one of the leading cornea specialists in the country, affiliation with a major NYC teaching hospital. and did a fantastic job with my cornea surgery 6 years ago. I know she explained that this PCO can develop at any time, and a laser tweak will improve my reading.  It was her Fellow that brought up the scar tissue issue. But whatever, I can’t even imagine having a lens exchange. I found this surgery to be very stressful, I don’t like anyone messing with my eyes. I watched my Dad go blind from improper eye treatments. Boy, it’s a good thing I have insurance, just got the bill from the first eye, $19,000 without the lens that was out of pocket. 

jerome good luck tomorrow and thanks for the night driving encouragement

I am 61. I think there's a huge curve of experience on this.

Thanks Ally. This is sort of a journey I didn't expect to be on. I always thought cataract surgery would be a simple thing. A whole new world!

I would think due to population of USA that prices would be lower rather than higher vs Canada.

Anyway as for the  YAG, I know she said the earliest she will do it is in 3 months. So I wait and will see what happens with the other eye, Sue I don’t think there is a way to prevent them. Like any surgery, some people get adhesions some don’t, same thing with eye, about 30 ‘40 %  get them. They can form anytime unfortunately but there is a fix so that is good, hopefully it won’t happen to you.

Yes mine done in a hospital - must be for medicate to cover and lenses paid through hospital as well.  Our surgeons are paid same amount no matter the lens you chose (as that fee goes to hospitals who buy them in bulk).  Long wait for surgeries is downside of living in Canada but at least no price gouging.

Ugg, I thought this was a simple surgery plus dry eyes not helping right now! It’s a process for some of us I guess! 

PS I never heard of a lens exchange until I came on this page. 

Well we will see the final result in 3 -4 months I guess at this point it’s better than living in the dark. For that I am grateful. 

Im hearing you, my husband had IOL exchange 2 years ago, it was a breeze for him from the get go. Me on the other hand, first lenses had to removed due to an interface issue and symfony put in its place, now yag in both at 4 weeks, astigmatism and refractive laser will be done at 12 weeks. Not quite what I expected but I trust that in the end, it will be good for life, I just have to be patient, tolerate the blur and defocus (a few other things) until healing takes place and the tweaks can be done. I did not have cataracts, I had this procedure to negate reading glasses, a very character building journey for me!

Wow I’m sorry to read this. It’s amazing how different Drs do this procedure and results. I thought it was more straight forward with so many in the world being done. I had a symphony toric lens put in to correct my astigmatism and my Dr does not do yag till at least 3 months out. I was nervous about the toric after reading here that it could move but she assured me that it’s very rare and if it did it would be within one day or two of the surgery and not to worry. 

Yes it’s very frustrating having to wait. I rushed to get this done with the days shorter since I was blind at night. So now I have glare and starburst, 🤦🏻??? I wish you well with your final result. I totally understand your reason to get rid of reading glasses. 

I would like to know what is generally recommended as far as getting the actual surgery. Should both eyes be done at the same time or do one then wait a couple weeks to do the other. Am considering the Tecnis symfony multifocal however my surgeon (Kaiser) doesn't have access to a laser so it would be the standard procedure which I understand isn't as accurate in positioning the lens.