PanOptix experience
Posted , 89 users are following.
(apologies for starting a new thread, but my last one was more a question about PanOptix before I chose that route. Seems like it'd make more sense if someone was searching for info/testimonials that a new thread specific to my experience with the lenses. )
I'm 45, very active/athletic(competitive mountain bike racer, motocross rider, skier/snowboarder), and have been fortunate enough to have had 20/15 vision up until a few years ago. Not wanting to adapt to readers or other prescription glasses that accompany monofocals, I opted for PanOptix over Symfony partially due to the loose recommendation of my doctor, and mostly because once I was aware of their existence, the clinical studies I was able to find online seemed to show that PanOptix tested at least as good as Symfony in all manners, showed some level of reduced night artifact/glare/halos, and promised near-vision, in addition to midrange and distance vision.
I'm 4 days post-op of a PanOptix in my right eye, with the sole motivation of surgery to treat my rather severe cataracts. That eye was the worst of the pair, and now that I have what was considered my "good" eye as a baseline to compare the new lens to an old one, it's definitely a mixed bag.
Like basically anyone who's had IOL's implanted, the newfound vibrance in colors is phenomenal. There was a yellow wall that my old eye perceived as being gray the other day, if that's any indication of the difference. The day after surgery, my vision tested at 20/25 in the new lens, as opposed to 20/60 before surgery. I didn't have any eye issues that required glasses before surgery; it was simply the cataracts that was causing such poor vision. So, compared to my vision a couple of years ago, 20/25 is still technically a degredation for me.
Near vision is another positive with PanOptix, but it's admittedly a bit finicky with exact distance. Roughly 12-inches is the sweet spot where text is clearest. A few inches past or closer than that, and things begin to soften up. Text doesn't get too terribly blurry, and doesn't seem to progress into being completely illegible as distance away from the sweet spot increases, but there's an absolute sweet spot of near focus for sure. Midrange is somewhat disappointing for the claims and studies on PanOptix, as sitting at my desktop computer approximately 24-inches from the screen results in less-than-sharp focus. I have to get right up to within 12-inches of the screen to get the crispest focus, which is where the near vision focus is. Seems like these are almost bifocals and not trifocals.
Nighttime vision overall in the PanOptix eye is good. I don't notice a reduction in contrast like my doctor thought might be the case with the division of light to three points. It definitely didn't improve my night vision by any means, but it didn't seem to reduce it. My cataracts is very central in my original lens, so I actually see best at night when my pupil is dilated big enough to see around it.
Halos around all lights are very apparent, not only at night but during the day as well, and the halos even have that little spiderweb effect. One or two lights at a time, and it seems manageable. But, I just drove on the highway tonight and realized how much I was relying on my natural lens to see. With that eye closed, the PanOptix eye was creating such drastic halo that it seemed like it was keeping that eye from finding focus on anything. Truly blurred vision if there's more than a few lights, which was both scary and perplexing on what to do for my other eye as I can't imagine getting through the rest of my life without the ability to operate a car, walk through the city, etc. at night.
From the first day of surgery, I've also had a flicker in the PanOptix eye. The followup doctor(who I'd never met, and won't see again) said that's normal and should go away, but it hasn't really subsided in 4 days. I notice it gets much worse when there's light shining in from my peripheral.
Distance vision is worse with the PanOptix eye than my natural eye, which is disappointing. This discrepancy is amplified at night, especially if it involves reading street signs or things like neon lights.
I see my optometrist on Friday, and will share what he says about the debilitating night vision, flickering, and lack of midrange focus. Oh, I also noticed today that if the sun is directly in front of my vision and I have sunglasses on, that a reflection of the PanOptix IOL shows up in my sunglass lens. That wasn't expected, not sure if anyone else has had the same or similar experience with any other lens?
3 likes, 162 replies
303z
Posted
I saw another surgeon for a second(more like 4th) opinion of what to do about the lack of clear midrange vision with my PanOptix lenses The first surgeon who performed my surgeries said that I needed YAG, and that'd clear things up. It was a surprising diagnosis as it had only been a couple of months since surgery. The second surgeon says that while there is some cell growth, it doesn't justify YAG, and more importantly, YAG would make it all but impossible to swap a lens once performed. He sent me home with a -.5 contact to try for a few days, with a followup appointment this morning. The contact lens only made vision blurrier at all distances, so I removed it on day 3 of the experiment. Today, while I test at 20/20 distance, and 20/10 within a shallow sweet spot of near vision, anything between 12-30-inches away is fuzzy to unreadable.
The surgeon initially thought today that going with a -1 contact would be the answer, but after testing it showed that I see best with very small corrections in each eye - somewhere along the lines of -.25, which would be tough to accurately correct with lasik.
I'm scheduled to see his optometrist on March 17th, who's supposedly good at dialing in vision with contacts. Not sure what the plan is beyond finding a contact prescription that will allow midrange vision, but my hope is that this is a way to find a prescription that will remedy the issue, then either swap out the PanOptix lens, or maybe perform lasik.
johnstof 303z
Posted
I'm glad I found this thread. I had right eye done with a Panoptix last Monday. Left eye is scheduled for this coming Monday (2 weeks after first).
Like many here, I have somewhat distracting halos/light rings at night with oncoming cars, etc. I'm concerned that it will be a problem if both eyes have it.
So, for starters, I am postponing my second eye for at least another month.
I am overall very happy with the near and far vision. Midrange seems ok too but not great.
two question topics....
LaVonne2020 johnstof
Posted
I bought the night vision glasses and returned them. Instead of white starbust you will have yellow ones. I had enough distortion. I am still only one eye post op. It has been 4 weeks now. Daytime vision is great! Night is rough with the halos and glare. My doctor says time is a healer. I have postponed the second eye until I feel comfortable with my night vision.
alice19877 LaVonne2020
Posted
Oh how I wish I had postponed my second eye. I don't even feel comfortable driving during the day!
LaVonne2020 alice19877
Posted
How far apart did you wait? My day vision is perfect now and the glares and halos do not bother me, I am excited for the non surgery eye to be the same. I am praying for you! One of the things that really helped me is meditation for neuro adaption and peace, as being calm will help you heal faster. I went to a hypnotherapist but didn't really like what she did as she didn't understand, so wrote my own, since this is what I do, and will be producing that for others. The other thing that really helped me is a micro current facial for healing. I could barely see the rings after my facial. I am getting one again this Sunday in the evening and I am excited to see how much it helps my night vision. My eye is healing, still postponing the second one until fully healed.
diane70001 johnstof
Posted
Hi John, I am 4 days out from panoptix in right eye. I'm concerned about the night time starburst, glare and spiderwebs. I'm wondering like you if a monofocal in my left eye would offset this issue.
I see that you posted this sometime ago, so if you still check in, please let me know what you decided to do?
Thank you,
Diane
alice19877 303z
Posted
I had both cataracts replaced with the Panoptix. My right eye was done 3-1/2 weeks ago. My vision is quite blurred, but about the same as I was with regular glasses. I could barely see without glasses but had excellent very close vision which I lost. I had the left eye replaced on Monday of this week so I am 4 days along now. The distance vision is blurry but my mid-distance (like computers, or talking to people) is quite good. I have found an old pair of reading glasses that I can use to read close. The worst of this is the halo and starburst I am seeing with the left eye. I didn't notice it much with the right but went out two days after at night and was frightened by the extreme halo and lights from the headlights and street lights. So not only can I not drive at night but it is difficult to even see when riding! I am hoping that clears up. As someone mentioned, if you look at the road in front of the headlight it is manageable since the glare is even apparent in the daytime (since so many cars have daylight running lights). I am hoping that I will be able to correct my vision with glasses. Does anyone have a guess as to when they were able to get glasses? I keep wanting to reach for my glasses as my vision is just not clear.
Sue.An2 alice19877
Posted
Alice - give it time and hopefully you have a 2 week checkup with your surgeon. Your vision should improve with a trifocal to the point you won't need glasses at all (maybe for tiny print) Some people do not get their best vision until drops are over with and others dry eye affects their vision. Hopefully the blur will clear up.
kwilson2019 303z
Posted
I also had similar issues. But with a very large star burst effect that stretched entire vision not just around the light source, with any light source, sun reflections on anything reflective, hood, bumpers of vechicles, ripples, waves on water was like fireworks, star burst flashes every where. I havnt been able to go to the lake since. Serious boating, fishing detriment. One year later had to do a yag treatment due to foggy haze, almost as bad as the cataract. Yag treatment did clear up some of the star burst, making them smaller, not as massive, closer to the light source and I see the rings, halos which are not near as bad as the super nova star burst as before. I waited a year to do my left eye. I chose the standard mono IOL for my left. 3 months now, Left eye vision is good, no wacky light issues, some side light flutters, mostly at night but tolerable. Doctor missed on strength a bit, could have been stronger, 20/30. Right eye 20/25 still have small star burst, rings. Near vision is sub-fair, I rarely use readers. A pair of .25 glasses helps with sharpening vision for distance, driving, computer, reading. For an active outdoor, night driving, individual I would definitely NOT recommend PanOptix or the Symphony multi-focal IOL. They might be OK for day time or an indoors individual.
Sue.An2 kwilson2019
Posted
i would agree for night driving Symfony wouldn't be an IOL of choice. But for daytime outside? That I disagree with. I have symfony both eyes and daytime whether indoors or outdoors vision is great.
swm1970 kwilson2019
Posted
As someone who is more of an indoors individual with PanOptix in both eyes, I will say that everything is so fuzzy indoors, especially at night, that I am miserable. I wish I could have my natural, -14 lenses back.
cliff2112 303z
Edited
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
I had my IOL surgery 4 days ago....on Monday Jan 18th for presbyopia and to correct astigmatism in one eye.
The lenses used are
I knew about the risk of halos, starbursts and other visual effects, but I had already been seeing them because of the astigmatism. The photos they showed me of what night time vision was like was about the same as what I was already experiencing. I do a lot of reading and I build models so I was really hoping that I could lose my multifocal reading glasses.
I was surprised the first night that the visual disturbance I saw was NOT what I had read or seen prior to the surgery. It was a large ring around bright lights....I was prepared for halos and starbursts, but not this "firework" effect.
image
I wasn't too concerned at the time, knowing that if can take weeks for me to adjust to the new lenses. Sure enough, by the next morning it had almost resolved and by that night was gone altogether.
I am very happy with how quickly my vision cleared, and the day following surgery I was reading fine print on my eye drops bottle without glasses!
My eyes 4 days out are still a little light sensitive and I find myself needing to put on the sunglasses they gave me. I looked at the side effects of the drops and saw that one of them said light sensitivity so I'm not worried.
I do notice at times "bars" on the outside of my vision.....which feels like I'm walking down a really narrow hallway....again, the post op notes I had mentioned this is normal and should go away.
Flickering has also been noticed in bright light conditions, so I'm hoping once things settle down, that too will abate.
Overall, I'm very happy so far....driving at night has been good. Halos around lights (especially red) is pronounced, but not a lot worse than what I was experiencing before. Even if that doesn't improve, I wont regret my decision to have this procedure done.
I'll update my recovery if there is interest.
Sue.An2 cliff2112
Posted
congrats Cliff on a good outcome. I had some of those symptoms with Symfony. I think your halos ate smaller as i see huge concentric rings - especially red traffic lights. The flickering will subside. I would get that if a light source was to the side of my head. Experienced with left eye but never the right. Sensitivity to light will eventually go away. Your comment reminded me of those early weeks when I wore sunglasses inside my home.
matt13140 cliff2112
Posted
I'm in about the same boat as you. PanOptix Toric in both eyes just done in the past few weeks too. Congrats!
I think outcomes are definitely relative. I've had glasses since I was 8 and multiple eye problems like recurring uveitis and inflammation which have quietened down for the past decade. Believe it or not, I had my first cataract when I was 10 yrs old. I also have astigmatism and myopia, so overall I've had subpar vision all my life.
Decades with cataracts and astigmatism has made me accustomed to starbursts and flaring at night too.
Now, after the surgeries, I have "good" vision - not 20/20, but good for me and 100x better than a month ago. I can't complain ! I can use my computer and cell phone with ease. Distance vision outdoors is even better
Unfortunately, I may have early beginnings of PCO in my left eye which was done merely 2 weeks ago. We'll see on my next follow up in a week.
rwbil matt13140
Edited
Sorry about the quick PCO, but it is nice to read a positive result. Your comments reminds me of something I think about. I am thinking about the Synergy IOL, but want to wait until more Opthmalogist have implanted them and reported their results.
The reason for that is I think Clinical Trial results can be misleading. I remember the Symfony clinical trial results saying dysphotopsias are the nearly the same as a monofocal.
The problem for me with trials is 3 parts. First the limited sample, but more more important second they are picking top doctors and those doctors are going to take their time to have the best results. Not some lens replacement assembly line. But also they set rules on who they accept and IMHO selecting people that are best suited. Whereas in the Real-World Opthmalogist are implanting the lens into people eyes that have a variety of problems that might have gotten them disqualified from the trial.
matt13140 rwbil
Edited
Trials have their own difficulties and possible biases
Reading anecdotal stories off the internet probably has even more complications!
Just like all user-generated reviews, there is a natural over-representation of negative people because they are looking for help with their problem. People with no problems don't go looking on these forums - they just get on with their lives and do other things.