Panoptix implanted 48 hours ago
Posted , 6 users are following.
I am a 66 year old male. On Thursday September 30, 2021 I had cataract surgery performed on both eyes with Panoptix iol implants. Following the surgery vision in both eyes was incredibly foggy and blurry. I was unsuccessful even trying to watch a 65" TV screen. Late Thursday evening when I was about to go to bed I noticed the fogginess in my right eye was beginning to lift. I put on the eye goggles/shield and went to bed. The next morning Friday October 1, 2021 I woke up to clear vision in my right eye, but still extremely foggy and blurry vision in my left eye. Because the vision in my right eye was good enough to drive, I met a friend for lunch. While we were eating lunch around 1:30 PM in the afternoon I realized that the fogginess in my left eye was starting to go away along with some of the blurriness. By the time I went to bed Friday night, the fogginess seemed to be pretty well gone, but the vision still retained a bit of blurriness. This morning the vision in the left eye is now good. I suspect that my overall vision is now 20/20 this morning as I type this. Are things perfect? No. Am I happy with my choice? Absolutely. Would I get the Panoptix lenses if I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now? Without hesitation. The most prominent side-effect I experience is a kind of what I can only describe as a "binocular effect" around the left and right sides of my field of vision. This is likely due to the ring design of the trifocal lenses. The only time I ever experienced this effect prior to cataract surgery with my natural lenses present would be if I focused intensely on something such as my finger an inch in front of my face "cross eyed." It's not unlike the slight presence of a glasses frame. Some people might find this effect disturbing. I've quickly gotten used to it and consider it a trade-off for being able to gain back a high degree of visual function present in years past. Yesterday evening with my left eye still somewhat blurry I did a bit of night driving around in heavy evening traffic with a drizzle of rain with lots of stop lights and glaring headlights. Everything was quite tolerable. With stop lights and car tail lights I could see the main light and then partial ghost images to the left and right, which were also tolerable. Keep in mind, the vision in my left eye was still somewhat blurry at that point. I will be repeating the test quite a lot since I'm a professional over-the-road truck driver, typically driving 100,000 plus miles per year. So, about 48 hours after the surgery, I judge my vision to be about as good as it has ever been, including near, intermediate and distance vision. Even though I had probably watched thousands of YouTube cataract surgery related videos, I didn't know what to expect from trifocal lenses. They kept talking about the brain adapting to a different visual system. This "adaptation" with me seems to have happened extremely quickly. There is zero struggle to see or focus through my entire visual range. It all seems seamless. That being said, other people's experiences may differ. I've always been nearsighted, and I've always had a substantial number of floaters present in both eyes, which I have never found bothersome. Overall I could not be more pleased with my lens choice or even the somewhat unorthodox choice of going ahead with same-day cataract surgery in both eyes that some would deem risky, especially since my job requires good functional vision. It is wonderful not to have to mess with regular glasses, contact lenses or reading glasses. After some period of time goes by, I'll post an update. I have a one week post-op appointment with the clinic that performed the surgery on October 8, 2021, and then there will be a final one month post-op appointment. Reading this forum prior to surgery was useful, but the bottom line with this type of surgery is that you simply don't know what your personal experience is going to be like until you actually go through it. In the weeks prior to surgery I mentally went through all sorts of different scenarios where I went back and forth and back again numerous times on different types of lenses
2 likes, 6 replies
lucy24197 thomas72145
Posted
So glad you had such a positive outcome!
Your "binocular effect" sounds like it may be negative dysphotopsia. I've got it too in my first eye--it showed up the day after surgery. It's just like you described--it looks like glasses frames out of the corner of your eye. A little dark crescent shape. At 4 1/2 weeks post-op I mostly notice it when I'm working on the computer or looking at something with a bright background. Not really bothersome. The good news is that for most people it eventually goes away. It might take a year or 2, but for a large percentage of people it's gone by then.
soks thomas72145
Posted
negative dysphotopsia is the binocular effect. it may or may not go away. for those who find it bothersome can get reverse optic capture. thanks for sharing and good luck.
Songirl thomas72145
Edited
thank you so much for posting. I am 56 and I need cataract surgery and I am so tired of wearing glasses and contacts. I want to get the Panoptix as well but after hearing so many negative outcomes it is exciting to read yours. You summed it up perfectly. Please keep me/us posted.
thomas72145 Songirl
Edited
You are welcome. Prior to this I tried to find over-the-road truck drivers like myself that have been implanted with trifocal lenses such as the Panoptix but had no luck finding the kind of information I was looking for. Going forward I plan on putting my real world experience out there as much as possible. I really believe that perhaps 95% of my very positive experience goes right back to my surgeon, his support team he's surrounded himself with, and his use of the latest technology. I believe the femtosecond laser precision assistance in making the incisions, etc. along with the "ORA" system of measuring the lens prescription during the surgery are key factors in my surgeon's 90% to 95% 20/20 post surgical outcomes. I stopped wearing my soft contacts a full week prior to the pre-op. Also with trifocal lenses getting them lined up in the exact visual axis within the pupil is also paramount. For any who is curious,, my surgeon was Dr. Steven Vold of Vold Vision located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I am still amazed at my outcome. After only four days I'm back at work and more functional than ever. I'm NOT missing the contacts, or the reading glasses that I often forgot when I would go into a restaurant. In those cases if I brought this phone with me it was pretty much useless to try and look at it. The solution would be to walk all the way back out to my truck to get them which usually wasn't worth it. When I did paperwork if I was wearing the contacts I had to have the reading glasses. if I was wearing my regular glasses I had to take them off and either hang them around my neck or lay them down. One time I forgot them inside a restaurant. I got all the way out to the truck when I realized what I did. I was walking back in front of the restaurant when the waitress came running out to hand them to me.
Songirl thomas72145
Posted
I am curious how your night driving is?
thomas72145 Songirl
Edited
Night driving isn't a problem. Keep in mind I'm an over-the-road truck driver and I've driven easily a good two and a half million miles over my driving career. My vision now seems to be even sharper than it was when I made the earlier posts. This evening I finally noticed the very slight ghostly "rings" around certain (but not all) lights at night. These rings are not bothersome to me and I believe they mimic the structure of the lenses themselves. Overall at this point my vision is sharper than it ever was with glasses and contact lenses. I have zero glare.