Part I Symfony Lens of Part II Synergy lens update
Posted , 8 users are following.
Hello,
As promised, I am going to update here with regard to my experience. I am a 48 F who found out in late November that I have fast-growing cataracts in both eyes.
As noted on other threads in this forum, my surgeon recommended the Symfony in my dominant (left) eye and the Synergy in my other eye. Yesterday, I had the first procedure. I am not ashamed to tell anyone here that I was terrified - of so many things - the procedure, trusting the surgeon, etc. The procedure seemed to run with military precision. I went to a surgery center where I checked in, paid the amount owed there, was brought back to a bed (after signing numerous forms), and was told I would get six rounds of eye drops and then the anesthesiologist would visit me soon to chat. He did and I was given something (I don't remember what!) to relax me which was placed under my tongue. It definitely worked because I wasn't too bothered about what was about to happen anymore (yay!).
After all of the eye drops and stuff under my tongue, I was taken to the first part of the surgery - the laser part. A lady placed me under the machine and the surgeon came in and did his bit. I just looked at some lights for it seemed like less than a minute and that part was over. I was then wheeled back to the bay area and awaited the next part of the surgery - maybe 5-10 minutes - but not long. Then I was wheeled into another room where I was draped except for the eye being done. That part was weird - I was awake and could hear and see some different lights and felt pressure at different parts. This part of the surgery lasted about 10 minutes. I was then wheeled out to another area, given some sun glasses, something to drink and then sent home!
Yesterday was a complete blur - I could not see ANYTHING all day out of that eye. It was of course dilated to the MAX and that dilation still had not gone away by bedtime (surgery at 11 something AM). This morning was a different story. I was seeing, for the first time in my adult life without a contact or glasses in that eye!!! To give you an idea of how bad my cataract was, I could not even see the big E on the chart with my glasses on. This morning, I am delighted to say that my far sight was 20/15 and my near was 20/25!! The near is still very fuzzy though! They tell me this should improve as the eye heals. Also, I am getting some flashes of light in the side of my eye. The optometrist says this is the lens settling and should stop within a few weeks.
Next Monday, I am getting the Syngery in my other eye. I asked the optometrist about this in the follow-up again as to why the different lens. She said that one needs two perfect eyes to have Synergy in both eyes and my dominant is slightly less than perfect. She also says that they have given this combination to many people and it works well. She also said that the Synergy should give me better close-up vision.
I'll provide another update next week once the other eye is done. So far so good!!! I am very thankful to those of you on here who told me to look for a good surgeon as a priority! As he is good, he not only did his assessment, but he also sent me to a retinologist to get checked out before he would touch my eyes. He also researches and publishes A LOT on this topic - so I felt confident that I was in good hands. I am hoping for as good as an outcome on the other eye!
2 likes, 57 replies
soks Jennifer_Guess
Posted
congrats on your surgery. glad everything went well. at 48 your pupil is still large. i suggest you check night time vision everyday by going outside and in car driven by someone else everyday until your next surgery.
good luck on synergy. if i get synergy i will have your combination. but synergy in my dominant eye and symfony in my non-dominant eye.
Jennifer_Guess soks
Posted
Thanks @soks 😃 That's a terrific recommendation. I will do that.
With regard to the combination, I think a lot are doing this now. In a comment on YouTube, a pilot told me his surgeon was doing the same for him. Fingers crossed!
john20510 Jennifer_Guess
Edited
Sounds like you went with laser assisted cataract surgery, why did you go with laser, did your surgeon say its better?
Jennifer_Guess john20510
Posted
Hi @john20510,
I think it's just what he does - but I am not completely sure if I am honest. That's probably not good - but after feeling overloaded with everything, I just decided to trust the surgeon I ultimately chose so did not really ask very much about the laser part.
john20510 Jennifer_Guess
Edited
No its good, laser is the latest technology for cataracts surgery and supposed to be slightly better then the normal way
Jennifer_Guess john20510
Posted
Hi @john20510 - I thought so too until I watched a video by Dr. Wong on YouTube stating that he no longer does the laser part. His rationale seems to be centered around it taking longer b/c of potential complications - but he doesn't say the outcomes are worse. I think he meant it can slow down the surgeon in terms of number of surgeries done in a day (i.e., $$$$) as when a complication happens, it can slow things down.
RonAKA Jennifer_Guess
Edited
Good to hear that the first eye surgery went well. My wife recently had both eyes done, and they gave her half a pill to put under her tongue as a sedative. She was told it was Ativan. Her experience with the procedure was similar to yours but she did not have the laser bit. She did have to go through a step where she saw the surgeon in another room where he marked her eye for the toric lens angle though.
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My recollection is that you are the first in my time here to get a Symphony-Synergy combination. It will be interesting to hear how it works out for you.
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It takes some time for the swelling after the procedure to settle down and only then do you know for sure what you have for vision. A week should give you a pretty good idea, and 6 weeks for full stability. Wishing you all the best on the second procedure and full recovery.
Jennifer_Guess RonAKA
Posted
Thanks @RonAKA 😃 My mother helped me to remember the name of the sedative - Versed! Now knowing what the drug does (keeps one from remembering), I now understand why I did not remember it!!! Ha ha! I think it must have been a low dose, however, as I very much remember (or at least I think I do), key parts of the experience. It did, for sure chill me out because I do remember thinking - 'this should be bothering me' - or 'why am I okay with what he is doing now?'....so yeah, it worked! Forgot to note that the surgeon did come over to my bed and mark my eye - and said 'we'll take great care of you today'...they did indeed 😃
Glad your wife had a good experience.
This morning, things are even more crisp far away! I really cannot believe how sharp my vision is. Reading is still blurry up close - but very crisp at about 2ft - so intermediate is excellent! I think this is probably similar to the Vivity lens - and in fact, I kept wondering if the Symfony was the J&J equivalent of the Vivity? Not sure, but from what the optometrist explained on my follow-up yesterday - EDOF, so maybe so?
I am hoping the Synergy does provide great up close as she said it would. Really, I am very happy right now and would take another Synergy in the other eye in a heartbeat - readers don't bother me as they are so cheap and I have been using them on top of multi-focal contacts for a few years now. But I will keep trusting my surgeon and just go with what he recommends and see how the Synergy works out.
I've actually had to push my second surgery out another week due to a schedule conflict for my husband - so that will give me more time to recover from the surgery, which a few people on here have been suggesting I do 😃
RonAKA Jennifer_Guess
Edited
I believe Ativan and Versed are very similar drugs in the same benzodiazepines class. I hope they work well. I had my first eye done in a hospital with an IV sedative and that was a piece of cake. My next eye is likely going to be done in the same clinic my wife's eyes were done, so I'm expecting the pill under the tongue method for sedation.
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I believe the Symphony is significantly stronger EDOF lens than the Vivity. The Vivity is a mild EDOF. And the Eyhance is even milder still. That is why the Vivity and Eyhance can benefit from some under correction in the non dominant eye to give some mini monovision.
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An extended interval between eyes is always good. You know better what you really got in the first eye, and if something unexpected happens there is time to potentially make a different decision on the second eye. But it sounds like your first eye went well.
rwbil Jennifer_Guess
Posted
I have Tecnis MF in one eye and Synergy in the other eye. From everything I have read I think Synergy can offer the best overall Vision, but IMHO it is also the highest risk diffractive IOL. I don't think anyone with any other eye condition other than cataracts should get the Synergy IOL and I am not just talking about the big eye issues, but even people with long or short eyes. My doctor even stated astigmatism can be a problem with diffractive IOL so it is important to nail that down also.
Also Synergy is very sensitive to refractive error, so get several IOL master measurements and maybe use a doctor that has the ORA System.
On my 1 month follow-up I was 20/20 with my MF; 20/20 -2 with Synergy and 20/15-2 bilaterally. Close was J1 and J1+ bilaterally.
Jennifer_Guess rwbil
Posted
Hi @rwbil - that syncs with what the optometrist said yesterday - that only a perfect eye is a candidate for the Synergy for them. She did not say why my left eye is less than perfect (and I did not ask), but it gives me confidence that they are rigorous in their assessments. I remember in an earlier appointment the surgical coordinator stating that I was lucky as he doesn't recommend these for many people - I ignored her as I just attributed the statement to a marketing tactic - but now realize maybe she was being sincere. My surgeon is a prominent researcher in refractive surgery, so I am sure he's done the measurements correctly 😃
Congratulations on your results. I hope to have a great outcome after surgery 2 😃
Jennifer_Guess
Edited
Also - another minor update. I just found a J&J ID card from the surgery center for the lens that was implanted. It was the Symfony Model ZXR00V - not sure what the code means though.
RonAKA Jennifer_Guess
Edited
I can't seem to find much information on that specific lens. I did find a little which suggests it is an OptiBlue version of the Symfony. This appears to be a violet filter which acts somewhat similar to the blue light filter used on many Alcon lenses. It may provide a more natural color profile and have less chromatic aberration than a clear lens. Tecnis lenses have typically been clear.
Jennifer_Guess RonAKA
Posted
Thanks @RonAKA - I could not find much either, but did see something about the OptiBlue too. Seems like a cool lens! My vision has gotten better - now day 3 post surgery and I can now clearly read my mobile phone with normal size text up close. The clarity of intermediate and distance is out of the world.
RonAKA Jennifer_Guess
Posted
That sounds good. Closer vision would be the expected weakness of the Symfony, but it sounds like you got a good outcome. The Synergy should do better still at close vision.
Jennifer_Guess RonAKA
Posted
@RonAKA Yeah, it's definitely not perfect, still a bit fuzzy, but a lot clearer than the day after surgery. Yes, hopefully will be very clear with the Synergy.
soks Jennifer_Guess
Posted
what is normal size text? the smallest size? and how close can you being your fone till you lose clarity.
another good test is watching video on your phone as opposed to the ability to read. how sharp is the video?
the synergy is also optiblue so your color tint should be same.
Jennifer_Guess soks
Posted
Hi @soks - it's just the factory default - whatever that is. I have an iPhone 12 Pro.
I can read the phone at about 18 inches and then as I bring it closer I lose clarity.
One thing I am worried about is that things are still blurry!!! Just seems like an overall cloud over things....is this normal? Is it the eye drops? It's actually a bit similar to the cataract in terms of cloudiness . I don't know how to explain it, but even on the far sighted things are crisp, yet overall cloudiness?
I'll watch a video and see how that goes 😃
Sue.An2 Jennifer_Guess
Posted
Eye drops do affect clarity - some more than others. My near vision got better after the drops stopped. With Symfony I can read from 12 inches. I even repaired tiny screw that fell out from my sun glasses. I rarely use glasses except for tiny print.
Trade off will be the concentric circles around certain light sources at night. Perhaps Synergy will balance that out a bit.
Jennifer_Guess Sue.An2
Posted
@Sue.An2I hope so! I am actually scared that I did something as I bent over on my 5th day after surgery to touch my toes (I regularly touch my toes to stretch and just forgot that day) and was told not to bend the first week. I've been paranoid since that maybe I did something to dislocate it/move it. It's just blurry with side glare and is probably normal.
Sue.An2 Jennifer_Guess
Posted
hopefully just side glare. Takes a few weeks for that IOL to shrink wrap (for lack of s better term). You should have a 2 week check up with your surgeon). He or she will be able to check whether it's rotated or out of position.
Jennifer_Guess Sue.An2
Posted
Hi @Sue.An2 - I had a one-week check up today and she said it looks normal. She said it could be internal inflammation that she cannot see. I have another check up in 3 weeks - hopefully subsided by then.