Post op - is all of this normal?
Posted , 5 users are following.
I had cataract removed from left eye on Friday. I do not have a cataract in my right eye but am highly myopic. I wore progressive glasses before but am wearing a contact in my right eye now.
Here are my concerns: My new Panoptix eye is not crisp at any distance. I can read at about 12 inches but it’s fuzzy. Intermediate is also not sharp. It’s like I have a film over the eye. It feels like I have a contact in with a smudge all over it. My distance vision is not very good at all compared to my other eye with contact lens. All colors in the Panoptix lens are washed out and I feel like I see things more flattened - not as much depth or distinction. The letters on my iPhone are grey - not black. I cannot see details like wall texture. I cannot see details of my own face in the mirror. I have ghosting around letters on my iphone, but the degree varies in severity throughout the day. I’m taking steroid eye drops, an antibiotic, and a preservative free lubricating drop.
Are my results to be as expected at 72 hours post op or should things be better? Is the washed out color just what I have to live with now? Is it normal for my vision to be really bad in the morning, get better, and then get worse toward evening? Does this get better with time? I’m most worried about the washed out colors and lack of any sharpness.
I was having light flashes in the corner of my vision if there was a light off to the side but that seems to be getting better, as is my flickering vision. The halos around lights are not bothersome to me yet, although I have not attempted driving. I do not feel my distance vision is safe enough for driving during the day or night.
I have a follow up in a few days but my nerves are starting to get to me and any reassurance (hopefully) would be much appreciated.
0 likes, 11 replies
RonAKA mary84657
Posted
The normal practice is to get an eye exam 1 day after surgery. Did you get an exam and did the surgeon think everything was good? They normally do the exam this soon so if there are any issues the lens can be adjusted right away.
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This said 3 days after surgery, everything will not be normal. It takes up to 6 weeks for the eye to fully recovery from surgery.
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How bad was your cataract before surgery? Normally people are amazed by how vivid the colours are after cataract surgery especially if the cataract was well progressed. There are some compromises to contrast sensitivity and sharpness of focus in the PanOptix lens to get the range of vision, but I would not expect them to be so noticeable.
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You may want to call the surgeon's clinic and express your concerns. They may want to do an eye exam to be sure everything is ok.
mary84657 RonAKA
Posted
I saw the surgeon later after my surgery on the same day. My cataract was not that bad but because of my already horrible vision I opted to get it fixed. I do expect some loss of contrast but also expected some wow factor at ditching the cataract. So far, I am under-wowed. I am prepared for it taking some time but am starting to worry maybe this loss of color/contrast is what I should have expected in comparison to my good eye. Before surgery I just noticed loss of vision but not this level of washed out vibrancy.
RonAKA mary84657
Posted
The loss of contrast sensitivity should normally only be expected in dimmer light. In bright light conditions I would expect it to be good.
soks mary84657
Posted
mary84657 soks
Posted
I was not told about edema but was told to expect my vision to get worse before it got better. I have a friend with the same lens (both eyes) and she had great vision and was back at work by this stage of the game. I probably should not compare my recovery to hers, as I am reading other accounts now here that are less positive in the beginning. It sounds like you are not pleased with your Symphony and sorry for that.
karin08666 mary84657
Edited
You should read the posts by 007 from 7 months ago. 007 takes you through their experience with Panoptic. This might answer some of your questions. Search:
To Panoptix or not to Panoptix that is the question?
What 007 is experiencing after surgery starts near the bottom of page 2.
mary84657 karin08666
Posted
Thank you, yes, I am reading it all now and gaining some hope. My eyes are so tired that I can only read it in small doses.
007Bond mary84657
Posted
Wow karin08666 is right reads like my post from 7 months ago almost verbatim. What I learned through my experience is that I had a lot of issues with dry eyes and the preservative free lubricating drops were very helpful. Unfortunately I didn't start using them until a few weeks in. I had the same issue with nothing being sharp honestly it really didn't clear up until a few weeks after I stopped the drops which lasted 30 days so you're looking at like seven or eight weeks. Thankfully I just got my second Panoptix and it was almost 100% by the first week. Honestly I don't think I really had good sharp vision until around the 4th month. But like I said thankfully for the second eye everything dialed in in just about a week. So I was just like you for a while left eye Panoptix right eye Natural lens. It takes a little getting used to but right now both of my eyes have the Panoptix and I was just driving down the highway today still amazed at the level of vision from my dashboard to very distant road signs, All with no glasses. I'd say you're probably OK just give it some time I think you'll adapt over the course of the next several weeks maybe even sooner.!
mary84657 007Bond
Posted
I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to document your experience. It is giving me the hope to persevere! Such a relief that you were in a similar place and found success. I am pleased for you and hope the same for myself through the long haul.
mary84657
Posted
I had a follow up appointment and all looks good so far. I am seeing 20/30 for intermediate and distance and 20/25 for near. Again, this is not clear and feels like I am looking through fog or a smear on my eye. The doctor reassured me this is normal at this stage. That made me feel better. I am still not comfortable driving but I did go out after dark as a passenger. I am definitely seeing the rings and spiderwebs on lights (even during the day). They seem worse from far away. Street lights have about 6-8 rings and the light itself seems extra bright. I have hope this will get better in time. It is hard to say if this is comparable or worse than what I was seeing before, since I was having lots of glare before lens replacement. If I could resolve the smudged vision and get better clarity, I think I would not be bothered emotionally by the light halos. My drops have been reduced and I am glad for that.
007Bond mary84657
Posted
mary84657
Your experience is very parallel to what I experienced with my left eye. For whatever reason it really didn't get clear till 8 to 10 weeks and even continued to improve over the next few months. It was discouraging that it took about four months to be completely clear. My experience with my right eye is completely different right around day 7-8 things were clear and they continue to be excellent today.
You will find many opinions about the rings and spider webs. I'm hoping that your vision becomes 20/20 near and far so that the spider webs are a very small price to pay. Definitely you just have to be patient over the course of time unfortunately.
Have you tried the preservative free lubricating eye drops that's one thing that really seemed to help me.
You are correct that the spider webs are more noticeable from a distance and they seem to disappear as things get closer. This does improve over in the course of time so just be patient. Right now I'm at I guess seven months with the left eye and 2 1/2 weeks with the right eye. I just came back from over 1000 mile road trip both day and night. As I've noted before if I stare into the headlights of oncoming traffic I do see spider webs. However there's no reason to stare into the headlights of oncoming traffic while you're driving you should keep your eyes on the road in front of you. Once you learn to bring your focus back to the road in front of you and not pay so much attention to the spider webs they just disappear and you don't see them anymore while you're driving. Are they still there sure probably but as long as they're not bothering you and you don't notice them it doesn't really matter your vision will be clear of the road in front of you. For me I definitely find that different kind of lights are more prone to this than others. Very bright LED lights definitely cause more spider webs than traditional lights. But I have been driving a lot at night and I'm noticing less and less types of light cause any problem. So I think over the course of time different styles and colors of light will eventually become less and less noticeable.
On my recent road trip I was driving through the finger lakes of upstate New York. I stopped at several parks, seen a few waterfalls and quite a bit of springtime bloom. I still am finding myself just staring at things thinking to myself how vibrant they are I cannot remember the last time things looked this clear or vibrant. The springtime colors really pop like I really don't remember ever seeing them this way. Probably many years ago when I was very young, they probably look like this but that's long forgotten I guess.
Since it seems you will most likely continue for a long while with your natural right eye I think that once your vision clears up in some time you will not notice any side effects. Your brain will blend together both eyes and filter out anything that's still remaining. The hardest part is giving it time and focusing on how you want to see and not how you see. I strongly feel that some people who continue to experience issues are so focused on the negative they cannot see the positive.
Just so everyone does not get me wrong I'm not saying that some people do not experience legitimate problems and have legitimate issues. I'm simply stating in my opinion after reading countless posts and articles I find that some people are very laser focused on the things they have read. More specifically people read that the side effects of lens X are ABC and they become very focused on these. So much so that they cannot allow themselves to forget about it and move on. If you wake up every day thinking about all the problems you're going to have that day you're probably going to have quite a few problems. But if you wake up thinking how great your day is going to be you're definitely setting yourself up for a more successful day. Since some of this depends on neuroadaptation positive thinking is definitely going to help you adapt.
mary84657 I think you are going to be fine it’s just going to take a bit.