Surgery - Both Eyes at Once
Posted , 11 users are following.
Hello to all,
Am very new to cataracts, so please bear with me...
I'm 45 and recently diagnosed with pretty advanced cataracts in both eyes. I wondered why my vision had been getting so bad!
Because of various factors I'm having the surgery done privately - and the surgeon has said he sees no danger in doing both eyes on the same day. I've read a few pros and cons for this approach, so wondering if anyone here has experienced this?
Thanks in advance,
Jack
2 likes, 22 replies
gary06773 jack109
Posted
Totally painless No problem at all
The surgeon did the first eye and asked me if I still wanted the second eye doing that day or if I wished tio re schedual
If I had been retired I would have gone for the two weeks apart
As a couple of weeks wouldnt make much difference
But it was nice to have a choice
The right one for me
Regards Gary
jack109
Posted
And apologies for not replying sooner - couldn't get into my account, but could read the replies
To update: I took heed and had the eyes done a month apart. And I'm so glad I did, as I developed a horrible allergy in the first eye shortly after surgery (allergy to the preservatives in the drops) and it rendered me all but sightless for a while. Had that happened to BOTH eyes, if they'd been operated on simultaneously, I'd have freaked! So now, the second eye is healing nicely with different drops being used.
My advice, now I'm in the know, would be to have the eyes done separately, as you never quite know how you're going to heal/react etc.
Bumblebea jack109
Posted
it is always better to be safe that sorry. Allergic reaction is very common, and is the thing which complicated mine, and has damaged my eye permanently, so I understand exactly how you must have felt.We only have one pair of eyes, and anything like this, makes you realise hwo precious they are. Being in the know is everything, as you say. Good Luck
jack109 Bumblebea
Posted
Wise words from you as always.
And so sorry about your allergic reaction. Was it from the eye drops (preservatives)? They caused me to have a 'burnt' cornea and it was SO painful. Ugh!
x
cdavismorgan jack109
Posted
I understand the desire to get things over with, but if you have any inkling that there could be complications, I would hesitate to do both at the same time. It depends on your age, work situation, etc. If it wouldn't greatly affect you to be out of work for a couple weeks, it might be fine.
RonAKA jack109
Posted
I see this is an old thread, but since there is not a lot of activity in the forum I will throw in my 2 cents.
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Years ago I had an uncle that was nearly blind in both eyes and could not get anything done in any kind of reasonable wait in at his home in Manitoba. He came to to Alberta where we were and got one eye done, which was all they would do at that time. He got the second eye done back in Manitoba many months later.
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Today, I can't really comment if both eyes are commonly done together here. I have a friend who got Alcon PanOptix in both eyes last year, and I believe they were done 4-6 weeks apart. In my case I have bad vision in one eye only, so Alberta Health Services will not even consider paying for the second eye until it gets much worse. For that reason, mine will likely be done several months apart.
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This said I can only think of a couple of reasons to get both eyes done at the same time. One might be cost if the surgeon will give you a two at a time special price. I think that is unlikely however. The second reason may be convenience, especially if you have to travel some distance to get the surgery done.
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I can however think of some reasons why it would be better to separate the surgeries by 6 weeks or so. First would be if monovision is being considered. Normally the distance eye is done first. After six weeks or so the eye is healed and one will know exactly what vision is achieved. If it is good at distance (and that is not 100% assured) then the second eye can be under corrected to provide some near vision. However, if there is a whoops in the first eye correction and in the worst case is over corrected, and really good distance correction without glasses is a must, then it may make some sense to correct the second eye for distance too, but do a better job the second time. This will not achieve monovision, but it potentially will give good distance vision without glasses. And in the case that the first eye is successful and the vision in the second eye is good enough, there can be a window to test monovision with a contact in the remaining eye. This again allows for another decision point. Do I really want to do monovision? And that is exactly what my plan is.
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Another more basic consideration is the eye care post surgery. It is likely going to be easier to care for one eye at a time than two eyes. But I guess that will depend on the vision in the second eye without correction.
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A potential drawback of doing one eye at a time may be that an eyeglass prescription change, or a lens simply popped out, so you can get by with one corrected eye, and one eye not corrected. Contacts may be another choice.
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Those were the thoughts I have mulled over, although I really have no choice to get both eyes done at the same time. If I had the choice, I would not do it though. I like to procrastinate to the very end, and having them both done at the same time would deny me that pleasure!