Symfony lens halos

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This summer I had cataract surgery in both eyes and opted for the Symfony lens implants, including a toric lens in the astigmatic right eye.

My experience, two months out in left eye and two months out in right eye: Distance is crisp and colors are sharper. Daytime driving is noticeably easier.

Nighttime driving is a problem; severe halos around headlights and streetlights, like starbursts coming at me down the highway and concentric circles particularly in red lights. I also experience the same to some degree with bright images on a dark background on the television screen. Not as intense as with driving, but noticeable halos. My ophthalmologist says they will go away in time, but I am not yet convinced. There has been no improvement yet.

Computer work is fine, although I have increased font size a bit for less eye strain. Need 1.25 to 1.50 reading glasses for smaller print in books and on labels. I have residual astigmatism in the right eye, which had a toric lens implant. This may require treatment with Lasik.

Considering the expense of the lenses, I may have been better off with mono-focal lenses and continued glasses, which would have been covered by insurance. So the jury is out with me.

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  • Posted

    I had the regular standard monofocal put in my dominate eye about a month ago.  I love it. Clear, crisp vision -- yes, I need reading glasses to read with it, but I was used to using them before, so no biggy.  I wish I never had the symphony implanted.  I now wonder if I am getting OPC as the vision seems to degrade in that eye -- but maybe it is just because I am aware of the difference between the two eyes. (I know the symphony was never calibrated for perfect distance vision -- it's part of the trade off  for better near vision). Not sure, but an appointment next month might tell me.  I notice that when I switch between close reading and mid vision (TV) my symfony eye seems to take a bit of time to refocus -- until then, things are blurry.  I do see glare with the scroll on the TV (black and white lettering) and even when reading a book -- its like a ghost of light at the top of the book, off the white pages.  However, having the dominate eye in a monofocal means the starbursts and the concentric circles are manageable for night driving, although they have not diminished in the symfony eye in almost 6 months.  In a pinch, I can read things like clothing price tags, and some menus, unaided with reading glasses. I guess that is the upside of the symfony.     

    ?I do wonder if those of us who have the night artifacts are more near sighted.  My optometrist says that his very near sighted patients seem to have more difficulty with a symphony/multi-focal, and a friend who never wore glasses, seems to be pleased, so far, with her symfony. 

    • Posted

      I surely don't know where some of the optometrists are getting their "facts" to make wild conjectures!

      The night artifacts have nothing to do with how your vision was before the cataract surgery.

      Based on my experience with the Symfony lens, one is more apt to see the multiple concentric circles around lights at night if they have less glare and see less starbursts and if they have better contrast vision.

    • Posted

      Sounds very similar to my experience. Thankfully my left eye is not that bad and I can function as is - albeit annoying. I did some fairly significant research both prior and after the fact. The research indicated that the problems we are having occur in around 5% of patients; I played the odds and unfortunately lost. There is a very good article out there by an eye surgeon, who was himself the patient, mixed two different multi-focal lenses with good success. He chronicalled the entire process and results. If I ever decide to do my other eye I will pull up that article and explore my options. Under no circumstances will I ever consider a symfony lens again and would advise others to stay away.
    • Posted

      Regarding the (5%?) incidence of halos or multiple concentric circles with Symfony lens, the data are based on the surgeons who were doing the study for Abbott and thus probably a little biased. The data did not even make a distinction between a single halo which one may see around a monofocal lens and multiple concentric circles which one sees with the Symfony lens, so that no one will know that it is a different effect with the Symfony lens. Even then, the severe and moderate halos were a total of 10.2 % and not 5% (from Symfony web site). The data also did not try to make a distinction between mild symptoms (with no definition) and zero symptoms. I am sure that if the a majority of the 89.8% value was for mild symptoms only and was listed as such, the data would raise a lot more red flags in people's minds.

    • Posted

      Probably from years of seeing patients. Your experience?????
    • Posted

      I don't believe only 5% at all.  My issues after 3 months are severe.  I'm so very sorry for choosing Symfony.  I've waited years and years to have this surgery done and paid $7200 for the surgery only to be stuck with irritated eyes, and huge halos and starbursts.  Today I'm going in to my surgeon to consider removing them.  This product shouldn't even be on the market.  

    • Posted

      Bucklywheat - you say you’ve been waiting years for this surgery - was that due to wait time for cataract to deteriorate to point where surgery was necessary?   Or did you opt for clear lens exchange?
    • Posted

       I had Symfony  lenses in both eyes  six months ago biggest mistake I ever made!
  • Posted

    Hello all. This is my first post here. I've been reading all of the comments in this discussion with great interest because I too have been having similar problems as all of you. I will try to be brief. I went in for cataract surgery 3 months ago. A Symfony lens was implanted in my dominant eye (right). I attended a film festival 2 days after the surgery. The theater I was in is very ornate, with a lot of ornamental lighting inside. I was devastated by what I saw (halos, glare, ghosting) on everything from the lights inside the theater, off of people's cell phones and even on the movie screen itself. The drive home at night (with all the glare, halos, etc.) was just as scary. My first thought was that I had ruined my eyes. Longer story short, I was so scared that canceled the surgery on my 2nd eye, which was originally scheduled for 1 week after the 1st eye surgery. From that day 3 months ago until today, I have not noticed any difference in my eyes. Night driving in heavy traffic is horrible and I still see ghosting on the movie screen in a theater ... even on my own TV at times. I also see glare in the daytime, in certain conditions.

    I had a 2nd opinion today with a different, respected surgeon. He told me that the surgeon who did my 1st eye nailed the surgery ... that it looked great. We talked about doing a lens exchange switching the Symfony lens to a standard mono-focal lens. He said I could do that, but he instead recommended that I have a 2nd Symfony lens implanted in my other eye to match the first one. He said they need to work together and that the artifacts that I'm seeing should go away within a month after the 2nd eye is done. He said the brain will make the adjustment and I shouldn't see most of the halo effect anymore. He also said that I might have to use drops after the surgery, to constrict my pupils while watching movies in a theater (because my pupils get very dilated in the dark and I might still be seeing some halo effects).

    Like some of you, at this point, I regret going with a multi-focal lens, but I'm so far into it, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to change back again. As of this writing, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. For what it's worth, I was nearsighted before the surgery ... so right now my eyes are kind of fighting each other. There's much more to the story, but I mainly wanted to let you all know that it's comforting, in an odd way, to know that I'm not alone in this. This whole experience has been a living nightmare.

    • Posted

      So sorry to hear about your experience.  Can tell through your post how frustrated you are.  

      Did you have cataracts prior to the surgery or decide on a clear lens exchange to rid yourself of glasses or contact lenses?

      Pupils in younger patients do dialate more than someone older so if you are younger that could account for some of the visual outcomes you have in dark settings.

      I too have Symfony lenses - my surgeries were 6 weeks apart.  Even with one eye operated on I did not have the effects you have at the movie theatre, concert or inside my house. So not really sure if you have the second surgery these would magically disappear.  I did notice after 2nd surgery that reading got better.   This isn’t to say I have no visual issues at night.   In the beginning glare and starbursts were very strong on outside lighting and driving was difficult. After a few months that settled but I still see multiple concentric circles around light sources outside - particularly traffic lights and cars when they brake and other LED lights.  I don’t think those will ever disappear as it is part of Symfony ‘s design.

      Have you been back to your optometrist to see if your surgeon nailed the surgery?  Optometrists are better at knowing your prescription.  My surgeon did an eye test - reading distance and near but didn’t actually provide me with an exact prescription.  Mainly because those tests were done at 24 hours post op.  Your vision would have changed as eye heals and IOL settles into place.  Before you decide on your 2nd eye my recommendation would be your see an optometrist to find out if indeed you have 20/20 vision for distance and if there is any astigmatism (which can play a factor in how your eye sees in dark conditions and lighting).

      Although I am happy with my Symfony lenses I know not everyone is and I wouldn’t want to see you proceed and be doubly disappointed.  It may be your best course of action to go with a monofocal lens that would balance out the dark/night effects of Symfony.  IOLs can be mixed and matched very effectively.

      Wishing you all the best as you make this decision.

    • Posted

      Yes, I did have an astigmatism. I'm not sure, but I think it was in the eye that was worked on.

    • Posted

      Thank you Sue.An.

      I did have cataracts in both eyes before the surgery. The eye that was worked on (my right eye) is the eye that was the worst. I've had cataracts growing in my eyes for at least 10 years. What set everything in motion is that my glasses frames broke, and following an eye exam, it was strongly suggested that I have cataract surgery instead of getting a new pair of glasses.

      I'm 62 years old.

      My regular optometrist did my post op tests, to make sure everything was healing okay (like no internal bleeding or infection setting in). I've seen him 3 (maybe 4) times since the surgery, with the last (and final) time being about a month ago. He didn't see anything wrong with the surgery at all and said that everything looked very good, as he would expect. During one of those visits, he said I was seeing 20/20, although at the last visit, I thought he said 20/25. ??  I don't have anything in writing. I did ask about possibly getting glasses to help the eye that hasn't been worked on yet, but he said that my eyes might not be settled yet, so that's where that left off. For what it's worth, the surgeon who gave me a 2nd opinion yesterday, ran me through all of the normal eye exams since it was the 1st time seeing him. He said that my "new" eye was seeing 20/20. (I don't know if he was referring to both far and near distance ... but I can't read near when I cover up my "old eye", so I'm assuming the 20/20 reading is only for distance).

      The surgeon I saw yesterday also suggested that whatever route I take, that I should consider a YAG operation after the eye surgery is finished because of a film build-up on the eye that was already worked on ... which he said was not caused by the surgery. Sorry if I'm not getting all of the terminology right. This YAG part is all new to me as of yesterday.

       

    • Posted

      Sounds like you are doing all you can to get information to make an informed decision.  

      It’s interesting how long cataracts can take for some before it affects decision. At 53 I was first diagnosed with cataracts and needed surgery same year as my eyesight had deteriorated.  (I made the appointment with optometrist as all I thought was wrong was I needed stronger glasses).  Needless to say it’s been a whirlwind kind of year for me.

      Is it possible to ask your optometrist for a written prescription?  I am wondering if you have a moderate or significant amount of astigmatism that affects the way you see glare and halos on inside lights.  Or did you have a Symfony Toric Lens implanted which corrects astigmatism.  It is possible if lens during healing process rotated which would account for this too although vision would be blurry and it sounds like during daylight or good lighting conditions you see everything crisp and clear.  But it would be good information for you to have your exact prescription.   On the advice of people on these forums I did go to get my prescription post cataract surgeries so at least my optometrist will have on file a baseline for any future visits/issues that arise.

      A lot of countries cover the entire expense for cataract surgery once cataracts have progressed to point where glasses and contacts no longer correct vision.  But usually one needs to go with a monofocal lens.   In a lot of countries surgeons try to upsell the premium lenses so sometimes money is a factor in surgeon’ recommendations.   Not saying that is always the case - but good to be aware of.

      If it has been 3 months I don’t believe much more will change due to healing process (unless there are complications which it doesn’t sound like there are).

      Since you are a first time poster- I recommend you start a new discussion.  There are a lot of good people here on these forums and would be beneficial to you to have them weigh in on your situation.

      Wishing you nothing but the best.

    • Posted

      Did you get the Symfony Toric to correct the astigmatism?  Or did you have astigmatism corrected by lase?

      I have noticed a lot of complaints associated with Symfony Toric than the Symfony without Toric.

    • Posted

      Sorry for your problems; they sure sound like the ones I had. My gut told me that doing the dominate eye with a Symfony was not the way to go and my wonderful optometrist (sure wish I had gone to him before all this started) agreed.  Four months after the Symfony IOL, I had a standard monofocal in the dominate eye.  I am very pleased with it, and it has helped even out the artifacts with the Symfony.  I wish you well.     
    • Posted

      No. Irrespective of what the surgeon says, if you are seeing a lot of multiple circles or halos with the Symfony lens in one eye, having a similar lens in the other eye will not make those go away. Again with time, you will learn to live with those, as we do everything unpleasant in life, but unfortunately you will still see those.

      Actually, you will have a better chance of having those easier to deal with, if you get a monofocal lens in the second eye. And no, there is no problem in using a monofocal lens in combination with a symfony lens. I have that combination.

    • Posted

      Thanks again Sue.An.

      I can probably get a written prescription, but honestly right now I'm just too upset from this whole experience that I'd like to brush it aside and try not to think about it for a while. My nerves feel pretty raw these days. (Ditto for starting a new discussion thread).

      To answer your and soks' question, I don't know the specific type of Symfony lens was used (as in if it's Toric or not). I don't think I have any paperwork on that either, although it has been a while since I've looked through everything so maybe it's there somewhere.

      Thank you for the well wishes. I'll try to continue reading these threads in the hopes of learning more. Right now, I'm leaning toward having a 2nd Symfony lens implanted in my 2nd eye, simply because that is what's being recommended and I don't know enough about the other options to feel confident about them.

    • Posted

      Thank you at201 ... not what I want to hear, but good to know. It's so depressing. You think that you're going for the best option and it turns out to be the worst. It's a terrible feeling.

      I'll look into the option of having a monofocal lens implanted ... although I'm so tired of dealing with doctors right now. They probably are tired of seeing me too.

      What a mess. :-(

    • Posted

      You’re welcome.  I know you must be exhausted mentally about all this.  I am dealing with a whole new medical issue that’s driving me a little crazy.

      Sometimes best thing to do is nothing and wait - and in the case of cataracts it usually is not an urgent matter so time is on your side.   Lenses cannot be exchanged easily and usually involves a more skilled surgeon so until you are comfortable with a decision you make don’t be pressed by surgeons etc.  Symfony lenses are not cheap and if you aren’t satisfied with one - I can assure you another one won’t be better.  In my case I was happy with first one.  I knew and can live with the concentric circles around some light sources while driving.  But wouldn’t want to be seeing visual disturbances in movie theatres or my home or at work with my computer.

      If you can find out if you were given a regular Symfony or Symfony Toric Lens.  If you were provided s card to carry in your wallet it will be written there next to lens type.

      If not fully convinced your best bet to mitigate the visual disturbances would be a monofocal lens in the other eye (also save you the expense as cataract surgery with standard lenses are usually covered by national health plan).

      Good luck RPK0925

    • Posted

      You are welcome.. Today is a bad day for my Symfony -- sometimes after computer time, or reading, it will not focus for distance -- presently I can not read the writing on the 55 inch tv from across the room (Kyron)  -- my monofocal does it perfectly -- good vision all the time (even if I need readers with it) while the Symfony is hit and miss. Today, I would rip it out with my fingers if I could. My doc gave me some mumble jumble about eye muscles causing it -- cramping up or some such gobbledegook.  I know it will take hours for it to readjust.   
    • Posted

      Does that happen every time with your Symfony Lens?   I find my vision seamless going from near to distance.  I don’t think that is a symptom of the lens design.  Have you sought out another opthamologist ‘s opinion on why that happens?
    • Posted

      Thanks again Sue.An.

      I didn't know anything about concentric circles being a possibility until after the surgery. I didn't even know what a halo was until after the surgery, although I thought I did. Before the surgery, I thought a halo was a soft glow around headlights or tail lights. I had no idea it was an actual ring that glowed (and was filled with finer radial lines and concentric circles). They really should show you pictures of these things ahead of time.

      I was never given a card ... don't even know what that is. Maybe that's because I canceled before the 2nd surgery was performed. I imagine at some point I'll accept that I made a huge mistake and just move on with my life, but I'm not there yet.

      Thank you all for listening to me and helping me out. I do appreciate it.

    • Posted

      They gave me the wallet card to identify my right eye IOL the same day as the surgery before I went home. I have only had one eye done so far since it will probably be years before my left eye's cataract gets bad enough to need it.

      If you didn't get an IOL wallet card you should ask your eye surgeon for one, sounds like they forgot about it.  It should show the IOL make and model plus details like the power value on it.

    • Posted

      Yes I think so too Night Hawk.  The info has to be in the doctor’s file.   As a patient  one  has a right to know and this becomes particularly important should a 2nd  consult with a different surgeon be scheduled  is who would need those details.  

      RPK0925 don’t think it’s the worst decision- you made a wise decision to hold off in 2nd surgery and another type of lens could complement the Symfony one you have very well.

    • Posted

      If your surgeon performed the surgery at another facility, such as a hospital, they also will have a copy of your lens prescription. As a matter of fact, after my last cataract surgery, the hospital staff (and not the doctor) is the one who gave me a copy of the lens prescription when I was being checked out.

      In any case, the surgeon also must have a copy. You should just call the surgeon's office and ask for a copy. In most places, they are required by law to provide you a copy.

    • Posted

      Thank you all for the info. I’m learning a lot in here. Again, I appreciate the help. 
    • Posted

      No, it doesn't happen all the time, and I have not sought a second opinion -- will wait to see if the frequency increases.  

    • Posted

      I am no expert but guessing if it is not a constant/permanent thing it is not a lens issue.  Likely there is another underlying issue causing this.  If lens didn’t function you would not be able to see clearly at any time.

      It is too bad the experts can’t provide a more concrete response or investigate further.  You pay enough for a premium lens that you would think they would be more vested in ensuring a good outcome.  

      Hoping you get to the bottom of why this happens betwixt.  

    • Posted

      rpk0925, I am so sorry to hear about your problems. What you are saying about not being told about halos and other potential issues before surgery is terrible, but unfortunately, I think it's rather common. I think that the industry needs to create some educational materials that attempt to show patients what types of dysphotopsias can occur after cataract surgery and explain which ones are likely to be short term vs those that will require additional procedures. Also, images which attempt to show the specific side effects of a particular IOL vs those that are just a risk of the surgery itself are very useful.

      The information is out there but I'm convinced that most doctors just hand you a brochure and say, "here are your choices". No one should be sold a premium lens without fully understanding the tradeoffs and added risks involved. My surgeon was very good but pretty much all the research on the lens options I did myself and then I used this information to develop a list of detailed questions that we went through together. Had I not done this, I don’t think he would have spent more than 3 or 4 minutes discussing the lens and surgery options.

      I’m just thankful that this forum (and some others) exist. You do get a bit of a warped view since people are far more likely to seek out online forums if they have issues but in reading the posts on here, I found many good links to studies, articles and images of halo’s, the Symfony concentric ring “artifact”, and many of the other weird side effects of this surgery.  

      One nice thing about Symfony though (compared to a multifocal), is that patients seem to tolerate the combination of Symfony in one eye and a monofocal in the other pretty well. If I were you, I would not rush into the surgery on the 2nd eye. See if the first eye starts to improve and you can tolerate the side effects better before you make the decision.

    • Posted

      Thanks derek40125. I pretty much agree with everything you said.

      In my case, the consultation lasted 2 hours or more. In that time, I talked to 4 to 6 different people. I can't even remember exactly what all was covered as it was a little overwhelming at the time (eye tests, videos hyping different products [including multi-focal lenses], some questions probably trying to get an idea of my lifestyle). Halos were mentioned, but I don't remember in what context. But I do know that at the time, I didn't have the correct idea of what a halo was even though I thought I did (as I mentioned in a previous post). The surgeon was the last person I talked to in the consultation process. By the time I got to him, I had already asked most of my questions to the people before him. I remember expressing my concerns about losing my near vision as a result of the surgery and him telling me that readers weren't a big deal to get used to. Now that I think back on it, I think he did ask me if I currently saw halos (as in before the surgery) and I didn't know what he was referring to. After trying to explain it to me, I thought he meant a "glow" coming off of a tail light. (That right there might have been a major miscommunication. A printed image would have been real valuable at that time). Then he checked off 2 boxes on a sheet of paper, which were the 2 procedures he recommended that I choose from. He handed me the sheet of paper and that was about all the time I had with him ... it seemed like maybe 3 minutes tops.

    • Posted

      I've been looking for images/pics of the type of halo that I'm seeing following my cataract surgery, but haven't been able to find anything. Do you (or anybody) have any links to share? Everything I'm finding has a soft edge around the perimeter of the halo, whereas what I'm seeing (sometimes) is fine, double (or triple) edged hard lines in basically the form of a circle ... not a soft glow like I see in pictures. Thanks.

    • Posted

      A Symfony patient had his son create images depicting the multiple circles effect, and the depictions, posted on the patient's blog, are very similar to what I see.Can't post the link here, but you can find those pictures by searching for "My intraocular lens experience David Taylor, Stevenage, England" in a search engine.

      By the way, I see almost 10 circles around lights at night, caused by the Symfony lens design.

    • Posted

      Try this link:

      https://intraocularlensexperience.wordpress.com/author/superdavet150v[/b]/

    • Posted

      Thank you at201. I hadn't looked beyond this one thread that I'm posting in ... but I have just now. Wow! I love seeing all the discussions going on. I haven't found the post you referred to yet, but I'm looking forward to scanning through all the threads in any case. It really is nice to know that you aren't the only one going through some of these things. (As an aside, I think 100% of the people I talked to before having my surgery said "It's a breeze". Yeah right. ;-) )

       

    • Posted

      There is also a you tube video posted by an opthamologist who opted for 1 Symfony Lens.  Google Dr Shannon Wong and Symfony Lens and you can easily find it.   He had this lens implanted to rid himself of glasses (no cataract present).
    • Posted

      Okay I think I found the post you referred to ("My intraocular lens experience David Taylor, Stevenage, England"wink. https://intraocularlensexperience.wordpress.com[/b]. That's close to what I'm seeing, except the very outer circle of the halo I see has a definite pencil thin, hard line edge (2 or 3 of them sort of twined together ... for lack of a better description). I get the feeling that I'm seeing the actual outside edge of the Symfony lens, though I have no verification to know for sure.

    • Posted

      Thank you Sue.An! I saw that video before I went in for surgery. Maybe I need to revisit it.
    • Posted

      Also, search for, "Night Vision and Presbyopia-Correcting IOLs" by Daniel H. Chang, MD. He wrote an article for Millennial Eye where he has very simple pictures which show the difference in Halo's, starbursts, and glare. He unfortunately doesn't show the Symfony concentric rings effect which is supposedly much less intense than a halo. Those images by David Taylor's son are really good too.

      From my own (still somewhat limited) experience with my Restor 2.5D the halos are very noticeable but they are are also rather small (and this is after only 2 weeks - the intensity is supposed to decline over time). I drove a fair amount at night this weekend city, freeway, and somewhat rural to see how bad the halos were. Really not that bad at all. I see no starbursts, which is fortunate. In general, the size of the halo is maybe just slightly larger than the ball of glare I see in the other eye. I also didn't notice any difference in contrast sensitivity (at least for driving) between my two eyes. Like most patients after succesful surgery, I feel much safer driving at night now than I did before the surgery.

    • Posted

      Thanks derek40125. I've seen that article and have bookmarked it so I can go back to it if I need to. Here's a question for anybody ... will any glare eventually go away? I see a lot of glare ... even in the daytime and on the movie and TV screens.

    • Posted

      I had a lot of glare first 6 weeks after surgery - outside at night.  Inside the house glare most of that cleared up within days of my surgery.

      If I had to guess inside glare may have to do with any residual astigmatism or if lens power slightly off.

      Only thing I notice and I may have experienced this with cataracts too but white lettering in black backgrounds I see a slight glow or highlighting around the letters.  

    • Posted

      Looking at the picture in that article that shows examples of glare/flare, halo, and starburst - I guess what I see at night around some traffic lights is a faint glare/flare like a faint cloud around say a red traffic light.  But I see that both with my toric monofocal IOL eye and my natural early stage cataract eye about the same.  However with only my IOL eye if my eye's pupil is at its max size I see part of a halo - a half circle above some bright lights but its very thin and sharp not as thick and cloudy looking in that picture of a halo example.

    • Posted

      Sometimes I'm not sure of the definitions ... sometimes I call glare ghosting and vice versa. The effect you described when seeing white lettering with a black background, I've called ghosting ... but maybe it's glare? Whatever it's called, I still see that 3 months after having the surgery ... but then again, I only had one eye done up until now so maybe it would make a difference after the second eye is done. So many unknowns in all of this.

    • Posted

      Yes I know a lot of terminology is used interchangeably.  Not sure link will be allowed but this site will give you definitions and pics.

      https://visionsimulations.com

      Ghosting for me is actual double vision which isn’t quite what I see with white lettering on black backgrounds.  It’s more of a slight shadow.   See it more if I watch TV without lights on.   

    • Posted

      On a TV if you see that ghosting around white letters, thats usually called "blooming"

    • Posted

      Blooming ... yet another term that's new to me. :-/

    • Posted

      Thank you very much for the terminology link, Sue.An.

      According to that website, what I thought was ghosting isn't ghosting at all. I don't see an example of what I'm trying to describe with the effect I'm seeing while watching movies. What I (sometimes) see, is like maybe if you poured very skim milk over some of the high contrast areas ... so difficult to describe ... I'm afraid I might be giving a misleading description. I'm thinking what I'm seeing is more like your description of white lettering on black backgrounds, but maybe more severe? (Frustrating not being able to describe it without question).

    • Posted

      Yes think I understand.  Almost like the white letter bleeding a bit into the black background?   If so if you haven’t made an appointment for a checkup with your optometrist you may want to as it could be caused by refraction error (slight) or a bit of astigmatism.  You can try the pinhole test to see if that resolves this.

      I went to see my optometrist about 10 or 12 weeks after 2nd surgery.  Wasn’t going to as I felt everything was good.  It is nice too to have a snapshot of your results for your optometrist to compare to at each subsequent visit.  Turns out my surgeon hit the plano target for both my eyes but I have slight astigmatism in both.  Right eye .50 and left .25 whichmight be source of my seeing what I do with high contrast situations like white letters on black background.   Since my insurance company wouldn’t cover my IOL cost (although they would up to $600 if I had lasik done, I decided to get a pair of plano sunglasses with the slight astigmatism correction in a cute pair of Coach frames and charged them to insurance company.   Love the sunglasses and they do make white lettering on black background more crisp.   It is such a slight shadow around the white lettering for me but if yours is more pronounced you might want to see if it is astigmatism causing it.

      Good luck to you.

    • Posted

      What a great link.  I see ghosting right now with my cataract eye.  Multiple ghosting + Blurry.

       

    • Posted

      I liked that visual simulations link although what they are calling a Halo, David Chang's would call glare and they don't actually show an image of the halo that you will likely see from a multifocal (but not Symfony), I may write to them and see if they will add an image like that one David Chang has. What's missing is a visible "gap" between the in focus distant image of the light source and the overlapped out of focus "near" image. You shouldn't see this with a Symfony but you will see this with a true mutilifocal (although over time your brain may end up tuning it out).

      When assessing artifacts with new lenses, the other thing I've learned is to ask someone else (without cataracts or an IOL) what they see. Some headlights, for example, look bad in my eyes now and I'll assume t's the cataract in my left eye and.or the IOL in my right causing the glare but then I ask my wife and she notices glare from the same light source. TV's have another issue. Most new TV's are LCD with some version of LED backlighting and this backlighting can easily cause blooming issues with white lettering on black screens or point light sources in otherwise dark scenes (like a star field). Some of the top end sets with very granular local-dimming do a pretty good job of handling this, but If you are trying to test this effect with an IOL or cataract (which I am doing frequently now by the way), try to do so on a plasma or OLED TV so you can take the backlighting completely out of the equation. 

       

    • Posted

      Yes I liked this site too.  Found while trying to search for an image of halos.  Like the simulator under each image that you can increase or decrease the effect.

      I too when I had cataracts in both eyes had bad ghosting.  

      Soks Shen is your scheduled surgery or are you still in the deciding mode?

    • Posted

      I also ask others without cataracts and have good vision to compare as well.  Never sure it’s me or what everyone sees.  It is certainly true that some of the new LED lights are causing even people with normal vision issues as well.  Like the new ‘blue-white’ headlights on cars.  Very disturbing to oncoming cars.  There has even been articles about them in our local newspaper.  So definitely not all glare and halos are the result of IOLs.   

    • Posted

      Thanks yet again Sue.An. :-)

      I'm not sure that I can say what I'm seeing is like white lettering bleeding into the black background ... maybe. I still see a definite edge of (for example) the white lettering. And I'm not sure that I'm losing any contrast. It's just that "bleeding part" can cover a good chunk of the image I'm looking at. (Again, very difficult for me to describe). I have not made an appointment recently with my optometrist. I had been going to post surgery check-ups with him frequently, with the last visit being at about the 2 month past surgery mark. I'm still not sure if what I'm seeing will go away once I have my 2nd eye operated on.

      Good to know about the plano sunglasses. That's another thing I haven't heard of up until now.

      Thanks again.

    • Posted

      That webpage that shows pictures of the night vision artifacts with the Symfony vs Restor IOLs, mentioned:

      "Yellow and red light shows more of these effects than blue and white light. The nearer the light is, the less the effect so for street lights in the distance the effect can be of such a diameter as to appear to reach the ground"

      Is that what you have noticed as well? Yellow and red lights cause the spiderweb circles mor than blue/white lights?

    • Posted

      Hi Night Hawk- I actually see no spider web concentric circles around overhead streetlights- they appear normal to me.  Just a little glare around them - saw them worse with cataracts and when I ask my husband he describes them same way I do.  Only places I see the spider web like concentric circles are red traffic lights - they dinteach to the ground and closer I drive to them they disappear.  I also notebthem when a far ahead of me applies their brakes.  Brake lights on a car travelling are normal - no concentric circles.  Turn signals - amber on colour have them too but they are much fainter .  If I look for the circles I see them but brain seems to tune them out.  Also certain porch lights - LED ones I can see faint white concentric circles when I look for those.   At Christmas time walking around the neighbors I was expecting Christmas lights to have them.  Thankfully those looked normal too.  Also Disney Cruise Line (only line) that does fireworks at sea - was curious to see if they’d have concentric circles but fireworks looked normal.

      Really hard to tell why some lights have them while others do not.   I did see them once on a bright pink LED light at a concert Inwentbtoo.  First time I saw them inside however I was in nosebleed section so likely distance had much to do with it.

      Also the circles are same colour as light source.

    • Posted

      I am still not scheduled.  March end or June is when I plan to do it.  The cataract is progressing in the one eye and television watching is starting to get affected.  While driving, I see 2 shadows for the stop light.  Distance from  the original source and the shadows is gradually increasing. Near sight is also now worsening in the affected eye.

      Since this is the non-dominant eye I am leaning Symfony.  I wonder if Symfony can be implemented so I still need -0.25 correction.  This will help with reading at 18 inches instead of 24.

      Also Sue,  Are your concentric circles also flattened at the corner like the picture?

    • Posted

      Yes its possible to target a little nearsighted with a Symfony, like -0.50D to get a little better near vision and still decent distance vision - maybe 20/25 instead of 20/20 or better.
    • Posted

      Soks will take note next time I am out to see if they are flattened at the edge.  What I recall is they are less intense on the outer rings than inside rings.

      My eyes were targeted for plano.  When my first eye was done and I had a 6 week wait for 2nd surgery I could read with that Symfony eye comfortably at 18 inches out and towards the 6 week mark that reduced to 16 inches (kept a little notebook on those improvements).   After 2nd eye I can read comfortably at 12 inches.   So I don’t think you’d need to target that eye for closer however given not your dominant eye you might want to target for -.50 sonthst the night visuals are less.   When it comes time to your other eye you can get a monofocal set for distance or maybe there will be a better lens.

    • Posted

      Just came back from my nightly walk.  The outer bands of the concentric circles aren’t flat as in that picture.  In fact they are very light - much lighter than first 4 or 5 rings.  With white lights as opposed to red the outer rings are hard to see - barely noticeable unless trying to see them.  Car brake lights when applied are more vivid due to colour but still the outer rings are lighter than the 4 or 5 rings nearer the light source.
    • Posted

      Very interesting - so the circle rings get fainter on the outer ones compare to the inner ones? Thats new info, I hadn't heard anyone mention that before.

      Are the rings very thin like a spiderweb so you can mostly see thru them so they don't really block seeing anything?

    • Posted

      Perhaps it is different for each person and could depend a bit on any refraction error or residual astigmatism.  For me the red rings are more distinguishable but are thin and the further rings are more faint - last few rings I really had to look for them tonight as I wanted to let Soks know if they were flat like the drawing.  The drawing for me depicts the rings as equal in intensity but that is not the way I see them.  On light coloured white porch lights they are really faint - much more so than red rings.  I did notice them more a few months ago vs now.  No idea if brain just gets used to seeing them or whether at 6 month’s eyes have completely healed - maybe both play a part.  But yes for most part they are spider web like and you can see object behind them clearly enough. As you get closer to them they disappear.
    • Posted

      That's very interesting. I had one other question when you had had only one eye done. Did the rings come and go?

      I have sown days where my affected eye is being taken over by my dominant eye and I have relatively better better vision. But more often the affected eye vision interferes with the good vision. 

    • Posted

      Can you do -0.25 or does it have to be -0.5 with Symfony?
    • Posted

      You could set the target for -0.25D that is actually the usual target for good distance vision since helps avoid overshooting to farsighted which would eliminate any near vision. But -0.50D is often suggested to get a bit more near vision with only slight affect on distance vision.
    • Posted

      Soks - when I had the first (right eye) done I thought it was my non dominant eye.  During the 6 weeks I didn’t see the concentric circles and just thought I was one of the ones that wouldn’t see them.  Daytime vision was very clear within 24 hours and that post op next day I was able to read the 20/20 line with one error.  So vision from that new eye was good.  I didn’t see the concentric circles until after 2nd eye was done.  I figured the non operated eye being dominant took over - however when driving during the day or watching TV it really was the operated eye that took over.  Not for reading though - the left non operated eye took over at close distances.  So perhaps I didn’t see the concentric circles due to strong glare that hid them.  Really can’t be sure the real reason why.  After 2nd eye was operated on I could see fairly clearly 24 hours after operation but missed 2 or 3 letters on 20/20 line with it - 1st eye could see one line below 20/20 but I was only tested at the hospital for 20/20 line.  I would say within 2or 3 weeks after 2nd surgery I began to see the circles.  And also when conducting dominant eye tests on myself it is my right eye that is dominant.  So my conclusion is left or right dominance can interchange and your brain/eye adjusts.   At 6 weeks approx the strong glare and starbursts I saw at night started to noticeably decrease and the more that happened the more distinct the circles became.  The circles are definitely easier than the glare and starbursts to see through at night.  Don’t get me wrong I wish they weren’t there but I find driving easier now and have accepted them.  Daytime vision is just excellent and I am enjoying some activities where glasses have been a pain.  So for me (won’t speak for anyone else) the trade off or compromise is worth it.
    • Posted

      Sue.An: "If you can find out if you were given a regular Symfony or Symfony Toric Lens.  If you were provided s card to carry in your wallet it will be written there next to lens type.

      If not fully convinced your best bet to mitigate the visual disturbances would be a monofocal lens in the other eye (also save you the expense as cataract surgery with standard lenses are usually covered by national health plan)."

      Sorry for the very late post, but I stumbled across my wallet card as I was going through a stack of medical paperwork. I still can't tell from the info on the card if my implant is a Toric lens or not. This is the lens info: Abbott, MODEL: ZXR00, DIOPTER: +16.5D, O (with a slash through it) T: 13mm, O (with a slash through it) B: 6mm. Then there's a little hourglass icon with the number 2022-05-11 after it. (There's also a SN number, which I'm not sure is anything pertinent to the lens type.)

    • Posted

      Model ZXR00 indicates a non-toric Symfony lens. The Toric Symfony lenses start with the letters ZXT...
    • Posted

      Hi RPK0925

      I have 2 regular Symfony lenses.  I had minimal astigmatism do surgeon didn’t feel it necessary to correct it with the toric Symfony.

    • Posted

      I experience the same thing sometimes and while it is disturbing it does tend to resolve over a number of hours.  I hadn't hear the ciliary muscle factor but maybe that is a cause or maybe the brain just forgets how to read the different zones from the lens temporarily.  I am curious why you have a monofocal and a Symfony and in what order you did them.  I have a Symfony in my non-dominant eye and like many did not know about the nighttime issues so I am still contemplating (after 20 months and PCO) whether to get another Symfony (like Sue likes) or a monofocal for distance (like at201 likes) or even swap it out so I would be happy to hear your views on this issue. 

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