Symfony lens halos

It is unfortunate the doctor didn’t completely inform you of the night visual issues with the Symfony Lens.   It is good you matched it with a monofocal to counter balance the Symfony Lens for night driving.  It is entirely possible the glare and starbursts will continue to improve.  The concentric circles you see are part of the lens design to obtain the extended focus and so these won’t disappear.   I have 2 Symfony lenses and the glare and starbursts have settled down a lot - it has been 7 months since my first eye was operated on and 6 for the other. I am able to drive safely at night now.

It is riskier surgery to have a lens exchange but not impossible.  If you are considering that you will likely have to see another specialist- one with more skill to do the exchange.  My surgeon told me prior to my surgeries that he does not do lens exchanges so thinking that many of the cataract surgeons don’t specialize in that so you’d need a consultation with someone who does.   Whatever you do don’t have a YAG done for PCO to remove the capsule as it will render the lens exchange next to impossible.

I read that exchanges can be done within 6 months so you may want to give your lenses time to settle.  You may find this set up to be fine rather than risk additional surgery.

Good luck to you.

Yes this is still very early in the healing process for you, have to give it a few months for some artifacts to reduce and vision improve/stabilize.

I hope you will post more of your experiences over the coming weeks and months, since your combo is simliar to what I plan for myself.

I too have significant astigmatism (2-3 diopters cylinder in each eye) and my right eye developed a cataract first so I had surgery already in that eye a few months ago with a Tecnis toric monofocal for distance vision.  My left eye has only an early stage cataract that doesn't affect its vision yet and probably won't for a few years more, but I am considering a Symfony IOL for that eye possibly.

I couldn't go for a Symfony for my right eye since that eye had too high astigmatism for the highest cylinder Symfony Toric model, but the Tecnis toric monofocals had higher cylinder models so I went with that for the right eye.  However my left eye has lower cylinder about 2D, so that work with the higher cylinder model of the Symfony Toric.

Some other patients who have posted on this board with Symfony IOLs had glare/starbursts early on but those diminished or went away after a couple months.  But the so-called spider-web artifact at night around some lights from a distance remained.

Hi Debbie, I’m sorry you are having this experience, but give it some more time.  I am now able to drive at night.  The glare does still bother me, but it isn’t as extreme, and I am pretty sure it will resolve at least to some degree.

I am not going long distances at night, and am concentrating as much as possible on cars in front of me rather than headlights coming toward me.

If it doesn’t gradually get better, and I think it will I shall look into some glasses with a slight tint to alleviate the glare, but I enjoy the mid range and long distance eyesight.  My close vision is sometimes fine and sometimes I need cheap readers.

SuziQ Thank you, It gives me hope. My mid range is really good, car dash board, computer, cooking etc. my readers went from 3.0 to 1.25. I will check into  tinted computer glasses.  I know it sounds crazy but I put on my expensive Polaroid sunglasses at night hoping it would stop  The starburst and it  didn’t. ( I was sitting at a red light when  I tried it )  Red lights are so big they touch the street below.  Cars with halogen lights are killers!!  That starburst starts out blue and goes into colors of gold and then into brilliant white,  The circumference is so wide it goes clear over in to my entire lane.  The doctor said yesterday that because I’m so young my pupils are still large at night, he suggested eyedrops to shrink my pupils..😳 I really do not want to start messing around with that. 

Hi Debbie - it is unfortunate you doctor didn’t explain the night vision issues and the trade-off for seeing all distances in the daytime.  How long has it been since your surgeries?

I had Symfony lenses implanted last summer - 6 weeks apart at 53 due to cataracts.   I found the first couple of months really difficult to drive.  In fact didn’t even see the concentric circles for a number of weeks because the lights each had such strong glare - likewise with streetlights and headlights.   I would plan my routes at night based on whether road had overhead lighting and kept interior dome light on in the car.

I did have excellent vision at all distances and rarely need glasses at all.  Just exceptionally fine print or in dimly lit restaurants.  But with good lighting can read that too.  Often will use iPhone flashlight!

At about 6 weeks the glare and starbursts greatly diminished for me.  Exception those blue-white new lights on cars which are blinding - to everyone even with cataracts or IOLs.  But I do see those huge concentric circles now - like a big spiderweb everyone was talking about but these are light and I can see through them.  Perhaps my being aware of them prior to surgery (both from these forums and my surgeon) helped me make that decision.  Honestly I would choose them again.  Prior to surgery was having difficulty doing my job due to cataracts.  Now I can see well and I am thankful for that.

Shrinking the pupils will also mean that you won't be able to see as well in low light.

Also, at least I can see the multiple circles vividly even when it is dusk and the pupils are not dilated much (which they will do if it is completely dark). Thus, I would not fool around trying to shrink the pupils with eye drops.

I am 75 years old that thus, seeing the multiple circles is not an issue for the young people only!

You’re welcome Debbie!  It does sound like everything is gradually improving for you (weaker readers over time, etc,) so the glare situation will hopefully follow.  The halogen lights are my main problem at night.  Good point.  I wish car manufacturers would rethink them.  There are a lot of people with cataracts and probably more and more people will do lens implants for basic visual improvement, though costly!

I could just find readers that were in plastic wrapped packaging so just guessed on what I needed.  I need to find a store where I can actually try them on.

Please stay in touch everyone if you can, to report on improvements, changes, suggestions, etc.

Hi Debbie, I'm having a lot of the same issues that you are. My pupils are also large (at age 62). I only have 1 eye done so far, with a Symfony lens. My surgery was about 5-1/2 months ago. I also seem to notice that things seem darker at night than before the surgery ... almost pitch black. That bugs me.

I don’t believe the seeing of multiple circles has anything to do with pupil dialation as well.  Purely a lens design in my opinion.  Surprising no mention of the type of halo in trials.  thankful I was able to know about thesebefore my surgeries from these forums.

Sue, thank you so much everything you described is exactly what I am experiencing.

 Your reply has really helped me and give me hope that it will get better.  My first surgery on the right I was four weeks ago and my second surgery on the left I was two weeks ago. When only my right eye was done, I saw the circles like cobwebs and I agree I could see through them, now with both eyes done it’s just a monster  starburst!  You are so right about halogen headlights they are killers!!  I too am choosing routes at night less traveled with less traffic!  As my doctor told me the younger we are when we have the surgery the larger our pupils are which caused this.  I agree as someone else commented I am not going to do the drops to make my pupils smaller.  If I would have researched a forum such as this I would have been more prepared.  Poor judgment on my doctor not explaining it to me thoroughly.

 So again thank you!

 Before having your other eye done check into the possibility of having a different Lens,  check out some of the other comments above.  It seems as if a lot of people do better with two different lens types 

Thanks Debbie. I hope to have discussion about this with my surgeon soon.