thanks
Posted , 6 users are following.
I've just read through this entire thread and found it enlightening. I'm 67, live in the US and I'm scheduled to have a RLE in several days but can still back away. I had mono-vision Lasik surgery years ago, have fairly good intermediate and far vision now but am presbyopic and would like to better see the golf ball at address and I'm a big reader of printed books, not iPads. I have only an early cataract in my dominant right eye, which has lowered it to the weaker of the two for distance now. So I fall in the category of doing this now to rid myself of spectacles. I'm under the care of a respectable eye surgical center and surgeon, and they have prescribed T. Synergy for both eyes to be done in one sitting next week. Oh yeah, and it'll cost me about USD 15,000.
My hesitancy led me to find this forum and thread. The hesitancy before WAS that I would get these new highly touted lenses installed and then something newer and grander would come over the horizon in the months I was still recovering (maybe something that would mitigate the artifacts so apparent at night). And then you're stuck with them in your eyeball! But my hesitancy has shifted NOW to the issues discussed in this thread. Somewhere back there one of you said you would not recommend RLE unless you had truly bad cataracts and poor vision--and then make the decision. That's not me yet and I think it's probably great advise. I am seriously considering cancelling/postponing the surgery next week until I've researched this further or until the point my vision is further compromised by cataract progression.
0 likes, 6 replies
author11 mark36317
Posted
I got two PanOptix last week. Very happy with the results. Zero problems so far. But I would not have done the surgery if my cataracts had not made it necessary. Prior to surgery I had been myopic all my life, using glasses and contacts. So to recap... zero problems and very pleased, but still would not have done the replacements except that I would have been blind eventually without them.
The reality is... even tho these lenses are amazing... about one in three patients who get any IOL eventually develop posterior capsular opacification (PCO), and require a procedure known as YAG. And generally that goes well about 99% of the time... and the other 1% have complications like retinal problems. And along the way to that highly-likely YAG are many other pitfalls... bad surgeons, bad eyes, miscalculations... the majority of patients make it through everything and see well... but for me, it's a thing you do when you have to do it.
It sounds like you're probably over the line enough to justify having the surgery, you need it, but just barely over that line. Also... If your health is good right now, getting IOLs may be best right now, rather than later when the surgery may be complicated by health issues you don't anticipate.
If you can imagine yourself living another five years with your natural lenses, then perhaps wait five years. But if you'll need this surgery absolutely in a year or two, then... well... Maybe now is best. Also... take a very close look at the Synergy vs PanOptix... I think the latter has an edge in performance.
RonAKA mark36317
Posted
You are probably aware of t his already by having prior Lasik surgery is a complicating factor in getting an IOL. They often have issues measuring the eye accurately, and I believe some recommend against getting a multifocal type IOL.
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For what it is worth, I would expect a standard monofocal set for distance should let you see a golf ball quite clearly on the tee. Reading the fine print on the ball up close would be a problem though, and for sure reading a book requires reading glasses.
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I have one eye with an IOL set for distance, and am holding off on the other eye until the cataract makes it an issue. Currently I use a contact in my non IOL eye to simulate monovision, and it works very well. Essentially eyeglasses free 95% of the time.
Sue.An2 mark36317
Edited
So glad you are reconsidering. Not many of us here on the forums would recommend this unless we had cataracts bad enough to necessitate the surgery.
lucy24197 Sue.An2
Edited
This. I think I'll be very happy with my results because my cataracts were bad enough so I couldn't drive, was losing all ability to read, watch tv, etc, even with correction. If I was just doing this to avoid wearing contacts or glasses it would be the opposite. Not to mention the risks, as jettesun has experienced.
Sue.An2 lucy24197
Edited
I think so too. I got cataracts at 53 - no choice but the surgery but I think cataracts affect vision so much anything is an improvement
jettesun mark36317
Posted
I'm also 67 and in the US. I never thought I'd be the one to develop CME/Irvine-Gass syndrome into the 2nd week after surgery. When you sign those papers at the surgery center acknowledging that you are aware of all the possible negative outcomes, you're thinking it's just a formality. My surgery, on first eye, was on August 30th, and I still can't see much out of operated eye. The jury is still out on whether or not I will fully recover my vision, and how long it will take. So far, it seems like a very slow gradual improvement; I'm hoping this is real and not just wishful thinking on my part.
Plus, there are so many little things you aren't aware of until that IOL is in your eye. I don't even know how much is due to the retinal swelling, or the fact that surgeon Did NOt hit his mark and has left me way more myopic than I needed to be. Shimmering, extreme light sensitivity, objects look different sizes (a big difference!) when looking through each eye separately. My eyelid is still swollen; people keep commenting that I look "tired". I now realize that I probably did have quite a bit of accommodation left in that eye. Basing that on now having tested my right (unoperated) eye, and it Does have a range of focus. No way I'm having that eye done... I will keep it, cataract and all.
I honestly wish I had my vision back in left eye, and did not have surgery. Can't go back.
Another thing: since we are the same age. I went into this cataract surgery thinking of all the things I have enjoyed doing all my life, not wanting to give them up. Thinking I will always be doing close-up art work, painting, sewing, reading. But other things effect ability to do those things besides just vision, such as Essential Tremor (hands shake), and even having space to do it after downsizing. I understand about the golf-playing, tho I'm not a golfer. You want to be able to see what you need to see to keep doing that well. But it may be beneficial to you to think of the eyesight you have now in larger terms, seeing it (no pun intended, haha) from a broader perspective. When you start messing with your vision, have your natural lens destroyed, you cannot go back and re-consider. You will have that vision, those lenses, for the rest of your life. It's a choice that comes with a risk. Things may work out beautifully, but they may not.