Trying to understand diopter difference between 2 eyes...

For some the cataract is very slow growing - I remember my eye doctor in regular annual exams first noted the start of a cataract in my right eye about 10 years before it started to affect my vision! My left eye was only noted as seeing the start of a cataract in the last couple years and it doesn't affect its vision at all so far - so probably another almost 10 years until I need the other eye done, hopefully there will be much more advanced IOLs available in the USA by then...

I remember I had variable vision for at least a month after the cataract surgery in my right eye, some days good vision other days very blurry or at different times during the day, until the taking of the Rx eyedrops after a month or so was all done. So be prepared for that.

I also ordered on amazon my own standard eye wall chart that I put on a wall in my living room that is 20feet away from a couch. So I could do my own eye check for distance vision at different times of the day and each day. After my right eye stabilized about a month after cataract surgery with a Tecnics toric monofocal IOL, I typically get 20/25 from 20feet from the eye chart without eyeglasses. Though some days/times it can get 20/20 so it can still vary a bit.

I ended up very close to plano in that eye, but a little residual astigmatism that I believe varies from 0.5D to 1.0D. My glasses correct for 1.0D cylinder astigmatism and I can get better than 20/20 with them in the right eye now, sometimes I can read two lines below the 20/20 line (about 20/12) but more often about 20/15, which is what I get in my unoperated left eye with eyeglasses correction for that eye's 2D astigmatism.

I just ordered online a good new eyeglasses pair of titanium frames with high quality digital progressive lenses, now that my Rx has been stable for over a year. I've only been using some cheap pairs eyeglasses up till now 😉

Another area I can compare between my eyes (one with a clear Tecnis toric monofocal IOL and the other a 65year old natural lens) is the color perception. The old natural lens due to aging is more yellowish than the clear Tecnis IOL, this is compared to say Alcon AcrySof IOLs that are slightly yellowish for a blue light filter. So when I look at an off white wall in my house, it looks slightly yellowish thru my left eye compared to my right eye, though I would not have noticed that without comparing each eye separately.

Recently I bought a new pair of computer eyeglasses (weak +1D over my distance Rx) for clear focus at just beyond arm's length (intermediate distance) and for the first time I got blue blocking lenses. They don't look yellow tint at all in the lens that I can tell just looking at them but when wearing them and looking at my off white wall again, its similar to the view with these glasses in my right eye with the IOL as it is with my old natural lens left eye without the glasses so similar yellow/blue filter effect. Though looking at the computer screen with the new glasses I can hardly tell any color shift between with or without them, so its a very slight effect but may help reduce eye strain after hours at the computer screen. However I chose not to get blue filter lenses in my new ordered progressive eyeglasses pair for non computer use.