Hello everyone. I had cataract surgery Thursday (4/17) in my right eye with Crystalens. It's really early but I wanted to post about my experiences so others might know what to expect.

I had a very advanced cataract which was making my vision basically non-existent in that eye - it was like Vaseline smeared over it. My left eye wears a contact lens (-6.50) for nearsightedness and I use 1.25 or 1.50 readers.

Post surgery my right eye tested 20/25 :) at the morning-after appointment, but with some fuzziness due to a slight degree of astigmatism which had never really bothered me to any extent before the cataract. This had been discussed with the surgeon and I was aware that Crystalens would not correct astigmatism - in fact I am now wondering if it exaggerates it - ??

We discussed doing limbal relaxation incisions at the time of surgery but I decided to wait and see how I was adjusting to the lens otherwise. Not sure if this was the right or wrong decision but we'll see...

Otherwise, intermediate vision (2-20 feet) excellent, couldn't ask for better. Reading vision slightly blurry but OK with readers.

With Crystalens the pupil remains dilated for some time after surgery. I had read about this - the surgeon explained it is so the lens does not "accomodate" during the initial healing process. So right now night vision is full of halos and starbursts and driving at night would be very difficult.

It will be interesting to see if the reading vision and the distance vision improve when the pupil starts functioning normally.

The other issue is some degree of an imbalanced feeling between my two eyes. My left eye is 20/20 corrected with the contact lens, but I am not sure the contact lens vision and the Crystalens vision are compatible. I had asked the surgeon about this since I had read that Crystalens works best when it is in both eyes. I would rather not implant my left eye right now since I am seeing 20/20 out of it but --- I will wait awhile to see if I adjust to this but as far as I can tell this might be a problem.

I would like others to know my experience and the pros and cons since I was apprehensive about it given the number of issues others have had.

Susanne
thank-you for your update, and now only time will tell, as it is early yet to know the full results. Will be thinking good thoughts for you in the next few weeks..... Will be having my consultation this Friday, and still nervous about the whole bloomin' thing. take care.

All the best.

Irena.

Best of luck with your consult Irena.

I would make sure to ask the surgeon what lens or lenses he implants most frequently and what are the most common potential problems or issues he encounters.

I am doing fine on Day 5. Have not driven or gone to work yet. My eye is still dilated. My distance vision is excellent. Both eyes balance. I realized my intermediate vision is not actually working yet (although I can see well my eye is not really adjusting or focusing) and this is causing some imbalance. Will keep you posted. Susanne

thank you for posting this. i had iol yesterday and i see halos at night too. i hope they do not last forever!!!

also how long did it take for you to see whether or not the iol was powerful enough? I have very high myopia of about -12, -10, and my iol seems a bit weak, but just a tiny bit, but i dont know if it will improve or not? Also can you feel it in your eye? I can feel it, it kinda feels like an eyelash in your eye.

hi 911, I am glad your surgery went well, I know you were concerned about it.

I had halos and starbursts at night for the first 5-6 days, they are much improved by now but still visible, I had these from the cataracts though and still see them in my other eye so it does not bother me too much

as far as the distance vision it was a little blurry the first couple of days as I posted but it is now excellent.

I have some imbalance at the 3-15 feet distances, for some reason I have not adjusted to this yet, it feels my two eyes are not focused together, it is a little annoying and my reading vision is still blurry. From my reading it can take a while to adjust to Crystalens at all distances so I am trying to be patient.

also, I forgot to say, yes you can feel something in your eye for a couple of days, I think this is the incision not the lens itself, it should go away, I am sure you are using eye drops and they will help this heal

my concern is i can see pretty good, just it doesnt perfectly fix my nearsightedness. Its like i still need a bit of a prescription to fix it. Did you have that for a few days or could you see normal distance good instantly?

btw i had single focus

I can see perfectly at distance now. the first 2-3 days was a little fuzzy. My nearsightedness previously was - 7.50 - before the cataract advanced it was -6.00. when you see your dr they will test you with the eye chart and see how well you are actually seeing and then you can go from there

my prescription was -12, and i have astigmatism. So for the first 2/3 days when you saw fuzzy, did it look like you still would need distance glasses, but then it got sharper every day?

It did not seem I would need distance glasses, it was just blurry and slightly fuzzy. I also have a slight degree of astigmatism, the dr said it was probably so little it was not correctible. I have read a lot of other postings on other boards about Crystalens, and most people definitely seem to have some issues or other, all different, the first week or two or even longer. if you need correction it might take several weeks to know this, but I'm sure it will be possible

my prescription was -12, and i have astigmatism. So for the first 2/3 days when you saw fuzzy, did it look like you still would need distance glasses, but then it got sharper every day?The intraocular lens cannot correct astigmatism. I wear glasses for driving that correct the astigmatism. I also wear other glasses for reading.

Hello everyone. I had cataract surgery Thursday (4/17) in my right eye with Crystalens. It's really early but I wanted to post about my experiences so others might know what to expect.

I had a very advanced cataract which was making my vision basically non-existent in that eye - it was like Vaseline smeared over it. My left eye wears a contact lens (-6.50) for nearsightedness and I use 1.25 or 1.50 readers.

Post surgery my right eye tested 20/25 :) at the morning-after appointment, but with some fuzziness due to a slight degree of astigmatism which had never really bothered me to any extent before the cataract. This had been discussed with the surgeon and I was aware that Crystalens would not correct astigmatism - in fact I am now wondering if it exaggerates it - ??

We discussed doing limbal relaxation incisions at the time of surgery but I decided to wait and see how I was adjusting to the lens otherwise. Not sure if this was the right or wrong decision but we'll see...

Otherwise, intermediate vision (2-20 feet) excellent, couldn't ask for better. Reading vision slightly blurry but OK with readers.

With Crystalens the pupil remains dilated for some time after surgery. I had read about this - the surgeon explained it is so the lens does not "accomodate" during the initial healing process. So right now night vision is full of halos and starbursts and driving at night would be very difficult.

It will be interesting to see if the reading vision and the distance vision improve when the pupil starts functioning normally.

The other issue is some degree of an imbalanced feeling between my two eyes. My left eye is 20/20 corrected with the contact lens, but I am not sure the contact lens vision and the Crystalens vision are compatible. I had asked the surgeon about this since I had read that Crystalens works best when it is in both eyes. I would rather not implant my left eye right now since I am seeing 20/20 out of it but --- I will wait awhile to see if I adjust to this but as far as I can tell this might be a problem.

I would like others to know my experience and the pros and cons since I was apprehensive about it given the number of issues others have had.


In my opinion.. I don't want to sound adverse or anything.. But Welcome to the world of Crystalens! I am having the same problems you are having and they are progressing to where it makes it very difficult to see at night to drive . One thing I wanted to know about yours. Do you during the day when your out.. ever find yourself like double blinking as it makes you feel like your lens is out of place? or somethings in your eye. You do this just to clear up the fuzzy? Also.. do you see like bright spots in your eye on either one side of your eye or the other??

actually my night/driving vision is pretty good with the Crystalens, the only thing which annoys me is a reflection on the lens from overhead light such as street lamps. I have this inside sometimes too from overhead lighting.

I don't have the bright spots or the other issue you mention, sometimes I have a little shimmer or vibration of light. Honestly these things do not bother me much, my cataract caused worse issues.

The main problem I still have is I don't really think the Crystalens is focusing at the shorter distances, 10 feet and closer. What I described above as an imbalance is that I'm really focusing better with my contact lens eye. I also have some astigmatism which I think was made worse by the surgery, this might have happened with any lens. I have a 6-week follow up appointment this week so I plan to try to find out what is going on with this.

Basically so far I give the Crystalens a B. I can see better than before, but it is not without "issues."

p.s. kc I have read your previous posts and I'm sorry for the difficulties you are having. I have done a lot of reading about Crystalens and I read elsewhere that it is still possible to explant the Crystalens even after you have had the YAG procedure but it should be done by someone highly experienced with the process.

actually my night/driving vision is pretty good with the Crystalens, the only thing which annoys me is a reflection on the lens from overhead light such as street lamps. I have this inside sometimes too from overhead lighting. I have this too. It's caused by the crystalens being smaller than your pupil in dark places.

The main problem I still have is I don't really think the Crystalens is focusing at the shorter distances, 10 feet and closer. Mine focuses about 5ft. and further. It depends upon the optics of your particular lens, which was decided before the surgery based upon some eye exam test. Some Crystalens patients can see clearly up close and mid range, but not distance. There's a limit to the ability of your eye muscle to focus the crystalens at different distances.

Serious, I think I read in your previous posts that you have one Crystalens and one ReStor? How does this work for you? I will have to have my other eye done at some point but for now I am wearing a contact lens.

yes I think you are right about the 5 feet distance. I came out of the surgery with more astigmatism (1.00 diopter) than I had previously. I think you said somewhere you have astigmatism too. I am going to get glasses for reading with a correction for the astigmatism and see how this works.

Yes, I have one crystalens and one ReStor. With the ReStor I can read things up close, but they have to be at an exact distance and the light needs to be adequate. And with the ReStor I can also see distance clearly. But the ReStor does not focus mid range, meaning things are blurry from about 18" to about 5.' So between the crystalens and the ReStor I can see all distances pretty well. But I like to have things in sharp focus, and need that sharp focus for my job, so I wear glasses most of the time. My reading glasses are lined bifocals with the lower half very wide and having prescriptions for clarity at 12" to 18," and the upper half is for the computer with clarity from about 18" to about 27." I can read books and the computer with my progressive lens glasses, but the bifocals have a much wider area of clarity so I don't have to move my head back and forth horizontally, but instead I can just move my eyes, which is much more natural. My third pair of glasses are single vision for distance for driving and watching tv or movies; they correct the astigmatism only.

Anyway, you might want to consider the lined bifocal reading/computer combo. You would have to look over the tops of them or take them off to look at people several feet away.