cataract surgery

Eagle

Serious, thanks for pointing out all that extra that I guess I skimmed over in my article.

seriousperson

Eagle, I think I got that from a different article.

My2sorefeet,
This will be brief so you won't have to read too much.
i'm very interested to hear about how you like the ReZoom; I wanted it instead of the Restor, but it wasn't approved until a month later.
Would it help (until the 19th) if you wore an eye patch while driving (over the left eye)?
The surgery itself is a breeze.
The recovery seems to really vary for individuals.

orangecrate

Seriousperson

No YAG done on me. One of my concerns was I am diabetic also and my blood sugar went down real low during surgery. But every thing seems really good. The Dr. is real pleased. I have been reading a lot with my left eye closed and it improves my right eye. But it doesn't stay good very long. I can not read the computer with my left eye but my right eye I can stand across the room and read it. I do very little nite driving. I have big halos with my left eye and not bad with the Crystalens. I just don't like to drive at nite. Lights in the big stores bug my eyes like Walmart and Lowes. Have some problems at dusk but not too bad. But move around very carefully. I never had any cloudy sight with the new lens so I guess that is good.

seriousperson

orangecrate, I can certainly imagine your blood sugar would have dropped during the surgery because of the required fasting.
But for the YAG there's none of that.
But if your crystalens eye doesn't have any clouding or serious halos, you don't need the YAG.

I want to hear more about people who have had the YAG before I seriously consider it.

I'm glad I have the ReStor in the other eye so I can see things up close without always having to put on my reading glasses.
But often I wonder if it wouldn't be better to have both eyes have the same lens so they could work together better.

Eagle

I have the same implant in both eyes and they DON'T always work together, because factors like macular degeneration aren't the same in both eyes, Sometimes I have to close my weaker eye.

Clouding doesn't happen for at least a couple of years, I've heard, and then if they do the Yag procedure, it'd be harder to remove and replace whatever lens you have, besides which you'd be older and recovery can be rather hard. We had a woman doctor speak to a hypothyroid support group one time, who said your otc vitamins won't do you any good unless you take a bunch of them at a time, like 6 or 8.

There's also eye vitamins. They may have dye in them, don't know why, which may be bothersome to some people.

seriousperson

There's also the risk with YAG (though supposedly a minimal risk) that the laser could damage the retina.

Cher2005

Orangecrate, your situation sounds similar to mine. One good eye and the other, poor. I drive fine during the day but at night I have the same problems. I have limited night driving to the supermarket across the street very carefully. But you should be able to drive during the day.
I hear you on the lights in the major stores. Supermarkets drive me nuts, actually anywhere with overhead bright flourescent lighting is bad. Singlasses help a lot.
I have diabetes also and know that feeling of the low blood sugar, I need to be careful to eat on a regular basis. It does affect the eyesight, dramatically.

jaydees

Sorry it took so long to get back.Thank you all for the responses.

My wife is not diabetic, is 53 yrs old and still in the trials of menopause.

her problem seem to be with bright sunlight and wind. though she was never a fan of wind even before the cataract surgery. She just bought a new pair of cheap sunglasses that wrap around and are dark(UV rated as well) and hopes they help.

She has a follow up appt with the Dr on the 29th, we'll see ( pun intended) what he has to say then. He isn't the verbose type though.The kind of Dr. that can really get some people upset he is so fast with patients.

Eagle

Good luck.

Post-op time after cataract surgery is 3 or 4 months, for whatever that's worth.

Diabetics, I find that both too-low b.g. and too-high cause loss of vision.

My opthalmologist prescribed bifocals that are way too low-powered on the bottom for me, almost too strong on top. An eye test at the mall before cataract surgery got me a much-higher-powered prescription.

I too have to guess at what he means. Maybe that he expects peripheral vision to deteriorate more and macular degeneration reading vision to improve a lot, which I don't think makes a lot of sense. He also said he didn't inform me about multi-focal implants because of the diabetic damage and that other things will be happening in there. (I think he just forgot, or assumed an older person wouldn't mind trying to find the right reading glasses.)

Conflicting signals? I see my female retina specialist at the end of July, have known her longer and hopefully will get to the bottom of it all. Don't know if multi-focals are always 3-piece and he was making her job easier.

My new expensive glasses have magnetic clip on sun shades, and are "progressive" smooth transition between upper and lower powers. The reading part isn't helping me one bit, and I found some stick-on reading lenses at Walgreens I'm going to use on an old pair for reading. It's very hard to find anything above 3.50 otc.

Eagle

Will be thinking about you, having your surgery this month.

Cher2005

My doctor really didm't want to give me such strong reading glasses but they mean the difference between reading and not reading. I have to hold the material very close and most people object to this. But I need to read anyway I can. It's far from perfect but better than nothing.

Eagle

Cher, I thought they could correct to 20/20 with glasses. Evidently that's wrong. Holding things up close I can sometimes get to 20/30 with my good eye, but I want to read music up on a music rack, should have memorized it when I was younger, I know.

Found some stick-on half-circle reading lenses to use on an old pair of reading glasses, at Walgreen's. Haven't tried them yet, took the directions how to attach them right on the lens of an old paid of glasses, to an ofc supply store to enlarge, and haven't remembered to bring them in out of the car yet. Also found a full-sheet magnifier at an ofc supply store.

Don't know if that would help you. I'm also keeping in mind a desk enlarger that costs nearly as much as multi-focus lenses, hope I'll not have to have that for a project that's about 2/3 done. Good luck.

my2sorefeet

Well, my surgery is at 6:30 tomorrow morning. I've been nervous all day, just because eye stuff always bothers me. I've had 2 surgeries this past year, and this one is the one that bothers me the most. I think it's because I don't know the outcome. Will I be able to see right away, will it be blurry, etc. I'm even more nervous because I've noticed my "good" eye has been getting worse. I really noticed it in the last couple of days. It's getting blurrier, the halos are getting worse, and the night vision is awful, especially tonight. I'm afraid that it will get as bad as the left eye is before I have a chance to get used to my new lens. I'm thinking that I'll have to have this other eye done within the next couple of months. Hopefully it will hold out that long, it'll take me that long to save up for the surgery.
Boy, I hate this eye stuff. It really effects your life. I haven't been able to drive at work (I work with handicapped, severely retarded individuals) and I refuse to put them in any danger with my messed up vision. I could drive them in the day time, but with my depth perception off, I just don't want to chance it. The only night driving I do is when I leave work to come home and I NEVER deviate from the route. I tried it once and it was a nightmare. I couldn't see the signs, my stress level was sooo high, I would be blinded by the oncoming lights and wouldn't know if I could move over in the lane. I was a mess by the time I got home. I don't have any one I can rely on if I was totally blind to drive me around and the thought of being totally housebound is not a good one.
I'm sure everything will be fine tomorrow. It's just the fear of the unknown that is getting to me right now.
I guess I should just finish my drink and go to bed. I only have 30 minutes left to be able to drink and the thought of that is making me parched. I also know that at about 12:02 I'm going to be starving! Why is it that as soon as you know you can't have something you just crave it? lol
Anyway, I'll try to post tomorrow about how well I'm seeing. I'll be the Bionic Woman with my new fangled lens.

Eagle

Wednesday Morning

I'm sure you're in surgery right now, and we'll be thinking about you, most of us having "been there".

I too have that fear of not having anyone I can rely on if I should get too blind to drive. You have to do your grocery shopping and all.

Don't forget, your vision may fluctuate for the first 3 mo. or so. I wasted money on some $400 glasses that are now all wrong, and my surgeon who wrote the prescription didn't warn me to wait. He really doesn't talk enough. Not nearly enough. Do I look like I know anything w/out him telling me? I don't think so. All the web articles now say use the drugstore glasses, at least until you know you're stabilized.

Only thing about drugstore glasses is that you can't find any stronger than 3.50. I'm trying to decide on some from the internet. I just need 3.75 for now. It worries me that macular degeneration must be getting worse. Cataract surgery was supposed to make things better.

I'm diabetic and was concerned my b.g. was too low the morning of my surgery. They said they'd watch it but didn't test more than once. So the next time, I ate something about 10:30 pm and didn't have to worry about it. Guess I forgot the first time.

If anyone's trying to find stronger drugstore reading glasses, there are some at ebay and other places on the web, although of course you don't get to try them on, and while waiting I found some lenses-only at Walgreens that attach to an old pair with just water, about $10. They're $17 plus shipping I guess on the web.