Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Who has had cataract surgery?

I had cataract surgery a week ago. The cataract wasn't fully developed, but the "spokes" in it were causing me to see double images in my right eye. It's less severe in my left eye.

It's been a week now and I'm taking prednisone eye drops for the swelling until things get back to normal. I saw the doc yesterday and my vision is much improved, but not quite 20/20. Hoping for that, and the doc says it may be a month or more before all the swelling is gone and we know what the final result will be. I have an appointment on August 1 to assess the results and to look at the other eye and schedule that one for surgery.

I've worn glasses since I was in fifth grade, and I've always hated them. I won't mind needing reading glasses, but for distance I'll feel like it's a miracle not to need glasses.

Anyway, the vision in my right eye (the one with surgery) does not have quite the acuity that my left eye has with a corrective lens for myopia. (The doubling in my right eye was side-by-side, but the doubling in my left eye is stacked.)

So my question is, what has been the experience of others? How quickly did your vision settle in. Are you happy with the results? And based on your experience do you have any advice for where I am now and what I should do about my left eye? (Some people are telling me I should have the left eye corrected for reading so I won't need glasses at all. They call that "monovision," and some people get contact lenses that do that.)

Thanks.
Steve.

My dad just had both eyes done and he is very please
He now can see clearly with out glasses and just needs readers for up close

I had both eyes done recently and had very good results with no pain/discomfort during or after the surgery. The surgery took less 10 minutes per eye and I literally never felt a thing except for when they put the IV in my arm. I requested no IV pain medication for the second surgery because it made me dizzy and a little nauseous. I'm surprised you are only using the Prednislone eye drops. I used VIGAMOX and ILEVRO (very expensive) in addition to the Predislone. I used 2 of the drops for 3 weeks after the surgery. When I had my right eye done they put a plastic cover on my right eye but the Doctor told me I could take it off when I got home and only needed to wear it when I slept for the first night. I went home ate lunch and took a nap. When I got up I took the shield off and could see like an eagle with my right eye both up close and long distance. I could see good enough out of my right eye that I didn't need to wear glasses at all even to read. I went to the Doc the next day and he said I could see good enough out of my right eye to pass the Driver's License eye exam. He told me I would most likely need reading glasses after I had both eye done and the healing was complete. I had the left eye done 3 weeks later and I had blurry vision for a few days because my eye got a scratch on it somehow. I waited 8 weeks for my final eye exam to make sure everything had healed to get a new eyeglass prescription (I never needed reading glasses from the time I had the first eye done). My final exam revealed that I had 20/20 vision and don't need glasses at all. I couldn't be happier about the results and I hope you have the same. My Doctor told me that my results are very unusual and not the norm. You can pay extra for lenses that will give you up close vision in one eye and distance vision in the other eye but there's no guarantee that they will work. Good luck!

My mother in law had both eyes done this year and the right eye was sharper in a few weeks,the left had a longer time.

She just saw the eye doc and she will need glasses for long range and reading glasses.
She can see long range a lot better than before she had them worked on.

Be sure and do the drops like the doc says and it should clear up.

Hope it does good for you.

I had both eyes done a few weeks apart several years ago. I elected to be able to see far off and buy readers at the $ store. Worked great for me. I wore glasses all of the time from age 10 until I was 60 years old to be able to see distance. Now using binoculars and hunting in the rain is easy and I am very grateful. Dr. said there is a lens that can be used by some, that gives both but my eyes did not qualify. If my arms were a little longer I would not need readers. miles

I had both eyes done, one in '02 other in '03. At present I'm almost 20/20 distance and only a very slight correction needed for reading.

I had my left eye only done in 2004. Right eye was not ready. Doc cautioned against full correction in one eye only. As a result, when I had the right eye done in 2010, it could only be corrected to the extent the left had been. So I did not get the full benefit of the implanted lenses and still have to wear glasses for distance, as I have since grade school. Disappointing, but still better than having the cataracts, which wreaked havoc with my night vision on the highway. Getting both eyes done at the same time is the way to go. Prayers and best wishes for you.

I had both eyes done 20 years ago, and for the most part I went from 20/200 to 20/20 for the most part, at my last check up, I was seeing 20/30 not bad! I have a dry eye problem so that is part of the issue, other than that, I healed up fairly quickly- I had both lens in my eyes replaced- the it was a strange form of cataracts they were in the center of the lens, I was 35 when it was first noticed and we did correcting with glasses for a good while, I fly airplanes and helicopters for a living, had to go for surgery when I was 40! The eye is pretty easy to fix and it heals quickly, you should be fine in a few days to a couple of weeks!

I had both done in '06. I still need a very minor distance correction but since I've worn glasses for 60 years anyway, it doesn't bother me in the least.
This guy has a surgical team that's very fast and efficient. When they did the 2d one, they had me prepped and were ready to start. The Dr was talking to me and what I heard was "We're ready to start we're all done." That's what I heard. In the middle of that sentence, they did it.

I've had one eye done and waiting until the next one is ready...about a year or so.

No issues. I could see better but I still have to wear glasses. Before I turned 40 I could see great. 27 years later I must always wear glasses.

My only gripe about being old and needing glasses is that it put a hurt on my handgun shooting.

I talked with someone who had the same pleasant experience that you have!

I'm 73. I had both of mine done earlier this year, about two months apart (due to a heavy surgical schedule at the outpatient clinic). The right eye was 20/30 four weeks after surgery and is now 20/20. I don't know just when the improvement occurred. The left eye is now 20/30, six weeks after surgery and that is probably as good as it will get.

Nonetheless, I am pleased with the results. For the first time in over 40 years, I don't need glasses to attend to my everyday activities, but I do need readers for closeup work. I had been wanting to have the surgery for almost ten years, but the cataracts weren't bad enough for the insurance to cover the surgery until my checkup on my birthday earlier this year.

I've got a friend that had one eye done 4 weeks ago and the other 1 week later. He had cataracts removed and lens put in at the same time on each eye. He said he sees great at a distance, but needs $store glasses to read.

When my cataracts get bad enough for the insurance to pay, I plan on having he same procedure.

I have noticed that after the surgery my eyes are very slow to adjust to changes in lighting.
Entering the house after being out in bright sun I'm damn near blind for a couple of minutes, and driving after dark, while I can see well enough, the vision gets better after a little while

My wife had hers done so that she has distance vision in one eye and reads with the other. It's worked fine for her. She had contacts that way for years anyway. The doc said that it often works fine for women but men not so much. He said that for some reason, men can't get used to that kind of vision.

My wife and I each had our eyes done about 5 years ago by different Drs. Neither of us consider the surgery a success. My right (dominate) eye vision is somewhat blurry, left eye is pretty good. The most annoying change in vision for me is shadowing or double images. Basically when looking at a light pole I see gray versions on each side of the pole, or when seeing a car with a roof rack, there appears to be another, gray roof rack. I had LASIK about 16-17 years ago and it was great. Since having cataract surgery I have to wear glasses when driving or hunting.

I have had cataract surgery in my right eye only. Everything went well and it took just about a week IIRC for my vision to improve significantly. That was just over 2 years ago and I am still waiting for the left cataract to "ripen".

I will not go the monovision route as I had done that many years ago with contact lenses and didn't like it.

donsm70

PS. Both of my brothers have had both eyes done with no problems.

One eye done, great results. Follow the docs orders with whatever drops they give you and more than likely your results will be great too.

Other eye hopefully later this year. Eye test at work this year showed really diminished depth perception (on their machine at least) but the doc didn't fail me for work as she sees I have adapter in real life at least.

Growing old has it's drawbacks, so many "fixes" needed for me (back, knee, wrist, eyes, not to mention what has already been done), but the fixes seem to have gotten so much better than in my folks' day.

Good Luck with yours,

Geno

My wife had her surgery yesterday.

She had very bad astigmatism in one eye, which had to be corrected before the lens would even fit.

We opted for multi-focus lenses.

So far, she reports that she can see colors that had not been visible to her for years.

The other eye gets done in two weeks.

I had my first eye done in mid-Dec. 2015. The operating room was closed down over Christmas and New Years so it was a month before the second eye was done. One eye is now 20/20 the other slightly better than 20/20. I wore glasses from in my 20's. Just turned 80 and am looking forward to hunting without glasses this Fall.

The only draw back for me is that now I always seem to be going from one end of the house to the other looking for my reading glasses. Minor complaint!

With all the fixes done in the last two years I am getting closer to being a "new man".

Jim