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

Wow, talking about different Dr.'s doing things different. I was put to sleep while the set everything up, but then they woke me up and gave me a button to push if I needed to cough or sneeze or anything. I was awake the whole procedure but could only see blurry movement and brightness. No pain. From the time I entered the building until I was on my way home was 45 minutes. miles

From Coke bottle glasses to 20/20 and 20/15.

By way of procedures, I have had rougher haircuts.

I wish you all the best of luck with the surgery and results. My mother was happy with hers, but a close friend of mine is going through hell with the tail chasing situation that can occur when you combine nearsightedness with cataract surgery and retinal problems.

I forgot to mention that some of the lens implants have protective UV filters so your eye won't be harmed by bright sunlight (I have this type). You only have to wear sunglasses if you want to for comfort and I usually do. There's no tint at all in these lenses. I have a card for each lens that shows the size, type and magnification. I have the same lens in both eyes but can't find my cards right now so I can't tell you the brand that I have but it's one of the major lens manufacturers. A very rare problem with cataract surgery is that another cataract can develop soon after the surgery but it can be removed in the doctors office without surgery using lasers. I'm looking forward to try shooting open sights again.

My Dad drive's a Cataract El Dorado....


Ooops I mean a Cadillac. Sorry, could not pass that one.

My father and his two brothers have had them done. The two brothers have had them multiple times. The first lens replacements were from cadavers. Now days they're some sort of plastic. "Buck" had his first surgery in Houston. Around 1964-65 I think.

My father will be 80 in Oct and now suffers from macular degeneration. The brothers are 78 and 74 and do not show signs of macular degeneration.

Wishing you well in your recovery, and the success of the surgeries.

Jeff

Everyday Hunter,

Two years ago I had my right eye done. At that time he told me I had a small cataract in the other eye but it was not bad enough to correct at that time. For a few days after the surgery I saw star burst on anything that produced a bright light. It took a about six weeks before the doctor would allow me to get an eye exam for glasses. My vision went from 20/200 to 20/20, but with glasses I could get 20/15 vision in my previous cataract eye.

A month ago I went in for the other eye since it had deteriorated. Someone has to be the one to whom the doctor says, "This is the best recovery I have ever seen!" He said it to me. I went in the very next day for a followup. I told him I was pain free and could see good! I mean really good! He went ahead right then and gave me an eye exam. My vision in the second eye is 20/15 without glasses. Since I wore glasses since I was a kid I wanted the edge they give. He wanted me to come back in a month for a checkup before I could get the glasses.

I compare optics a lot. Without glasses my right eye is like a good set of binoculars, but my left eye is like stepping up to Swarovskis. After the month wait, with glasses, both eyes are 20/15. Even the 20/15 left eye, with glasses, is noticeably better than without. Of course both eyes need bifocals to read.

My doctor says all implants now have UV filters. He says no one really knows if they're effective, but that they can't hurt. He says there's no proven benefit so it's more of a marketing angle than anything. Anyway, it's not just "bright" sunlight that has UV rays.

He also says once you have artificial implants, a cataract can't grow. Something else might, I suppose, that mimics a cataract, but it's not a true cataract.

Steve.

My cataracts were small, and not at the stage where surgery would have been necessary except for the fact that the spokes were causing double vision -- worse in my right eye (the one that has been done). The left eye will be done in August.

I suppose everyone is different in recovery. I had my surgery Friday (a week ago) and went in for my follow-up three days later on Monday. But on Saturday my experience was like yours -- no pain and very good vision. The discomfort that developed (very minor) really started up on Monday before my appointment.

I'm having three small problems, I think. First, there's some soreness/redness at the incision/entry point. It feels like there's a bump there -- like a foreign object is in my eye. The doc says that will go away, just keep the prednisolone drops going.

Second, I have a pretty big floater that tends to settle in my line of vision. With my glasses that wasn't much of a problem because with both eyes corrected for vision the other eye takes over and the floater wasn't as noticeable. Now, only the eye with the floater is corrected, so when the floater settles into my line of sight everything looks blurry. That should be no problem after my second eye is done. This is a problem I didn't expect, but it should be minimized eventually.

Third, I can wear my glasses with the right lens popped out. Then my left eye is correct by a lens and my right eye is corrected by the implant. The lens-corrected eye sees clearer than the implant-corrected eye, so at first I was thinking my implant didn't turn out as good as I hoped. But this morning I realized that the doctor said the implant would not correct my astigmatism, so maybe what I'm experiencing is my left eye with astigmatism corrected and my right eye without astigmatism corrected.

Anyway, the cataract surgery is a success, and once the other eye is done it will be a bigger success. Maybe for the acuity I want, I'll still need glasses to correct for astigmatism. I dunno, but sooner or later I'll get the answer to that.

Steve.

Everyday,

"He also says once you have artificial implants, a cataract can't grow. Something else might, I suppose, that mimics a cataract, but it's not a true cataract."

According to the list of risks from cataract surgery that my Doctor gave is that about 10% of the time the membrane (on your original lens) behind the artificial lens (IOL) becomes cloudy. The medical terms for this clouded membrane are secondary cataract or after-cataract and a simple lazer treatment in the doctors office can repair it.

So be it, but what you're describing is not a conventional cataract of the lens, and is not inconsistent with what I said. Thanks. Good to know the specifics of it.

Steve.

I didn't mean to come across being argumentative but I did a lot of study on cataract surgery before I had it done. You are correct in that you can't get regular cataracts again after successful cataract surgery. There were a lot of other things that could go wrong after cataract surgery that are much worse than after-cataracts. I was extremely lucky with my final results and I hope you are too.

I had cataract surgery in both eyes a few years ago. The results were truly remarkable. I need readers for up close, and had trouble with iron sights unless they were aperture sights. Pistol sights were particularly difficult because there was only a small strip of "up close" correction in my progressive bifocals.

I solved the problems with iron sights by using full-size lens (for protection) readers with slight magnification of +1.25 (my near correction Rx is +2.50). They make pistol and rifle iron sights crystal clear without distorting the target enough to matter as long as the target is something like a bullseye, clay target, or various plinking targets.

The doctor that did mine was a shooter, so he could give me good answers to some of my questions. I asked about recoil from highpower rifles. He said it should be no problem unless I let a scope hit me in the eye, which he said he had treated people for.

Just as an experiment a few years ago I had some glasses made with a focal length equal to the distance to the front sight of a pistol while in the firing position.
(I hope the above makes sense)
The target was a bit blurred but being able to see the front sight clearly seemed to improve my shooting.

No, you didn't come across as argumentive. I learned something from you, and appreciate what you said. Thanks.

Steve.

I had both eyes done some years ago and had the kind of lens that changes to allow reading as well as long range.

These lenses are extra $ but no glasses needed. The one thing you must remember, though, is that having a lens in your eye reduces the amount of light that is transmitted through the lens. I find myself needing a flashlight to see detail sometimes but the clarity is perfect outside in sunlight.

Considering my ability see with the cataracts, the result is no less than a miracle.

Well, I had my second one done Friday, and I've learned a lot about cataracts and the risks of the operation.

The secondary cataract spoken about by victoro is generally prevented by polishing the inside of the capsular bag that holds the intraocular lens, before the lens is installed. The bag is about the thickness of a single red blood cell. Maybe you know where I'm going with this.

The bag can tear, and in my case that's what happened with the second eye. That's not usually a big deal, because if there's enough of the bag left to anchor the IOL the surgery can be successful.

On Saturday morning when I took my eye patch off, I knew immediately the surgery failed. In the follow-up appointment the IOL was no where to be found. I was referred to a retinologist Pittsburgh.

His "fellow" was able to locate the lens inside the orb of my eye. Tomorrow, I'm scheduled to have them fish it out. They will probably suture a new lens in place.

Since Friday I have been blind in my left eye. The objective is to "deliver" the dislocated IOL, install a new lens, and restore my vision. They make no promises about how much vision -- the better my vision the more successful the surgery is.

The capsular bag tears infrequently, about 1%-2% of the surgeries. In the case of my surgeon, it's less than 1%. I don't know now often the IOL dislocates so much that it ends up inside the eyeball, but it's not often.

For those of you who pray, I ask that you would raise my need to the Lord. He knows already, but he tells us to pray and says he answers. We don't know why or how, but we don't need to know that. He just answers.

Of course, there are worse things that can happen. I have one good eye, two good legs, and pretty much nothing else wrong. And if I finish my life with one eye, I can learn more of his purpose for me and still live to his glory. That's what he wants from us, in good health or bad.

With the surgery scheduled for tomorrow, I probably won't be able to check this for a few days, so to those who pray I say "Thanks." Even if you don't pray, I know many will care, and I appreciate that, too.

Steve.

2+ hour surgery yesterday. They found the lost lens and fished it out; stitched in a new lens. No general anesthesia; awake the whole time under a MAC. They said I did well. Will know if they did well at follow-up later today at 1:00; then going home. They sad a month for my eye to recover; tissues very "angry," they say. Still need prayer. Can't sleep because they taped the patch on in an uncomfortable way.

Steve.

I had both eyes done 1 1/2 years ago. They also corrected astigmatism in both eyes. It took about month for both eyes to heal up and now have 20/13 vision. I also felt like there was something in my eyes for about 4 months after surgery. They used a laser procedure for cutting cornea and for destroying cataract. The laser procedure is not covered by insurance so there was a hefty chunk of change out of pocket. Best money i ever spent!

Godspeed, Steve. Sounds like a lot of reason for hope.

Actually now I'm thinking my problem is not the patch. It's the stitches. Duh!

Steve.