Terex

History of cataract surgery is pretty amazing, from the possibility that cataract surgery was first performed in Babylonia, to discovery by RAF doctors in WWII that plexiglass shards in the eyes of fighter pilots were non-reactive, and that plastic materials could be used as replacement lenses. Prior to that, the natural, occluded lens was just removed, and not replaced.

ModeratedUser150120149

Yes, I have friends who have had the same problems. But, they did not have multi-focal lenses. They had "standard" single vision lenses. So, I don't think it necessarily is the multi-focal lense. It is the unexpected outcome with her. I feel bad for her. By the way; what brand were her multi-focal lenses?

There is a pretty large conflict among eye docs. Some say to have the surgery done as soon as you have the slightest discomfort and the insurance company or medicare will pay for it. Others say to hold off as long as possible because there is always the risk of an unacceptable outcome. Unacceptable doesn't mean the person loses sight. Just that the person ends up living with problems.

Also, yes, the multi-focal lense cost more than a single vision lense and last time I checked it is not paid for by Medicare. It is paid for by some insurance I'm told. I doubt any claim the extra cost was not disclosed to the patient before the procedure was done. Without exception every medical office I've been in has made sure how they were going to be paid before they did anything more than an initial exam.

Associated but not on topic: There is lots of advertising for laser vision correction. Not as well advertised are the poor outcomes. This all goes to the profit motive of so many practioners.

irwin7638

It's no big deal. I was the oldest of my immediate family to have it and I was 50. It's walk in walk out surgery. Lense implants are great. My distance vision is great and I only need glasses for really fine print.

Marc

McCallum

I had mine removed in 1996 @ 34 one eye and 1999 the other eye. I should say mine are eye drop related glucoma meds and other steroids for other issues. I actually do not mind the aftermath. I use to go to the eye doc and they would take my glasses and ask me to read the chart --- I would ask "what chart? Are you meaning the blurr at the end of the room?" Yeah I was near blind without the glasses. After my first surg I would go all day without putting the contact in the untreated eye. I even drove this way. Got the second on done and was good for a couple of years finally had to get help seeing distance; I could see but I knew I needed that last tick of fine foucus. If I had to I could drive without correction but I like the fine tuning the glasses now give me.

Bill Kapaun

I've had both eyes done in the last 19 mos.
My historically bad eye has some glare from lights at night.
The Dr. says it's because I have severe astimatism in that eye. My L eye is great!
Only problem is that I use to be near sighted in my left and far sighted in my R.
I'm now far sighted in both, so I definitely need reading glasses.
I'm actually MORE farsighted in my left, but that's mainly because they reduced the amount of farsightedness in my R.

I am more sensitive to cold air when riding, causing my eyes to tear up if it's colder than about 45 ish.

Prior to my surgery, my left eye was 20-450, and my right was 20-200. (It was somewhere in the 20-3?? range when I had it done 5 months later)
L eye is now 20-40 & R is 20-70 uncorrected.

Bikealou

Had both eyes done at age 59. I knew it was time when my vision was changing as fast as I could get new glasses made. I was always near sighted with severe astigmatism (20-400 or so in left, dominant eye, 20-200 in right). both doctor and I agreed I wasn't a good candidate for multi-focal type lens. I paid obscene extra $$ for toric lens to correct the astigmatism. Now have 20-25 vision in both eyes. I wear mild corrective glasses (no longer have to get the high refractive plastic lenses) for near sight and for distance night driving. I bike with sport sunglasses with no correction. Let me join the crowd that said wish I had it done much earlier.

I had the operations in early to mid -Spring (Doc said had to wait six weeks between operations; that it would be malpractice to do both eyes at the same time?!) That summer went camping in the desert of AZ. Sleeping under the stars, rolled over in the middle of the night and just gazed up for a while marveling at the Milky Way. Watched a dumbbell shaped satellite (Sky Lab) drift through the river of the Milky Way stars. Wow! Was I glad I had the operation.

John E

Art lovers are familiar w/ Claude Monet's [1840-1926] story:

"During World War I, in which his younger son Michel served and his friend and admirer Clemenceau led the French nation, Monet painted a series of weeping willow trees as homage to the French fallen soldiers. In 1923, he underwent two operations to remove his cataracts: the paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. It may also be that after surgery he was able to see certain ultraviolet wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye; this may have had an effect on the colors he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings, with bluer water lilies than before."

The difference between his pre-/post-cataract and with-cataract paintings is even more dramatic than this article indicates. It would be analogous to Beethoven receiving some sort of hearing-restorative surgery late in life -- one can only speculate what the effect would have been.

My ophthalmologist friend, 66 years young and always keeping up with the newest developments in his field, says that cataract surgery has gotten so easy and reliable that he is recommending it to progressively younger patients, instead of waiting until the clouding interferes with daily activities, which was the traditional standard. (He is a cornea-and-lens subspecialist who refers folks with vitreous or retinal problems (been there ... done that ... good outcome) to another subspecialist.)

B. Carfree

Many decades ago, I worked as a research biochemist in a Medical School Ophthalmology Department. One of my colleagues was a psychophysicist who did a lot of visual field work. On one project he was looking at blue light detection and concluded that people have two paths: Either their lenses get damaged by blue and U.V. light, resulting in cataracts but protecting the retina, or the lens manages to avoid damage and the retina takes the hit. Fortunately, most of us fall in the first category since it is easily corrected by cataract surgery.

Terex

One occluded lens was removed, but not replaced with another lens. He was prescribed glasses, but apparently the results were unsatisfactory. And are you saying his painting got better? There is a lot of disagreement on this point. According to this article (https://www.psych.ucalgary.ca/pace/va...ite/monet.html), the return of color perception in the one eye that was done, was offset by lack of visual acuity and depression on the part of Monet with the complications of surgery and his dissatisfaction with the corrective lens of his glasses. The web site details the eye problems of various artists. Interesting stuff.

DavidOglesbee

I had both eyes done three years ago and it has been very satisfactory. However I informed the doctor that I was a night cyclist and he fitted me with special tints that cut down on night time light splatter. Normal lens would not have worked as well for night riding or driving. The tint seemed to costs about $300 extra per eye and it was well worth it. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ASK OR YOU COULD END UP WITH A NORMAL PAIR.

David Oglesbee

Nightshade

No worries, mate. Eye care has advanced by leaps and bounds from even 20 years ago. If you have to have work done be ready for an explosion of color that you're missing now!!