Cataracts

1956olds

1956olds

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Oct 31, 2009
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I was informed by my DO while getting an exam for a new glasses i now have cataracts,a fast growing type and within 18 months i will have to have both eyes operated on.I remember a thread not to long ago about eye surgery gone bad but never heard the final outcome .Does anyone remember the thread? I belive some had outside contact with the poster and wondered how he made out .Glen
 
Cataract surgery is an outpatient event these days. The ophthalmologist actually removes your damaged lens and replaces it with a synthetic one. The lens will "float" for a couple of weeks while it settles in to the eye and makes its new home. A couple of weeks later you have the second one done.

The nice thing is you have 20/20 vision again and they even have techniques to eliminate the need for reading glasses. My SO just had it done. My Mom had it done in her early 80's. she'll be 89 this week. No problems to date.

HTH
 
My father inlaw had both eyes done 25 years ago by a clinic that has a very good reputation. The doctor was the first to develop a method that no stiches or anethetic were required. My father inlaw had no problems. I will not post the name of the clinic but if you PM me I will send you the link. They gave him a vido of his operation.
I know several people that have gone now and there were no failure. My eye doctor told me that one day I would need them done and he would send me to the same clinic. peration takes about 5 minutes with preperation of 1/2 hour he told me.
 
My wife was prescribed a medication by her gynecologist that had a side effect of accelerating cataract growth. She was in her early 60's and needed glasses since about her late 20's. She had both the lenses on both eyes replaced about 4 weeks apart, had no down time other that the day after surgery. Most docs who do cataract surgery now have surgery centers for just that purpose and the experience, while terrifying to the patient, is a minor inconvenience. We drove to the surgery center 90 miles away the day of the surgery, arrived at 8am, had cataract surgery and ate lunch at Cracker Barrel on the way home. After wearing glasses for 30 years, she does not need corrective lenses anymore.

I will tell you that she opted for multi-focal lenses to avoid the normal need for reading glasses that cataract patients with single focal lenses usually have. The cost was about $2500 more and I would recommend you fully explore the pros and cons of spending the extra money. There are some side effects......vision is not as sharp for distance, small print runs together in subdued lighting, halos around lights when outside or driving at night........and if we were to do it over, my wife says she would not do the multi-focal lenses.

Good luck with the process...it just isn't a big deal anymore.
 
It cost my father inlaw 1200 an eye 25 years ago. It was more than most places but he liked to play pool and golf. He said he felt like he was young again. It has gotten to be a normal procedure. You only get two eyes.
 
Ok thanks for the info,it helps calm the nerves a great deal.I dont think i will mind wearing reading glasses if my far sight is ok that is.
 
My Mom who will not go to a doctor unless she is in a serious condition and hates the medical profession with a passion. She had both eyes done 6 months apart about 3 years ago and had no problems what so ever!! I thought it would be a big deal but it went smooth as silk. As an outpatient she went home shortly after the procedure. When they took her back into surgery I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee. When I came back up to the waiting room to drink the coffee they shortly thereafter called my name........it was that quick. She was 83 at the time of the surgery.
 
I know several people who have had the procedure, no side effects in any case.

My eye doc told me I have one in my right eye, Its not bad enough yet, but I'll be getting it done in the future. If its anything like LASIK, it's a piece of cake!:thumbsup:
 
dpmulvey said:
Cataract surgery is an outpatient event these days. The ophthalmologist actually removes your damaged lens and replaces it with a synthetic one. The lens will "float" for a couple of weeks while it settles in to the eye and makes its new home. A couple of weeks later you have the second one done.

The nice thing is you have 20/20 vision again and they even have techniques to eliminate the need for reading glasses. My SO just had it done. My Mom had it done in her early 80's. she'll be 89 this week. No problems to date.

HTH
Click to expand...

My Mom had that done at 77....legally blind without glasses her whole life. Now has 20-20 in her late 70's.....amazing to see her without coke bottle glasses! She just turned 79 last week!
 
I'm an Optometrist with 27 yrs private practice experience, so I thought I would weigh in here. I refer patients for cataract surgery, and do the post op care all week long. If you have a surgeon with a good reputation, 999 times out of 1000 everything goes fine. It is, however, surgery, so there are never any guarantees. Find the surgeon with the most experience in your area. You want someone who can do the procedure in their sleep! I'm not overly enthused with the bifocal implants. Most of my patients who have opted for this $5000 option (in our market, at least) have enjoyed less dependence on glasses for near work, such as working in the garage, etc, but if you are going to read for any length of time, you will need spectacle correction at least some of the time. That's a lot of coin for part time near correction! They WILL NOT eliminate your need for glasses completely, despite what anyone tells you. Don't expect miracles overnight - it will take a few days to heal. Vision at 1 week is usually better than at 1 day. Follow your docs instructions on post op drops, and you should do fine.
 
I had a fast-growing cataract in my right eye removed last October. I've worn glasses all my life, so it doesn't bother me to continue to wear them. My Ophthalmolgist told me that most people who chose to plunk down the additional $$ for a multi-focal lens are looking to 'get out' of glasses, but didn't think it to be something I would benefit from. You can choose whether to have the correction biased toward near or far sight, with the 'regular' lens implant. The procedure is simple (no surgery is minor when it's YOU...), and recovery should be uneventful as long as you stick to the post-op directions, which is mostly lots of drops over the course of a few weeks. When I asked my MD if there was anything I couldn't do (after a couple of weeks), she smiled and said "Don't put a stick in your eye...".
 
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I work i a body shop at a gm dealer ,i am a bit afraid i will get something in my eye all the time and usually do.I always wera saftey glasses in the shop but they arent foolproof.Maybe i should get a new job ,some where south of the frost freeze zone i live in!Thanks for all the positive input guys.Glen
 
My mother-in-law had the cataract surgery, outpatient, and did great. In the process, she went from terrible vision and dependency on glasses, to functional without glasses, and needing only minor correction. She thought it was very cool! She passed away a few years later from totally unrelated issues.

My dad, now nearly 80, had minor vision correction before cataract surgery, and has needed only very minor correction after. 10 years and no problems.

At the risk of a thread hijack, has anyone had radial keratotomy (RK) corrective surgery, and later needed cataract surgery? The reason I ask, my wife has my mother-in-law's former terrible vision, and it worries me that in an emergency situaton that a loss of glasses or contacts will leave her stranded.

Call it a long term effect of optional RK - did that or would that complicate your cataract surgery years later?
 
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