Interesting effect following cataract surgery: I had the first of two cataract surgeries yesterday and now notice that in the “new“ eye, colors seem brighter—not surprising

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

I had the first of two cataract surgeries yesterday and now notice that in the “new“ eye, colors seem brighter—not surprising—but also much cooler than in the other eye. The difference in color temp seems to be about 4000K or more between the two, obviously because the yellowish lens is now gone. Now I wonder if color photos I’ve processed recently look overcooked or color-shifted. Anyone else have similar experiences?

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

I had cataract surgery in 2019. I did not notice any change in colors, either temp or brighter. After talking to others I guess I am one of the oddballs. That's not unusual for me. :-)

User ID

The view through cataracts is yellowish. Every patieny notices that.

With both eyes fully repaired, I've now reviewed plenty of photos that I have edited in recent years. I see nothing in need of correction. In particular there's no yellow-blue balance problem.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, that is a surprising and welcome change. My eye doctor's office had two paintings done by a patient before and after cataract surgery. There was a definite difference in the tint of each.

User ID

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, that is a surprising and welcome change. My eye doctor's office had two paintings done by a patient before and after cataract surgery. There was a definite difference in the tint of each.

I don't doubt what you report but need to reconcile that with my post immediately above. I tend to think that working with a self illuminated image avoids yellowed vision effects such as we observe with opaque art and with real world scenes (the latter is also also reflected light.)

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

User ID wrote:

The view through cataracts is yellowish. Every patieny notices that.

With both eyes fully repaired, I've now reviewed plenty of photos that I have edited in recent years. I see nothing in need of correction. In particular there's no yellow-blue balance problem.

Thanks! Good to hear.

bobforman Loc: Anacortes, Washington State

The brightness you're experiencing will subside rather quickly and you'll consider your new sight to be normal. I didn't notice a temperature change. What I have had difficulty with is getting the proper correction for computer work. Reading is no problem with 1.75 but something at arm's length takes some experimenting.

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

stanikon wrote:

I had cataract surgery in 2019. I did not notice any change in colors, either temp or brighter. After talking to others I guess I am one of the oddballs. That's not unusual for me. :-)

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, that is a surprising and welcome change. My eye doctor's office had two paintings done by a patient before and after cataract surgery. There was a definite difference in the tint of each.

Interesting! I think I would have fit right in there.

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

bobforman wrote:

The brightness you're experiencing will subside rather quickly and you'll consider your new sight to be normal. I didn't notice a temperature change. What I have had difficulty with is getting the proper correction for computer work. Reading is no problem with 1.75 but something at arm's length takes some experimenting.

Thanks! Good luck with the correction issue. I have that to look forward to.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

After the surgery many years ago, I was amazed at the colors I had been missing but evidently my camera got it right even when I might not have, because I looked back and saw no difference in my pictures.

scallihan Loc: Tigard, OR

bobforman wrote:

The brightness you're experiencing will subside rather quickly and you'll consider your new sight to be normal. I didn't notice a temperature change. What I have had difficulty with is getting the proper correction for computer work. Reading is no problem with 1.75 but something at arm's length takes some experimenting.

Does the brightness "subside", or does one simply become accustomed and not notice it? (I'm probably going to have cataract surgery in two years.)

jonsailhob

My mother-in-law was an excellent artist with a great color sense. As her cataracts worsened, her paintings became pinkish. Viewed through yellow spectacle lenses, the paintings looked normal. Aware of the problem (we told her) she took them into direct sunlight to adjust. It made them better, but still not quite right.

SkipGWV

Horseart wrote:

After the surgery many years ago, I was amazed at the colors I had been missing but evidently my camera got it right even when I might not have, because I looked back and saw no difference in my pictures.

Good! Thanks.

Judy795

Yes I had my better eye done first. I could clearly see the difference between eyes. The eye with the new lens was now clear white, with a hint of blue. The other eye was still yellow. Two years later I had the second eye (my problem eye, with a retinal detachment and repair and still some distortion) done. Shocked that there was still a color difference between eyes. I asked the doc if the two lenses were identical or had different color tints. She insisted they were the same product. She really didn't have an explanation that made sense.
I do go back and increase whites or exposure just a bit on some photos now and I always cover the bad eye just to see the best color.