dick ranez

Do it - and then wonder why you waited. My neighbor doctor told me that cataract surgery was the least complicated, most beneficial procedure he could think of. I did both eyes and the upside was no glasses after 40 years of wearing them - although the colors were so bright I still wear sunglasses on bright days. Downside - had to redo the color balance on my monitors and printers. It was like I'd had a butterscotch cellophane wrapper in front of my eyes.

M.Spears

I had it done 4 yrs ago....I have the mono vision. L eye for close and R eye for distance (the brain puts it all together so we see like we did when we were young !). They asked me several times if I was sure that is what I wanted. I had my contacts that way. They grind the lenses differently. No glasses, perfect 20/20 vision. Amazing feeling. Super for focusing well again !!!

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I had a cataract removed recently after years of blurriness in my left eye. It made focusing hard with the eye, which has been my viewfinder eye for 60 years. Switching eyes has been a long process, which had been difficult.

Removing your cataract WILL make a big difference. Now I can go back to using the original eye on the viewfinder, which feels more natural. The eye sees very sharply.

One thing to watch for....removing the cataract will make you more sensitive to bright sun. I am wearing sunglasses all the time when the sun is shining brightly. Only wore them for driving previously. And you will have a month of multiple eye drops to put in the repaired eye.

Good luck.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Thank You. That confirms my suspicion that cataracts were the cause of a friend's poor eyesight. Poor eyesight that he never had corrected and was the cause of his recent death.

Garry J

Biggest change for me was seeing colors that I had been missing, along with being able to see better at night. The procedure is a piece of cake as mentioned earlier.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

No, I have no problems. I've been very conscientious about wearing sunglasses for the last 50 yrs or so. My question was because a friend, a farmer all his life who never wore sunglasses, was nearly blind on bright sunny days. We all knew it, and I suspected cataracts, hence my question. A few weeks ago, on a bright sunny day, he attempted to cross a state highway on a tractor as he had done countless times before. This time, in the bright sunshine, he didn't see a large dump truck coming. He died. Seems like such a waste when a simple operation could have saved his vision and his life.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I was amazed how clear the world actually was after my cataract surgery!

bobbyp7714 Loc: Orange MA

I had both eyes done. Unfortunately, they found macular degeneration in the left eye after the surgery. The doctor said they would not have found it before. Everything else came out ok. So no problems. Just getting treatment for the left eye.

Norm W. Loc: Southern CA

Cataract surgery for me was the most dramatic improvement in vision with minimum discomfort I have experienced.
Find the most expert experienced surgeon you can, the more cases they have successfully done the better. Follow their directions for recovery and you should have a very rewarding experience.

Bill P

Is it my eyes or the lens?

If you h ave cataracts, no one can say. You could get them fixed and see the lens is fine, or you could get them fixed and find out the lens is still bad.

So here is my question for those who have gone thru this before me.
If it doesn't make a dramatic difference you should sue the surgeon. I got mine done, and on the advice of a trusted friend, got both corrected so I see almost 20/20 in both eyes. My right eye is still dominant, so no problems there. Still need reading glasses, but if you're over 50 you almost surely do anyway, even with out cataracts.

Will it really help to see things better & let me tell the difference between a sharp photo & one that is close but not quite there?
Don't open that can of worms. Strictly speaking yes it will, but visit Mike Johnston's blog and go back a week or so and read his post on sharpness.


Will my color judgement be a bit more precise?
Absolutely.\ Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.
On the subject of distance/closeup correction. I have a friend, a commercial artist. He was convinced by his surgeon that one eye for close and one eye for distance would best suit him. He had, over a 35 year career, done all his work by hand. With using just one closeup eye, he was unable to do that. He was out of business,to become hungry and homeless, but he discovered Adobe Illustrator. so he can continue to work. So I suggest you get the distance correction. You will be able to see to do things around the house (not carpentry or use of power tools) and you won't have a glasses restriction on your DL.

As to the doctor that does the operation, this li like any other operation. Although tiny, , it is still open surgery. you don't want some kid straight out of school doing it, or some guy that just does it now and then. I met with the recommended surgeon, and and a meeting with him where we discussed the procedure. The first thing I did was ask my standard question: How many of these have you done this week? He responds, oh this week, I can't say for sure. I say well then this week, or this month, or this year? He still cant remember but says, well, I do know I've done over 22,000 of these in my career. I was good with that. I had both eyes done at once, and that presented no problems at all.

You will not have instant results, they put in a flexible plastic lens rolled up like your morning paper. That enables them to use a smaller incision. It will take a few days to completely unroll, and the progression will be imperceptible, your vision will return to normal soon.

And I continue to wear glasses, as I would lose reading glasses weekly, and I'm used to having vision corrected to about 20/10 anyway.

There is almost no downside to this. You will say in a few months,why didn't I get tis done sooner.

Texukdoc

As a physician who has cared for a lot of elderly people who have undergone cataract surgery, my take is this: most people are happiest with the basic lenses and some will need corrective glasses in addition as these lenses are fixed focal length, whereas a healthy natural lens adjusts its focus. Of course most of that is lost well before the cataract surgery as the lens hardens as well as opacifies. Some people who opt for the more expensive option are happy with their choice but others have regretted it and of course there is additional expense. Having one lens for near vision and one for distant vision loses the binocular vision that one gets with both lenses being the same, but the more expensive option may avoid the need for wearing glasses in addition. In general there are very few complications and improvements are dramatic.

Al Freeedman

I had the cataract surgery a year ago, and my vision is now 20/20. The surgery was a breeze.
They will not do both eye's at the same time, there is about a two week time period between surgery's.

Captain Al

Ken C

I had it done for both eyes. Things are much brighter, more colerful, and much sharper. The procedure was very simple, i have recommend it to several friends, you will be glad you did it.

ajcotterell

I had cataract surgery about 4 years ago, and the results were truly rewarding. You'll most likely love the results. The enhanced sharpness has been very fine with my old eyes.

johnlutz Loc: florida

Don't pass it up. If you can afford the Crystilen lens go for it. Its been 9 years and they are great. Colors, night driving, etc will greatly improve