Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I just had cataract surgery on my left eye last Monday, and had a revelation. I found that suddenly, white looked really white out of my left eye, while my right eye saw it as a slightly off white color. I just had my right eye done this morning, and I’m sitting here using one eye while the other is blurred from being dilated for the procedure. What I’m getting at is, I wonder if the cataracts altered the color perception enough to adversely affect adjusting images in post. I mean, if white doesn’t actually appear pure white, what about the other colors? The only thing I’ve learned about cataracts is that they reduce the amount of light entering the eyes and they’re slightly yellow in color, so I wonder what effect that has on processing images in post.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Your reaction mirrors mine from 3 years ago. Suddenly the snow I skied on had depth and some color.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Yup, pretty interesting. I never realized just how white our Hyundai Santa Fe is until I got the first cataract removed.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I advise you to consult with you opthomoligest as to the color perception after cataracts surgery. I had a pro photographer/uncle who had this surgery and said his general eyesight was never better than after the surgery. He continued to shoot and make his own color prints correctly, and creat oil paintings well into his late eighties.

My guess would be that the badly affected corneas woud cause a color correct deficit which is corrected by means of the surgery. Ask your doc!

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

Based on other reports here on UHH about cataract surgery, colors and brightness are much different after surgery.

pendennis

Cataracts are "clouds" on the lens. As such, they diffuse light, instead of transmitting it directly. It's similar to the way the old pre-anastigmat lenses worked, in that light doesn't focus exactly in the same plane. When the natural lens is removed, the defects, whatever they were, are gone, and a lens which is held to a manufacturing standard replaces it.

I had gone through similar problems before I had cataract surgery in 2013. I had the added condition of severe astigmatism. The problem was solved with a lens with a "toric" design.

My vision correction was nothing short of a quantum advance. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, my color acuity went from muddy white, to brilliance. I never dreamed that colors could be so vivid. When the sun shone on snow, I could detect the prismatic changes.

I had my annual exam today, and my vision remains exactly as it was when surgery was done. My presbyopia maxed out when surgery was done, so my correction is only for "reading" glasses @ 1.50 diopters. The scans of my retina remain the same. There was some fear of glaucoma, but the pressure was 18/16, and no issues there.

Take care that you wear sunglasses which have UV filtration. The natural UV filtration in your lenses can't be duplicated, so polarized sunglasses during daylight hours are recommended.

Glad your surgery went well.

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

I am glad it all went well.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Yes - cataracts have a yellow color. After surgery I was amazed at the clarity AND the color shift. It was as if I had been looking at a world lit with incandescent lighting.

I can't help but wonder what affect it had on my post processing.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I was amazed at the difference in color and brightness after the surgery last week. And I will only need glasses for reading. My doctor said in a couple weeks after the eyes have settled down he’ll take the final measurements to properly prescribe reading glasses. Right now I’m using some cheap readers from Walmart so I can at least see to read at all. Incidentally, these new lenses have UV and blue blocking included in the manufacturer. So I guess spending screen time will be less hard on my eyes. This whole thing has been a revelation, as I said earlier.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

That’s a good way to look at it. Oh groan, that turned out to be a pun.

pendennis

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, that is amazing, isn't it? After my right eye was done, I noticed the difference when I opened and closed either eye. In the doctor's office are two paintings: one done before the artist's surgery and one after. There is a big difference in color between them.

By studying the paintings of a classical painter, experts have determined that he had a certain eye problem. I don't recall the details.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

What’s nice is to be able to see in the distance without the help of glasses. Still need readers, but I can live with that. And yes, the color perception is a nice thing as well.

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

Way to go!!!! Really glad to hear your good news and the fact that you can skip the distance glasses. That could be a real change in your daily activity in addition to photography things.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

My mother had cataract surgery in the 70's....very different from what it is today. She had done some embroidery work before she left where the leaves were supposed to be yellowish green and the flower petals were supposed to greenish blue but the cataracts didn't allow her to see the colors correctly but after the surgery she was able to see that she had done them backwards.

Dodie