MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

You hit my nail on its head when you said the thought of someone messing with your eyes was terrifying. My EXACT fear. Not in the least afraid of pain, but absolutely terrified that something would go wrong and that there would be no way to fix it - whatever the “it” was.
Thank you so much for your honesty!

tblack18

Had to wear glasses for 60 years due to extreme near sightedness. Had my cataract surgery three years ago. Went from 20/200 to 20/20 for distance, now need reading glasses for close up. Opted for single vision lenses. Astigmatism correction was not well explained to me. I had pretty severe astigmatism. If I had it to do again I would gladly have paid the extra ($1000?) for astigmatism correction. Apparently this would greatly improve clarity for distance vision without glasses. Now I wear bifocals that correct my astigmatism for distance.
I had no issues for the procedures. My doctor used blade & didn’t see any benefit in using a laser. Lots of eye drops for a couple of weeks. Amazing clarity just a few minutes after the surgery.
My wife just had cataract surgery six weeks ago. She has rheumatoid arthritis and developed iritis (arthritis of the eyes) about a week after her second eye operation. Blurry vision & swelling plus edema in both eyes. Was told this is fairly common for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. She’s been on prednisone drops for a month now & it seems to slowly be improving.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thanks, Bill. As of this moment, I’m leaning toward the single vision lenses. My experience with contacts correcting for far in one eye and close in the other was a spectacular failure. Since I’ve worn glasses since the age of 7 (now age 73), wearing glasses for close work won’t be an issue. Of more concern would be fear of misplacing the darn things. My glasses are ALWAYS either on my face or on my nightstand. Off at night and back on again in the AM. I DID misplace them once while taking a shower, though. Thought I’d put them on the washer as usual but they weren’t there. My husband had to come in and find them for me. They were all of maybe 2 feet away on the vanity and I just could NOT find them. There’s your morning laugh!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I had it in both eyes back in 2008. I was seeing four stop lights on the way home from work every night, so I had an ophtalmologist check me. A couple weeks later, I had the left eye done, and two weeks after that, I had the right eye done. It was quick, painless (if a bit weird), and recovery was just a bit inconvenient, because they gave me four different eye drops to apply every few hours for a few weeks.

I had toric lenses installed. They correct most of my astigmatism. I'm able to drive and read road signs without glasses, but I do wear glasses for all closeup work and when I want really high definition vision.

Cataract replacement surgery is probably the safest surgical procedure there is. It improved my color vision tremendously. That was important, because I had a career in the school portrait lab business! For five years, I managed the quality control and color correction departments, the film scanning department, and several printing departments. So I had to see clearly!

Just do it. If you have some apprehension, do one eye at a time. Good doctors probably want to proceed that way, anyhow.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

In the case of the implant lens, follow the advice of your eye Dr. My implants brought me close to 20/20 and largely fixed the astig. They usually do one eye at a time, so between eyes compare colors. My cataract eye showed a severe muddy yellow coloration. After its all over, recheck many of your photos.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Bill, thanks for your input. I’ll be seeing the doctor this Thursday and will definitely be asking about the Toric lens since I have severe astigmatism. Last night I spent several hours just reading about the various lenses and surgeries for cataracts. As far as I know at this moment, I will be having one eye at a time done. I’m wondering how I’ll function with one “working” eye - the one that had the cataract removed - and one “bad” eye - the one that still needs correction via my eyeglasses. Maybe pop the lens out on the side of the eye that had the surgery? or maybe just walk around one-eyed without glasses with my hand over the eye that wasn’t sone yet. I’m sure the doc will go into that.
Thank you again for your thoughtful response. Gotta love the people here on UHH!

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thanks, John. I have been wondering how the surgery will affect my photography. It will be very interesting to compare color perception between the eye that had the surgery and the one that was still waiting for its turn.

Alfresco

I've had both eyes done, right in 2001 and left in 2015 and prior I needed glasses for distance, I'd been wearing glasses since 7th grade. The first thing and what I feel is most important is that you feel comfortable with the doctor and the facility. You said you have astigmatism, as did I, but that can and in my estimation should be addressed when you get the surgery. When I had it done, the astigmatism correction was considered cosmetic and I had to pay additional to have that addressed but it was worth it. In my estimation, don't try to cheap out, these are your only two eyes, give them the best. I do have to use reading glasses for most reading, books, labels things like that but no glasses to see and drive, soooo sweet. Good luck in whatever choices you make.

lnl Loc: SWFL

I had cataract surgery last September, both eyes done one week apart. Incredible success! I could not get over how differently our living room paint color looked when we came home. It no longer was a tan/yellow shade but had morphed into a blue/gray shade. Colors were the biggest change to me, although clarity also was big.
I had a great deal of astigmatism also. I wore glasses for 66 years. The astigmatism came from wearing hard contacts in the 1960s for 14 years. Because I have age related macular degeneration, I was advised against the Symphony’ or multi-focal lens. That’s best to listen to your ophthalmologist to determine what works. I do have toric implants, single vision, corrected for distance. Having been myopic since childhood, it was and still is quite a change to be putting on my dollar store cheaters to read instead of taking off my very expensive progressive lens eyeglasses to read well. I haven’t minded grabbing a pair of readers for computer work and reading and they’re so inexpensive I too have several pairs—living room, computer, bedside...
I have a dual-sided mirror stand in the bathroom and use the magnified side to put on make up. That works fine. I can read a text message on my phone without readers if I have to, but easier with glasses. However, I love not needing glasses for distance. No problem with photography although it is difficult to see up close on the camera itself. However, as others have said, looking through the viewfinder everything is sharp.
The toric lens implant correcting for astigmatism has given me better vision than I had with glasses. I no longer need glasses for distance or driving or TV. Very impressive! The surgeon who did my surgery has done over 100,000 cataract surgeries. That’s all he does and has lots of experience.
As so many other hogs have said, I hope your experience is just as good. Take care.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has responded so far. Admin merged my topic posted in the Main Photography forum into this one in Chit-Chat. It’s my intention to reply to each and every one of you, but this “merge” has caught me off guard. If I’ve missed responding to a member, it was not intentional. Every single response has been read over at least once and I’ve noted and questions/concerns those responses have generated on my list of “things” to discuss with the doc on Thursday. Since I only called the doctor’s office for an appointment this AM, I was stunned to get one in just 2 days. Turns out there had been a cancellation.

Sensei

I have had it on both eyes, each was several years apart and the last was about 15 years ago. There have been vast improvements since then. For example the first round I had visual problems for about ten days, Second operation was ten years later and I could see out of that eye with no problem the next day. If the operations were done today, I would no longer need glasses, I have read that the inserted lens could be progressive. If that is not the case, you could go for distance and wear glasses for close work. Because My great grandmother and a great aunt had to wear coke bottles on their eyes and one of them was still virtually blind I was terrified. But today, it is done with a lazier and you really don't have anything to worry about

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thank you for your insight. More than likely, I’ll be getting 2 opinions. As you said “don't cheap out”. My astigmatism is pretty severe, so I’m not sure if its correction via my choice of lens will be covered by insurance or not. In any event, I’m getting it fixed! It would be absolutely amazing to be able to drive (safely) without glasses. That would be a first for me in over 40 years. It will seem very strange.
Thank you again!

sgt hop Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md

i had both eyes done....ended up with 20/20 vision and tossed the eyeglasses ....i had been wearing glasses since i was 8 yrs old..i was 77, now i'm 85 ...the surgery itself was painless, i had no problems after....i told the doc that if i had 3 eyes i would the other one done....still having no problems.....tho i do now need reading glasses..you have it done.....

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Oh, shoot - MAKEUP! I’ve been using my glasses as a “reason” not to wear eye makeup. If it turns out post-op that I only need glasses for close work, I’ll need to find some other excuse, errrrrr I mean “reason” not to wear it.

You brought up two very interesting points: first that your astigmatism was caused by wearing hard contacts in the ‘60’s (I wore them from 1965 until the late ‘70’s/early ‘80’s - never made the connection between that & the astigmatism, but it certainly makes sense!); second that it’s difficult to see up close on the camera itself. I know where all the controls on my D500 are by feel, so that's not an issue. As far as chimping goes, I’ll probably just try squinting or trusting “the blinkies” that i always have set up on “playback”.

I do plan to ask my doctor lots of questions, the first of which is going to be how many of these surgeries he’s done. The second question will be how many of those where NOT successful and why weren't they a success.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. You’ve given me a couple of more ideas to consider and ask my doc about.

Malvern

I had a cataract removed, and a new lens fitted on 5th. September. I attended the hospital with some apprehension, because psychologically, the thought of someone poking about in an organ as sensitive as ones eye is not an attractive proposition. My fears were groundless. I was at the hospital for two hours, most of which was taken up by the administering of drops to dilate the pupil, and anaesthetic drops. The actual surgery took 10 minutes. I was told that I would feel no pain, but possibly a little pressure during surgery. In fact I neither felt any pain or pressure. I have had no discomfort, post op. and the sight in my right eye has improved beyond expectation. My optician has allowed me to drive without glasses. I have just arranged for an operation on my left eye for 23 rd September. Go for it my fellow hogger!
Peter.