CRYSTALENS - YAG SURGERY

[Eye-Kant-C]

I recently had Crystalens impants (July & Aug 2007) to "correct" presbyopia. I received -12.5 and -14.0 implants (high degree of myopia), which actually gave me unwanted monovision, but that's another story. Both eyes actually are the same (approx. -12.5).

Besides numerous complications, which I posted in the Community Forum: eye pain from muscle/nerve damage during surgery (one eye), dry eye (same eye), flaring/edge glare (both), and no correction for presbyopia (actually lost intermediate vision), now I also have PCO. Is this the same as "secondary cataracts"? I didn't have cataracts -- simply wanted to "see near, far and everything in-between" as stated in the Crystalens advertising. Is clouding the same as Fibroid tissue?

In addition to my own high myopia, my mother and sister have both had detached retinas (spontaneous -- also high myopes). My surgeon says I may not have a choice and could possibly have to do the YAG whether or not I want to. He says there is such an extremely small risk of D.R. that I shouldn't worry about it.

Other than the halos at night -- what problems does PCO cause in someone with Crystalens implants? Could this be the cause of why my closeup vision is so much worse in low light? Can the PCO cause the Crystalens to dislocate or cause the retinas to detach if untreated? I really wish someone had explained these possible problems to me -- I'm really suffering with this and would NEVER have done it if I had been told how many things could go wrong.

Please help!

[Eye-Kant-C]

I saw that quote that patient expectations exceed technology and I have to say I believe that (at least in the case of Crystalens) the manufacturers are to blame for this. They really exaggerate the ability of the lenses to accomodate and have convinced many surgeons that these lenses are truly the answer to presbyopia. My surgeon really believes in them and I don't think he would have pushed me into doing this surgery if he had thought that I would end up with less near vision than I originally had.

And if I had wanted "mono-vision" I could have easily done that with contact lenses, but he thought I would be happier with that than having much less near/intermediate vision than prior to surgery. (I just wish he would have consulted with me before implanting my 2nd IOL and leaving me nearsighted in that eye.)

I definitely will see a retinal specialist before the YAG and really don't want to do any more surgeries, unless absolutely necessary. I guess that means back to contacts & reading glasses! At least the nerve damage seems to be less in the last few days.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Please use the search feature on this page and review the extensive discussion threads on accommodative and multifocal implants.

Also not the quote from a recent article on the subject in a medical journal.

Patient expections of these lens (Premium IOLs) far exceed the evolving technology now in use.

While yag capsulotomy is generally a benign process in your degree of myopia and with your family history the risk of a retial detachment after a Yag cap is going to increase 1-2%. If you have this done you should have a detailed dilated examination of your retina, perhaps by a retina specialist about 7-10 days after the yag cap.

JCH III MD

[Eye-Kant-C]

I hope it goes well for you. Not having cataracts, I'm so disappointed in losing what I actually did have before the surgery and the extreme edge glare problems are horrible!! I didn't have halos for the first couple of weeks but do now, probably from the cloudiness (PCO). The halos are not that bad, really, and it's not worth risking retinal detachments if it doesn't get any worse. How was your distance before the surgery? Do you have myopia? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking? (I'm 47 and have 3 teen-agers who are very active and don't drive yet, so I drive every night and the wild light show I see is very dangerous for driving.)

I lost a lot more near & intermediate than I had before the surgery and was in extreme pain for the 2-1/2 months (right eye) since the surgery. It's finally starting to feel better in the last couple days. I suspect I had a compressed nerve from the lens they use to hold your eye open to do the surgery. My doc says I had a lot of inflammation and tissue damage in that eye. The left (2nd surgery) was fine.

Keep posting -- I'm really looking forward to hearing of your experience. Best of luck!!!

ami

[icanjuggle]

Just did my right eye with crystalens... I had a cataract and was using 3.25 reading glasses and 1.0 for distance and driving... in between was just blurry but I was dealing with it.  The new lens procedure was uneventful and now things are very clear... white is so white... silver is an amazing color when you can see it.  It is still not perfect 1 week post op....some halos reflections and side glare... maybe it will improve... maybe not... but its a definate improvement over my otherwise slowly failing sight.  I'll be doing the left eye tomorrow... so we see what happens.  So far so good....

df