Cataract Surgery has left me depressed

[MandaCope]

I had my surgery 4 weeks ago and I was quite disappointed that I only had near sight up to about 2 feet and blurred distance vision but consoled myself with not having to fish blindly for my specs first thing in the morning.  All seemed well until a week later when I woke up and had parts of my vision missing.  It was most noticeable when trying to read as some of the letters were missing.  I went straight to the Accident and Emergency dept at our local hospital and they referred me to the eye clinic.  The Opthalmologist just stared into my eyes with various lights then ordered blood tests, told me to take Acetazolomide for 3 days and a small Aspirin every day and come back in a week's time.

I went back after a week and he just said the blood tests were fine and it was to do with poor circulation of blood and to keep taking the Aspirin and it may or may not right itself.  He said I could resume swimming, etc. and to come back in 6 weeks.  I asked about the surgery for my other eye and he said they would consider it in 6 weeks time.

A week later and my vision has deteriorated in as much as I could see the computer without specs for a few weeks after but now it's blurry;  I wanted to get back to driving so I went to the Optician's to get some prescription specs which I thought would give me 2 good eyes again.  Wrong!  Apparently I am so short sighted in one eye and long sighted in the other (even though I can't see anything without specs in that eye) that he couldn't give me a proper prescription to line them up.  He said the best he could do was give me a distance prescription for my "new" eye and put plain glass in my useless eye until I get the other cataract done??  I don't understand this.  I've tried driving like that and I feel unsafe and disorientated.  

What can I do please?  I feel really in limbo.

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear MandaCope,

It does sound as if you have a disparity in the prescription between the two eyes known as anisometropia.  One possibility to reduce this is to obtain a contact lens for the eye which is weaker.  This will help reduce the issues that glasses might induce.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[MandaCope]

Thanks for your comments.

I remembered that I had some daily disposables tucked away that I'd stopped bothering with some time back.  Dug them out (they were 2 months out of date but I couldn't resist trying it out).  The difference was amazing.  I felt like I'd come out of the dark.  I could drive with confidence using the distance contact and I can read well enough with my IOL so best of both worlds.  

I don't even have a problem with middle distance.  Needless to say I hot-footed it back to optician to get some new lenses and I am so happy to feel "normal" again.

I'm annoyed that this was never mentioned to me at the optician's before and also that they just put plain glass in the useless eye in the specs I was given and not the blanked out ones that you mention.  I'm sure I could have managed better if they'd done that.

What would we do without the internet and the kindness of people that are willing to give us the benefit of their expertise.  

I'm only worried now about the outcome of the cataract op on my other eye.  It seems the best outcome for me would be to achieve maximum distance in that eye with the IOL but since that was the intention with the left eye and I ended up short sighted I don't have a lot of confidence that this will be achieved.  

Oh well, hopefully, whatever the outcome it can be corrected with either specs, a lens or lenses.  

Very best wishes to you.

[londonbridge]

I did exactly what you are contemplating. My IOL eye (nondominant) was fitted with an intermediate prescription IOL and I wear a contact lens for distance in my dominant, unoperated eye. My natural eye is a -7.5 and my new IOL eye is -.25. I function very well and only need reading glasses over the top of the contact. I have been doing this since January and will continue to do so until my dominant eye is poor enough that I need surgery.
The other thing I did was have a pair of glasses made with one eye blurred out with a special lens called a "mirage anti-reflective coating". What it does is allows me to function with one eye when I don't have a contact in (since I can not wear a contact safely 24/7). I am able to do well with this, except for driving.

Well good luck. I would be happy to answer any further questions about life with anesometropia.
londonbridge

[rosie33]

I had cataract surgery in Dec 08 and while I was amazed at how bright everything was I had and am still having blurred vision.  I have trouble driving during the day and night driving is almost out of the question..  I use  prescription drops two times a day for dryness and my doctor has tried numerous kinds of drops to help with this problem. I have an astigmatism so the halos around the lights at night are so annoying that I watch TV almost in the dark. The starburst are constant.  It is difficult to read, or any closeup work.  Is there any hope that my sight will clear up or do I now have permanent eye damage?

[MandaCope]

Dear Dr. Feldman,

I can't thank you enough for putting a name to this distressing condition and thus enabling me to research more and understand it.  

I was most interested in your comment that a contact lens might be able to do what spectacles apparently can't and since it seems I will have this condition for some time before I get surgery for the other eye it has given me a ray of hope that there might be a temporary solution.

Thankyou so much for taking the time to help me. It is much appreciated.