How is your vision after Cataract Surgery?

[orbitnw]

How is your vision after Cataract Surgery?
Please specify whether you got a monofocal or multifocal/accommodative IOL.

I would like to know what distances you are able to see clearly. What distances are slightly blurry, but acceptable, and what distances are just unbearably blurry.

I am particularly interested in those who have received Monofocal IOL set to Distance but I would also really appreciate hearing those experiences with different IOLs. I have heard from several people that with a IOL Set to Distance, they are still able to use the Computer at about 18 inches. This has confused me since I had thought IOL set to distance makes intermediate distance blurry.

Thanks!

[GreenBikeRider]

This is what I'm thinking I'd do for myself. Pre-surgical consult is now set for this Tuesday. I'm not even sure what to ask for - "mid-distance correction"?

[GreenBikeRider]

I too have been researching this issue. My situation is likely very different than yours - I am -14 myopic, and have had a retinal detachment and now a macular hole. So I have elected to have the femtosecond laser procedure, as much less mechanical energy is transferred to the eyes using the laser technique.

That said, I've read a half-dozen posts on the issue of "laser or not". It occurred to me that the vast majority of cataract surgeons do not have the femtosecond laser or the training to use it. I expect they would likely defend their methods as "good, and good enough". And they seem to be doing exactly this. But the question really is - setting aside the cost issue for a moment, which method produces better results? I have yet to ready any studies that claims that the manual method is better. Just "good enough".

Fortunately, I have the money to pay for better results. I'd rather see slightly better, for the rest of my life. than to keep that money for something else. My car is 5 years old, and I'd like a newer one. But I'd rather keep driving it for a couple more years, than skimp on my vision.

Just my two cents.

[GreenBikeRider]

Just read your insightful post. Good to hear that the left eye IOL helped you so much. I'm hoping that the right eye turned out as well.

I'm having my cataracts taken care of in a couple of weeks, one week apart. I'm a very high myope, -14. I'm debating whether to get both eyes set for distance and be farsighted forever (needing reading glasses for computer/reading), or get both eyes doe for something less than full distance correction, and then wear glasses for driving, playing golf, and the like.

Now that some time has passed, I wonder if you'd share your thoughts.

[TechDeveloper]

Thanks for all the information. It certainly does steer me away from doing the laser cataract method (see my comment at the end).  

There is an interesting new development. I have postponed my surgery and  I sought a 2nd opinion on  the use of laser and the lens choices. Unexpected, was that he indicated that the cataracts were not that bad (especially in the good eye) and my issues may not all be cataract related, but may be do to the epiretinal membrane. I've always been a little uneasy that my symptoms mis-matched a bit with what classical symptoms were, but not realizing there could be other causes I did not pay much more attention. The consulting physician suggested I do a retina evaluation first  and could be causing some of my vision issues, aside from the cataract. In all fairness, the original surgeon did also report the epiretinal membrane, but did not suggest that I first check it out before proceeding to do cataract surgery. Also, in fairness to the original surgeon, in the initial visits he did suggest that I wait unless it was interfering with my daily life.  I just wish he had made the suggestion to see a retina specialist before getting this far!  Only today, I was told how they grade the cataract (2.5?), which is not very bad.

So I am going to see a retina specialist next and hopefully, and hopefully will know what to do after that.

By the way, the consulting physician suggested if later I do the cataract surgery, that NOT to use the laser in my case, for some of the reasons that were cited in the literature, as you have so well documented.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

re: "disbelieve what I was told since I wanted the safest possible procedure having only one good eye.  "

This is a few minute video from this week with a surgeon talking about:

http://eyetube.net/series/daily-coverage-san-diego-2015/ohedo/
"The Ethics of Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery"

And discussing the issue  for instance of   being careful for instance to distinguish between the differing personal beliefs of surgeons, vs. what the evidence shows. The wording difference can be subtle, and patients are often not going to be paying close enough attention to realize the distinction they are trying to make.


As this mentions explicitly:

http://www.reviewofoptometry.com/content/d/ophthalmic_lenses___and___dispensary/c/50964/
"3. Who Really Needs Femto Laser Cataract Surgery?  
Surgeons disagree on this question, with some advocating routine use of femto, others believing its greater precision is primarily a benefit only to those patients receiving a premium IOL, and still others waiting for more compelling safety and outcomes data to show up in the literature before adopting the technology."

[SoftwareDeveloper]

re: "posts on the medications for cataract prep and post."

Unfortunately I hadn't researched that.   I had my surgery in the Czech Republic where costs are much less. The Vigamox was included in the surgery price,  the Tobradex I had to fill before surgery was like $9. I hadn't examined the issue of generics in this case, in most cases generics are the same active ingredient and aren't a concern (even if manufacturers benefit from people believing otherwise). I think the concern over generics arises in many cases since for some conditions not every medicine will work every time, and people look for something to blame the failure on. If its a generic, they can't know that the name brand wouldn't have worked either, and may complain that the generic is bad. That starts other people thinking that may be a cause and so if one ever doesn't work they are more likely to blame that. Unfortunately just as there is a placebo effect, there is a nocebo effect, something can work less well if people are skeptical, which can contribute. (though of course given that the placebo and nocebo factors do exist , if you don't mind the cost and have concerns about a generic, evidence based or not, then you can do the name brand).