Too scared to get IOL! Valid?

[Sting8]

I'm 47 and have worn glasses most of my life. My prescription is about -6.00

I'm not a candidate for laser correction, so my plan for many years has been to get a Premium IOL (currently Symfony) once I get older and to the point when I need reading glasses. Although, I'm not quite to that stage yet, this year I can tell my reading vision is beginning to degrade.

I really want to do it, but the problem is that when I go on the internet to try and read up on other's experiences, I see all kind of stories about how happy some people are and how unhappy others are, it really makes me uncomfortable!

Since my eyes are otherwise healthy, it would be a nightmare to go ahead with the procedure and end up with a worse situation than what I have now! I'm pretty confident that I'd be OK with the sharpness of vision since I wear slightly weaker glasses than my prescription and contacts that are quite fuzzy since they don't correct for my astigmatism and people's IOL results, while sometimes not perfect, generally seem to be in a range that would be acceptable to me considering what I've just mentioned about my tolerance for less than perfect sharpness.

BUT THE PROBLEM IS that I read about people having other issues - halos and glare and low light issues and focusing problems when looking around too quickly, and on and on! THESE ARE what worry me and are preventing me from going ahead.

So, I guess I don't know if I'm making too much of these other issues? I don't how to take the results that I'm seeing... do most people have issues like this? Or are we only seeing a small minority of the people who have problems complaining on the internet while most are happily out living their lives with successful IOL's?

Thanks,
Lance

[JohnHaganMD]

That is pretty far out there. That is called "Clear lens extraction" and insurance does not pay for it. You assume risks of increased chance retina detachment, infection, bleeding, inflamation. You may still need glasses. You may be back at this website like thousands of others unhappy, poorer and wishing you didn't have the surgery done and you may need glasses for a lot of things. If that sounds like a rational idea then at least you have been forewarned.

[JohnHaganMD]

BY the time you get older and need cataract surgery the Symphony will be as old of technology as the model T ford. The operation will be safer, the IOLs better and IOLs might not even be needed. So enjoy the olympics, enjoy your life and don't worry about what will happen when you need cataract surgery.

[Sting8]

I think I've given the wrong impression... since I'll need surgery eventually, I'm thinking of doing it NOW so I can enjoy life without glasses while I'm younger and stil active. BUT the issues mentioned above are holding me back from doing it and I'm not sure they are valid.