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experiences with Symfony IOL, or trifocal IOLs?
Has anyone here gotten the new Symfony IOL, or heard from others who have, or know more than the research you can find with google? It was just approved in June for use in Europe, but initial studies on the web seem to indicate it provides better odds of having good intermediate/computer vision, and better than the AT lisa trifocal except at very near distances. It refers to it as having an extended depth of vision rather than calling it multifocal (perhaps because it doesn't divide itself into 2 or 3 discrete focal points but in essence it must still have a range of focuses to provide "extended depth").
I've seen detailed threads about the FineVision but only brief comments on the AT lisa trifocal. Any more comments on any of these lenses? I'd be curious if anyone has more comments on getting a multifocal in only one eye with the problem cataract and wearing a contact lens in the other (which is still correctible to 20/20 with only an early cataract). The hope would be that perhaps before it goes bad a new generation of lenses might come out, like an accommodating lens that is more likely to work well than the ones out there now.
Any suggestions for good doctors to get them from, preferably laser cataract surgery? I'm open to considering doctors in any country since I'm in the US and will need to travel to get the lens, the UK would be easiest since I only speak English, but I'll consider other options. I've heard the Czech Republic may be cheaper but still have high quality clinics. Its worth a bit of hassle to get a good lens. I'm only 52 so I'll hopefully be using it a few decades, so thanks greatly for any information you can provide.
I've seen detailed threads about the FineVision but only brief comments on the AT lisa trifocal. Any more comments on any of these lenses? I'd be curious if anyone has more comments on getting a multifocal in only one eye with the problem cataract and wearing a contact lens in the other (which is still correctible to 20/20 with only an early cataract). The hope would be that perhaps before it goes bad a new generation of lenses might come out, like an accommodating lens that is more likely to work well than the ones out there now.
Any suggestions for good doctors to get them from, preferably laser cataract surgery? I'm open to considering doctors in any country since I'm in the US and will need to travel to get the lens, the UK would be easiest since I only speak English, but I'll consider other options. I've heard the Czech Republic may be cheaper but still have high quality clinics. Its worth a bit of hassle to get a good lens. I'm only 52 so I'll hopefully be using it a few decades, so thanks greatly for any information you can provide.
I am a retired 69 year old GP in Scotland and am 2 weeks after having Restor IOLs . I had been reading SoftwareDevelopers posts with great interest , and asked my Ophthalmologist for Symfony - his advice was to go for Restor 2.5 in the dominant and 3.0 in the other eye. I had confidence in his assessment of my needs ( good vision when sailing , running and hill walking in Scottish weather - and reading ) so went with his suggestion.
I have had excellent results for my needs - 20/20 or slightly better distance , smallest font size on Kindle perfect , laptop easy to see. Night driving - 3 hours on a particularly wet night was fine , and much better than using multifocal contacts. Less haloes than with contacts . Yes , at a temporary red traffic light I did have a particularly beautiful spider web of concentric fine rings , but if I diverted my attention the web disappeared - part of my neuroadaptation ? I am posting this because I feel there are good results out there which should be reported.
Very grateful to SoftwareDeveloper for his input.
I have had excellent results for my needs - 20/20 or slightly better distance , smallest font size on Kindle perfect , laptop easy to see. Night driving - 3 hours on a particularly wet night was fine , and much better than using multifocal contacts. Less haloes than with contacts . Yes , at a temporary red traffic light I did have a particularly beautiful spider web of concentric fine rings , but if I diverted my attention the web disappeared - part of my neuroadaptation ? I am posting this because I feel there are good results out there which should be reported.
Very grateful to SoftwareDeveloper for his input.
1 Comments
Glad to hear you have good results. You might consider posting that on a separate page with its own topic so people realize its about the Restor lenses, which many people complain about so it is a good example to remind people that the vast majority are happy with their results. Those who go for non-monofocals do need to be aware of the risks of course since someone winds up being the "statistic" since no lens is perfect.
A low add bifocal likely gives reasonably comparable results to the Symfony. You might have slightly better near but not quite as good intermediate (at least further out intermediate). The major difference is I'd suspect your contrast sensitivity, low light vision, might be reduced compared to the Symfony due to the light splitting to multiple focal points. I definitely have better low light vision with the Symfony than I had with multifocal contacts pre-cataract, though I was happy with the contacts despite that.
Your running&hill walking comment brings up one of the potential benefits of presbyopia-correcting lenses compared to monofocals. Full monovision using a monofocal with the near eye set to for instance -1.75 leaves its best focus at 27 inches, which means that further out intermediate distance, seeing the ground ahead of you when walking, may be relying mostly on one eye with less 3D vision. I don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I've been out walking trails more (and soon running them) and appreciate seeing rocks/snow/ice in full 3D clarity with both eyes. I'd be curious how much the odds of a fall are reduced. Actually I'm guessing that is within the range the Symfony may do better then the low add Restor&Tecnis bifocals.
A low add bifocal likely gives reasonably comparable results to the Symfony. You might have slightly better near but not quite as good intermediate (at least further out intermediate). The major difference is I'd suspect your contrast sensitivity, low light vision, might be reduced compared to the Symfony due to the light splitting to multiple focal points. I definitely have better low light vision with the Symfony than I had with multifocal contacts pre-cataract, though I was happy with the contacts despite that.
Your running&hill walking comment brings up one of the potential benefits of presbyopia-correcting lenses compared to monofocals. Full monovision using a monofocal with the near eye set to for instance -1.75 leaves its best focus at 27 inches, which means that further out intermediate distance, seeing the ground ahead of you when walking, may be relying mostly on one eye with less 3D vision. I don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I've been out walking trails more (and soon running them) and appreciate seeing rocks/snow/ice in full 3D clarity with both eyes. I'd be curious how much the odds of a fall are reduced. Actually I'm guessing that is within the range the Symfony may do better then the low add Restor&Tecnis bifocals.
I am a 37-year old female, high myope with the Symphony IOL in my right eye as of October, 2015. No near and no intermediate vision after the surgery. Distance vision is near perfect with limited peripheral vision. My cataract was pretty advanced in that eye, so this outcome is still better than it would have been with the cataract, but I expected much better results, at least for intermediate vision.
1 Comments
see the response on the other page you posted this on. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/my-Symfony-IOL-results-after-cataract-surgery/show/2425258
I'll post a summary, but I'll note I started a new thread to focus on my experiences with the lens:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/my-Symfony-IOL-results-after-cataract-surgery/show/2425258
which is likely too long for many to wade through by now, partly with details of some visual glitches that seem to be due to back luck with my eye anatomy after surgery (like iridodonesis and/or phacodonesis) and nothing to do with the Symfony lens, which I think was a good choice. I have excellent visual acuity, i was almost 20/15 for distance by 1 week postop, and am probably there by now I'd guess, and 20/25 for near (at the distance I hold the reading card). I'd guess I'm between 20/15 and 20/20 for intermediate like computer distance, and I can read my phone's email and browser (though for multi-column newspaper pages where they use a small font sometimes I need to double-tap a column to read it more easily).
I am one of the rare people that see halos with the lens, but they've never been problematic since they aren't very bright so I see through/past them and since my night vision overall is better than I remember it being in the past (I always felt my night vision wasn't as good as others seemed to be). I don't have a problem with glare at night, I think I had more trouble back before i had cataracts. I think for very near a trifocal might have been better, but that this was a better tradeoff in my case to make to get likely better intermediate than I would have had with a trifocal.
The only option I'm wondering if I should have looked into more is the idea of a Crystalens in combination with the Raindrop corneal inlay which provides more depth of focus, but I hadn't seen any studies on that (only studies of a monofocal IOL with the Raindrop). The Crystalens by itself which risks not accommodating, and by itself is more likely to leave a need for reading glasses than the Symfony so I didn't consider it as good a choice. However the results I'd seen for the Raindrop corneal inlay placed over a monofocal IOL seem comparable to what the Symfony provides. So I have to wonder if the Crystalens did accommodate if that would give even better near vision with the Raindrop, and if the Crystalens didn't work if the Raindrop would then provide usable near vision. I'm not sure if the Symfony and Raindrop would work in combination to extend depth of focus even further, or if there is a limit to how well that would work, I hadn't explored the idea since the Symfony is good enough for the moment.
There are other risks with the Crystalens (like z-syndrome, which might not be much of an issue with recent lenses so I hadn't looked further into it) so it is something to be cautious of before considering that approach. I also don't know how contrast sensitivity would compare with that approach, but it sounds like the Raindrop may not reduce contrast sensitivity much (unlike the Kamra inlay where that sounds like perhaps more of an issue). The Symfony is simpler obviously than that approach since it doesn't require 2 lenses and the added expense and risk.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/my-Symfony-IOL-results-after-cataract-surgery/show/2425258
which is likely too long for many to wade through by now, partly with details of some visual glitches that seem to be due to back luck with my eye anatomy after surgery (like iridodonesis and/or phacodonesis) and nothing to do with the Symfony lens, which I think was a good choice. I have excellent visual acuity, i was almost 20/15 for distance by 1 week postop, and am probably there by now I'd guess, and 20/25 for near (at the distance I hold the reading card). I'd guess I'm between 20/15 and 20/20 for intermediate like computer distance, and I can read my phone's email and browser (though for multi-column newspaper pages where they use a small font sometimes I need to double-tap a column to read it more easily).
I am one of the rare people that see halos with the lens, but they've never been problematic since they aren't very bright so I see through/past them and since my night vision overall is better than I remember it being in the past (I always felt my night vision wasn't as good as others seemed to be). I don't have a problem with glare at night, I think I had more trouble back before i had cataracts. I think for very near a trifocal might have been better, but that this was a better tradeoff in my case to make to get likely better intermediate than I would have had with a trifocal.
The only option I'm wondering if I should have looked into more is the idea of a Crystalens in combination with the Raindrop corneal inlay which provides more depth of focus, but I hadn't seen any studies on that (only studies of a monofocal IOL with the Raindrop). The Crystalens by itself which risks not accommodating, and by itself is more likely to leave a need for reading glasses than the Symfony so I didn't consider it as good a choice. However the results I'd seen for the Raindrop corneal inlay placed over a monofocal IOL seem comparable to what the Symfony provides. So I have to wonder if the Crystalens did accommodate if that would give even better near vision with the Raindrop, and if the Crystalens didn't work if the Raindrop would then provide usable near vision. I'm not sure if the Symfony and Raindrop would work in combination to extend depth of focus even further, or if there is a limit to how well that would work, I hadn't explored the idea since the Symfony is good enough for the moment.
There are other risks with the Crystalens (like z-syndrome, which might not be much of an issue with recent lenses so I hadn't looked further into it) so it is something to be cautious of before considering that approach. I also don't know how contrast sensitivity would compare with that approach, but it sounds like the Raindrop may not reduce contrast sensitivity much (unlike the Kamra inlay where that sounds like perhaps more of an issue). The Symfony is simpler obviously than that approach since it doesn't require 2 lenses and the added expense and risk.
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