Cataract Surgery coming soon

[carolinemc]

I am resurrecting this older thread to add something which might be interesting or helpful to others who will be having this common surgery.

I don't fit the mold for writing short statements suited to text messaging, email, forum posts and Twitter. I try to wrestle things into a smaller footprint. It ends up being a candidate for being too long for anyone to care to read.

So I am trying this in bulleted format.

Cataract surgery:

• My #1 concern, I imagined/feared a knife cutting into my eyeballs while wide awake and having to hold them in position without flinching.
• My #2 concern, suddenly having an urgent need to pee during the procedure. (I stopped drinking fluids at noon the previous day but they promptly hooked up an IV to hydrate me as standard preparation for the procedure.).
• In the pre-surgical room they gave me 12 eye drops, 6 drops from each of two meds, one to dilate the other for pain. the second of the two left me feeling like there was an eyelash in my eyes. This did not go away.
• Had I not known what was involved with cataract surgery I could not have figured it out going by what could be derived from observation and experience of sensations. It just felt like the surgeon was gently rubbing something on my eyeballs. The degree of discomfort never exceeded the feeling of having an eyelash in my eyes. In reality an eyelash has more urgency. In contrast, this was a livable discomfort.
• I was grateful and felt fortunate that my heart surgeon used an advantageous sternum brace and took his time doing everything extra carefully like a perfectionist with his approach to OHS. But I did not have the bounce back to my previous normal I anticipated until 2 years later when I received a pacemaker. That was more of a game changer. I felt superhuman because my body had been compensating for my heart's problems. For a while I could have been the top pacemaker salesman in the world I was so effected by it. )
• But medical technology is full of surprises and benefits. My new thing is cataract surgery. Life had become dull gray cloudy blandness and now is full of exquisite color, clarity and contrast.
• Is there anything which similarly addresses arthritis?

These days, they use a laser, and they numb your eyeball before they use it. Just a little pain during the procedure. But so worth it and you get a pair of shades to wear.

 

[dwhist]

I just had cataracts removed from both eyes. Both times I was wide awake, but relaxed from meds. Started talking to doc when he started and he made the comment that when I talked, my eye moved. I shut up. Second time I felt just a bit of pinching, but nothing I could not handle for the 10 minutes of procedure. I now only need reading glasses.

As to arthritis, due to it, I am getting a shoulder replaced next month. Knee replaced 4 years ago also due to arthritis.

 

[Protimenow]

I'm thinking about an appendix transplant -- but the one that I have is still good, so I'll have to wait.

 

[oo0My_Valve0oo]

These days, they use a laser, and they numb your eyeball before they use it. Just a little pain during the procedure. But so worth it and you get a pair of shades to wear.

From what I gather there are generally three methods. The things which vary are the tool used for the incision, the size of the incision, what is removed (they used to remove more than the lens), and whether the lens is removed whole or in pieces.

Mine was performed at Kaiser. Their website states the following:

"During cataract surgery we remove the cloudy, natural lens using a method known as phacoemulsification. This uses high-pitch sound vibrations to break the cataract into particles. These are then removed."

Elsewhere I read that when a laser is used, the laser is used to break up the lens before it is removed in addition to making the incision.

I agree it is worth doing what it takes to have this procedure done.

What a life this surgeon has doing something like this for people. I am grateful for what he has done for me.

 

[carolinemc]

From what I gather there are generally three methods. The things which vary are the tool used for the incision, the size of the incision, what is removed (they used to remove more than the lens), and whether the lens is removed whole or in pieces.

Mine was performed at Kaiser. Their website states the following:

"During cataract surgery we remove the cloudy, natural lens using a method known as phacoemulsification. This uses high-pitch sound vibrations to break the cataract into particles. These are then removed."

Elsewhere I read that when a laser is used, the laser is used to break up the lens before it is removed in addition to making the incision.

I agree it is worth doing what it takes to have this procedure done.

What a life this surgeon has doing something like this for people. I am grateful for what he has done for me.

I was lucky after they did the right eye, I could see the next day. They cannot do the left eye, eye stroke slowed the cataract progression. Good you are doing better. And the process is what all doctors do, just the pain of the needle and the vibrations are not bad at all. Have a great day.

 

[Protimenow]

The laser has dramatically changed ophthalmology - I wish it was around 70 years ago. It would have saved my father's vision.

He had retinal detachments, starting in 1953 (I think). He traveled 300+ miles to a surgeon in San Francisco who apparently was able to repair retinal detachments. He was in the hospital for weeks (as far as I can remember) - then was taken home, by ambulance. The drivers dropped him when they took him from the ambulance, tearing his other retina. Again, back to San Francisco, similar time (apparently) with sandbags on the side of his head. This eye couldn't be fixed.

He developed a cataract in his remaining good eye -- the solution was surgical - nothing like today. Bleeding in his eye clouded it so badly that he was left with around 1% vision.

If this had happened 30 or 40 years ago (maybe more? maybe less?) a laser could have been used to reattach his retina to the back of the eye. Laser could have been used for the cataract.

Just another case of bad timing.

 

[Gail in Ca]

I was used to mono vision with my years of contact lens use. My surgeon did the mono vision for my cataract surgery and I can read the tiny writing on bottles and see clearly for driving. It was an easy surgery and recovery for me. I saw beautiful colors during my surgery!
I have no need of reading glasses. My surgeon used instruments he invented and sells to eye surgeons world wide.

 

[Protimenow]

My ophthalmologist was one of the surgeons involved in the first study of the Crystalens - a lens that was supposed to change focus inside the eye. In theory, it made it possible to see near AND far with the same lens.

The lens cost $2400 EACH. The 'autofocus' only lasted about 10 years or so - now, I've got pretty good vision up to 15 or so feet, use glasses for driving (usually), use glasses for watching TV, but don't use it to read a screen from 2 - about 10 feet. Close up reading is made easier with glasses.

I'm not sure how my brain would have handled one lens for close and another for distance (which is what a lot of ophthalmologists recommend.

 

[V__]

The 'autofocus' only lasted about 10 years or so - now, I've got pretty good vision up to 15 or so feet, use glasses for driving (usually), use glasses for watching TV, but don't use it to read a screen from 2 - about 10 feet. Close up reading is made easier with glasses.

Well, I have 3 pairs of glasses: for distance (driving), for computer use, and for reading. And this is with my native lenses, without any surgery. Seems not uncommon, actually.

 

[Gail in Ca]

During my appointment with the eye surgeon, I said I wanted to read music and indicated the distance a music stand would be from me. I know a few people who need glasses to read music with their native lenses. I am able to read my music, look up at the maestro 3 rows away, drive and read small writing on any product with no glasses. But I was used to mono vision contacts for years so it’s just the same. Sometimes I still think I need to put my contacts in but then quickly realize I never have to do that again!

 

[oo0My_Valve0oo]

Before surgery and before cataracts advanced I had to address three areas for years (distance, reading and somewhere in between). I oil painted and drew pictures. I had a prescription for arm's length holding a brush. I could use that to watch television depending on where the screen was but this was too far away to use for working at a computer screen. But there was always somewhere out of focus. New prescriptions eventually were of no help and just before my cataract surgery I was wearing OTC reading glasses on the tip of my nose and going raw for everything else. This was the most functional arrangement.

I was always amazed that some people opted to have two different ranges of lens when they had cataract surgery. Being an artist I could not use the prescription reading glasses when drawing because of the fishbowl effect. But my cheap OTC reading glasses do not cause this.

It is interesting that you can see evidence of eye problems in some artist's work. Unbeknownst to them some artists pinch everything. Sometimes this is the result of unconscious dwelling on a single spot in the scene. Some have a consistent misrepresentation of color and/or value. The color is sometimes deliberate but when it matches up with the symptoms of an eye or brain disorder chances are it is not intentional. There is a lot of speculation regarding Van Gogh's "style" in this regard.

I am now beyond a full week of recovery from my cataract surgery. I am sad that the initial fascination with sharpness, detail, vivid color and contrast is wearing off. I recall waking up one morning when I was maybe 11 years old. I was lying in bed looking around my bedroom and got bored with the clarity. At that time I had 20/20 vision. I was also very creative and imaginative, artistic and had a strong sense of color and form. I later learned I had synesthesia as well. But in this feeling of boredom I unfocused my eyes so I could not see everything and imagined that the blurred shapes were other things. (Realist painters "squint" as part of the process of softening edges so they can better depict 3D form on a 2D surface.). Because of the advanced cataracts I saw more and more blurring shapes. I could not ever focus to crystal clarity. It fatigued my eyes and I always had a degree of headache as a result. The other day I noticed I was letting my eyes blur. Ahh... the things the mind does to keep things familiar and to make them exciting.

 

[Protimenow]

I had my cataract surgeries because things became too dim, and when I encountered bright light - especially from the side, I couldn't see at all - the light made my cataract 'glow,' obstructing all vision.

My wife has cataracts and another eye issue. She needs surgery but won't get it - and I'm not exactly sure why. I'll keep gently prodding her to get it done.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Hopefully, your wife will get hers taken care of when she’s ready.
Mine were pricey, as they are if you don’t go with the free Medicare covered ones.
I see just about anything I want to see. But, I need a magnifying mirror for eyebrow plucking and makeup. Also, I can’t see my armpits anymore to shave with a razor, so I just shave like I always have, I just can’t see if I’ve done a good job!

 

[rendy66]

I had my cataract surgeries because things became too dim, and when I encountered bright light - especially from the side, I couldn't see at all - the light made my cataract 'glow,' obstructing all vision.

My wife has cataracts and another eye issue. She needs surgery but won't get it - and I'm not exactly sure why. I'll keep gently prodding her to get it done.

Well when you asked her about the surgery what did she say?