Had my first cataract surgery yesterday morning. Today the eye doc removed the guard and said my post-op eyesight was 20-20, versus 20-70 before the surgery, and said that my new distance vision should be gtg. So after he removed the eye guard and I went home, I noticed my distance vision in my new eye was worse than before the surgery, even though he placed a monovision distance lens for driving (aka long distance vision).

So my question is - if I have a new lens for distance with 20-20 tested post-op, why is my distance vision still so bad ? Close up is much better than before and even better than my other eye, which is still the original but still had better intermediate and close up vision than my worse eye.

So I'm just curious, why is my new lens not helping my distance (driving) vision in my new fixed eye ? Doesn't seem to be adding up.

Relax and wait a few days for swelling to subside.

I'm a week into recovery from the second (dominate) eye surgery. In my case the left eye was done first and in the weeks before the next round I was using that eye and pretty much ignoring the right eye. The doc said some people have different experiences, up to knocking the lens out of their glasses on the operated eye side to leave corrected vision in the un-touched one.

I also noted some changes when the swelling went down, so just be patient and do all the eye drops.

I had cataracts removed in Jan 2024 and anted up for the panoptix tri-focal lenses. No bandage or patch, just a plastic eye cover that I taped on the 1st couple nights.

My vision was basically corrected after the 1st eye and pretty much perfect after the 2nd - I was on the computer 3 hours after 1st eye surgery and haven't worn readers since, did not wear regular glasses. Totally thrilled with the results after a year.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
I had cataracts removed in Jan 2024 and anted up for the panoptix tri-focal lenses. No bandage or patch, just a plastic eye cover that I taped on the 1st couple nights.

My vision was basically corrected after the 1st eye and pretty much perfect after the 2nd - I was on the computer 3 hours after 1st eye surgery and haven't worn readers since, did not wear regular glasses. Totally thrilled with the results after a year.

Same lenses here and same excellent results. I had some really cool halo's for a while and didn't think they'd ever go away but they have left the building.


wrightd - give it a bit of time, you're brain will learn how to use your new eye in short order. You're natural lens used to do a lot of work and now your brain has to learn where to look through the new lens.

My doc gave me three lens choices ,
I picked the distance option.
Now
Iam pretty much s.o.l. for reading anything up close,
Ingredients labels, pill bottles.

My new native American name is
"What's that say"

Thanks fellas, hoping it works out. Prob lots of complexity in the eyeballs and brain, maybe not as much of an exact science as I had hoped coming out of the gate.

I had LASIK in 2001. Fourteen years later I had cataract surgery. Never had any issues.
The first 7-10 days post LASIK, my vision would blur the refocus.
I was more concerned with rubbing my eyes and heard the horror story of the guy that partied, woken and tried to remove his contacts. Painful.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Thanks fellas, hoping it works out. Prob lots of complexity in the eyeballs and brain, maybe not as much of an exact science as I had hoped coming out of the gate.

You could have corneal edema, inflammation, or your distance correction could be off a bit - how are you doing today ?

MDS (Optometrist)

Close up vision is great, as in like it was so long ago i cant remember. I can read a computer screen, which is a miracle compared to where I started. My ioc lens was made for distance however, hence my trepidation with crappy distance vision. The eye feels great, no pain, not much dry eye action etc, taking all three of my eye drops on schedule. If it's possible he accidentally wrote the prescription for close up vision, I wouldn't be very happy about it. The doc however has a good reputation and works for a respected research retinal center kind of a place, so I would be surprised if he or his people made this type of mistake.

I have the printouts of the technical aspects of the lens. Would those specs indicate if the lens he installed was for Distance or not ? My guess is it may not, since my assumption is that the specs on the lens he inserted would be based on fixing and adjusting for deltas, not absolute metrics.

I read about a few conditions that can develop after cataract surgery that would account for continued blurred vision, including retinal detachment, and a secondary clouding of the layer that covers the new lens. I did experience some mysterious flashing lights in that eye after I went to bed the day of surgery, but it didn't last long, and I forgot to tell him about it the next day during at my first post-op appt.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
<snip>
Close up vision is great, as in like it was so long ago i cant remember. I can read a computer screen, which is a miracle compared to where I started.
<snip>
I read about a few conditions that can develop after cataract surgery that would account for continued blurred vision, including retinal detachment, and a secondary clouding of the layer that covers the new lens.
<snip>

If those conditions existed your close up vision would be bad too, but you say it’s great.

Yes, my close up (computer screen, print) is good, but my distance vision is worse than before the cataract removal and replacement with a distance lens, which is my goal - to be able to drive without glasses, and then use glasses as needed for everything else as needed, such as reading, computer, or working on stuff like cars and around the house etc.

So I'm thinking that maybe a close up lens was installed by accident instead of a distance lens. But I'm just speculating.

So, did you call the surgeon and express your concern / ask question?

quote:

The doc however has a good reputation and works for a respected research retinal center kind of a place, so I would be surprised if he or his people made this type of mistake.

You shouldn't assume anything. It's your eyes.

It's hilarious.
I had cat surgery several years ago and now have more darned readers than I ever had glasses.
I've got expensive Sun Glasses too!
Probably spent as much on Those as I did with contacts and prescription glasses!!!
It's so cool to wake up and see the clock after wearing glasses for 45+ years.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

secondary clouding of the layer that covers the new lens.

I experienced that, but it did not occur until a year or more after the cataract surgery; I don't think that you would experience that particular problem so soon.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Yes, my close up (computer screen, print) is good, but my distance vision is worse than before the cataract removal and replacement with a distance lens, which is my goal - to be able to drive without glasses, and then use glasses as needed for everything else as needed, such as reading, computer, or working on stuff like cars and around the house etc.

So I'm thinking that maybe a close up lens was installed by accident instead of a distance lens. But I'm just speculating.

It sounds like you’re a bit myopic ( nearsighted) - even though the goal was perfect distance and they do all the calculations, you can end up with a surprise Rx after the surgery - on eye #2, they can make adjustments to correct that.

It doesn’t sound like anything is wrong - if it’s your non dominant eye, you might like the fact that you get some reading vision and have your dominant eye nailed down for perfect distance.

I’m just guessing here and trying to help - your Ophthalmologist will give you real answers.

MDS

quote:

PM

I had lens replacement in October. After surgery distance vision was sub standard while close up was fine. The surgeon said that sometimes the lenses don’t settle in correctly. Early March will be laser correction of the dominant eye and if I am still not happy then the non dominant one too. I was warned that I may require readers if I get both done.

quote:

Originally posted by Harleysbluff:

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Yes, my close up (computer screen, print) is good, but my distance vision is worse than before the cataract removal and replacement with a distance lens, which is my goal - to be able to drive without glasses, and then use glasses as needed for everything else as needed, such as reading, computer, or working on stuff like cars and around the house etc.

So I'm thinking that maybe a close up lens was installed by accident instead of a distance lens. But I'm just speculating.

It sounds like you’re a bit myopic ( nearsighted) - even though the goal was perfect distance and they do all the calculations, you can end up with a surprise Rx after the surgery - on eye #2, they can make adjustments to correct that.

It doesn’t sound like anything is wrong - if it’s your non dominant eye, you might like the fact that you get some reading vision and have your dominant eye nailed down for perfect distance.

I’m just guessing here and trying to help - your Ophthalmologist will give you real answers.

MDS

It's my dominant eye, he suggested we do that one first since it was worse than my non-dominant left eye. Well at least the front sights are looking good. I never heard about the lenses "not settling in" correctly. If that's a thing it might be my case. If this doesn't heal up into the distance vision I had asked for, then the question would be, should I match the effective prescription in the other eye, or go for the original distance choice, and then get glasses with different prescriptions in each eye ? Which way is better for the brain both with and without corrective glasses ? This shit is getting weird.

See what your Rx is measured at on your follow up - they could always go back and fine tune the Rx to be Plano ( perfect distance ) with a LASIK procedure.

Like I said, “ not settling in”, just means you had a surprise refractive outcome - they shot for Plano and it came out as -1.00 ( as an example ) - we all explain things a bit differently.

Keep us posted with your follow up - if you want to talk let me know.

MDS

On my second post-op appt with the doctor who did the cataract surgery, after a vision test his people did, he said my eye was 20-70 before the surgery, but was now 20-20 after the surgery. I asked him how my distance vision was worse than before the surgery, and asked him to check if the lens he placed was the correct lens he ordered, and if the prescription he ordered was the correct specification for my condition, and he went though everything and confirmed all was in order. I naturally didn't understand the details, but ascertained enough that everything seemed in order. I don't remember the exact gist of his answer about my continued blurred vision, but he said we can't know best what to do until after four more weeks, at which time he said I should be in a solid position for him to determine what can be done to fix it. I remember him showing me a computerized chart with my pre-op analysis, and saying something about plano in relation to the prescription (I think that was the context not sure), and that the lens he installed was chosen to bring me as close as possible to distance vision with a little built-in bias for purposes I don't understand, except possibly to help further correction after things heal up some more. I'm guessing the idea is to add a little angle if you're following a compass bearing so that when you hit the road, you'll already know in advance that you have to turn right vs left to reach your planned target, since there's always a little error in one direction or another when hiking in terrain you can't see your target.

One thing I notice however is that all headlights and streetlamps at night all have the same amount of starburst affect than the other eye, and is just as pronounced as it was before, if that tells you anything. I don't know.

In any case I'm just chilling for now, hoping that if any correction needed afterward will be pretty straightforward stuff. As a precaution he had a test run that checked for any retina detachment after I remembered I had flashing lights in bed the night of surgery, but that it didn't last long and hadn't happened sense. I did have central retinal detachment many years ago unbeknownst to me, probably in my 30s or 40s, which a specialist at Duke Eye Center said was common in white men in high stress technical occupations. He said they don't really know the cause, but was a known pattern for guys like that.

So I'm just gonna wait it out and let nature take its course until my next appt.