Observations on being almost blind, and cataract surgery

Over the summer, my cataracts caught up with me. My left eye was uncorrectable with glasses (correctable to 20/100), and my right eye was correctable to 20/60; I was functionally blind in the one eye, and marginally able to see out of the other. (Interestingly, you only need to be 20/60 in one eye to drive a car in Pennsylvania. I'm here to tell you that the words "barely be able to" should be in front of the word "drive" in the previous sentence.)

It's hard to describe how this affected me. It was gradual, until it was impossible to ignore. The best way to say it is that it affected my zest for life. Not being able to see beyond a certain distance made my preference for introversion more pronounced. If I couldn't see it, it wasn't important, and since my maximum clear distance was about arm's length, books and magazines and my laptop became good friends.

When I couldn't ignore it any longer, I made the appointments to have my eyes analyzed and lens replacement surgery surgery performed. Although from the patient's perspective the surgery is similar to LASIK, the surgery itself is completely different. The lenses in my eyes were removed and discarded, and replaced by polycarbonate permanent lenses. The procedure is quick (about 5-10 minutes per eye), painless, and in fact this is the most commonly performed surgery in the world. As best I can describe it, again from the patient perspective, you look at a bunch of moving colored lights and then it is over, and you can see perfectly. My surgeon, Harvey Reiser at Eye Care Specialists in Kingston PA, is an amazingly dynamic person and a phenomenal surgeon. I had one eye done in late September, and the other in early October.

To say that the results are astonishing... I don't know. I'm not sure there are words to describe it. The world is so sharp I feel like I could cut myself on the edges. My left eye is 20/20, and halfway to 20/15; my right eye is 20/20, and 3/4 of the way to 20/15. I feel like if I concentrate I could read the license plates on the cars driving by on the highway 1/2 mile away. And colors! I didn't know how much they'd degraded, how yellow the world had gotten, until I had one eye done and the other waiting. Everything in the left eye was clear, and vibrant; everything in the right eye had that late evening warm glow, even in mid day. (Which I'll admit, I kind of liked.)

Perfect? Ah, not quite. There are limitations on the technology. The lenses are not biological. What this means is that their shape never changes; everything is always in focus. In practice, the brain takes care of this, only paying attention to what you are looking at specifically, but nevertheless it can feel almost artificial at times. I had considerable astigmatism, and I couldn't get the workaround for that phenomenon, bifocal lenses; I had to pick, slightly nearsighted and driving glasses, slightly farsighted and reading glasses, or one of each. I picked the reading glasses.

Which is a really odd reversal of where I was before. Now I have trouble discerning anything within arm's length! For most things that don't matter, well, it doesn't matter. For all things distance, it is a non-issue. And if I'm reading, I have the glasses at hand. But for some things, involving both close and far, it really matters. Reading a recipe. Using a cell phone. Paying a check in a restaurant. If I don't have the reading glasses right there, I'm lost. Bringing something closer to my face just makes it worse.

Which brings me to photography, and digital live view screens. Ouch.

Optical viewfinders on point and shoot cameras, which I previously had no use for, are now a godsend. Even with the zoom, they are great for composing, with a little imagination. But a problem arises with the information display! The histograms are not a problem, but ISO and exposure data are problematic, and forget checking focus with the digital zoom; it's out of focus regardless!

But, these things are really minor issues, not really even irritations. I'll adjust, I'll find workarounds. What matters is, I can see again! I can take pictures again!

A week after the surgery, I drove halfway across the US to the Pitt/ND football game. Life is good.

Mosca, that's great news, I sort of know how you felt/feel, in 1985 I developed some problem the Docs couldn't diagnose, bottom line, everything I looked at had a ghost shadow of itself, it was driving me crazy. the day after Christnas in 85 I was waiting for my wife to come out of the local Supermarket, when I felt an actual POP in my right eye, no pain, no more eye problem, it felt like a religious experience. It took a long time for me to get my head around what happened, so long in fact, to this day, I don't know.

Great to hear!
 
Since the procedure only takes a few minutes was there a specific reason both eyes weren't done at the same time?  How weird was your vision during the time between procedures?
 
Brad

Mosca, I had cataract surgery a couple of years ago.  I had been nearsighted with astigmatism since childhood and had always worn glasses.  I had tried contact lenses when they first came out, hated them and went back to my glasses.  With the cataract surgery, the doctor put in farsighted lenses, since he felt they would be the most useful for me.  I now no longer have "glasses required" on my Drivers License for the first time in my life! 
 
However, like you, I would need reading glasses.  I have always worn glasses (and were comfortable with them), and didn't want the bother with having to carry reading glasses with me at all times., as you have experienced.  I instead opted for tri-focals, with the main lens "window glass", the middle section having a correction for use on the computer (approximately 24" distance), and the lower section a correction for reading (approximately 12" distance).  This combination is perfect for me.  If you ever wore glasses before your cataract surgery (and didn't hate wearing them), you might consider the trifocals like I have (and you can get them with a tinting to block UV rays, too).

Brad_Olson


Great to hear!

Since the procedure only takes a few minutes was there a specific reason both eyes weren't done at the same time?  How weird was your vision during the time between procedures?

Brad

Some people have an allergic reaction to the lens; they do one at a time so as to not blind you completely, if that happens to you. Once your biological lens is removed, there's no turning back.
 
It was pretty weird, but not awful. For daylight, it was pretty much like someone had thumbed you in one eye. Driving was fine except at night, one eye was perfect and the other was blurry and my brain couldn't make a picture out of it because of the contrast between darkness and bright lights.
 
6star, my situation is pretty much exactly the same as what you say. Right now I'm really grooving on not needing glasses at all for most things. I got the aspheric toric lenses, which corrects all but the last couple feet. It's nice to have choices, I may very well choose the same as you did.

Mosca, congratulations on the improvement!  My dad had the very same problem and surgery about 20 years ago and went to almost 20/20 vision right away as well.  It is a huge adjustment, but a great adventure too.

TOM,
  In 2004 I failed- badly- the eye test for a Drivers License renewal. I went in for a check at the local optician who referred me ASAP to an Opthamologist (sp) who recommended both eyes undergo the same treatment you just went thru. I had it done, one eye one week and the second 6 days later. The results were similar to yours also.
 
I had been wearing "coke-bottle bottom" glasses since age 5...NO MORE !!  I do use  bifocal glasses for reading, and mainly because I am so used to having glasses on ! But I passed another eye-test at the DMV with no glasses restriction on my license for the first time since I got one...many years ago. 
  Welcome to the visually reborn world !!!

I had lens replacement about ten years ago and it was a great success. I still need glasses as my left eye is unable to be corrected due to damage to the retina. But up 'till the surgery I was unable to drive at night  because of the blurring of lights caused by the cataracts - now there's no problem. My bifocals allow me to read comfortably, work on the computer with no problem, do close work, and see at any distance with no problem.
 
All this through  the wonders of modern medicine and the financing of medicare...
 
Cheers, John  

I got monovision done about 10 years ago, the best decision I ever made. I had to have the eye that sees distance done again a year later, but I see perfectly.  One eye sees far, one eye sees close and the brain figures it all out.  I still don't need glasses and can see close and far.  Only problem I still see lights shine as a star at night, so I try not to drive at night too much, but there is really no other problem.  I remember the doctor cutting the top of my eye off, that was a scary moment, I heard they don't do that anymore to get the laser in.  All my friends called me crazy.  But I don't regret it at all.