Hi everyone, I finally decided to make a surgery on my eyes to permanently eliminate my addiction to glasses. I am 49 years old and have a strong hypertrophy +6 combined with an astigmatism of +1.5 RE 1.75 LE.In the beginning I wanted to implant the EDOF AT LARA but after reading experiences in this forum and and listening to the doctor who will operate me, I convinced myself (so to speak) to use the AT LISA but I do not hide my concern for the post intervention. The fact is that I have no cataract and with (progressive) glasses I see perfectly. It is only a desire to take off my glasses after 49 years. Your opinion would help me ... Based on your experience and the results obtained after the surgery (for those people who obviously have performed the same lens implant) do you think I am going to commit nonsense to operate? thanks all in advance Mirko
Sorry I'm not English speaking man. Just a quick correction, I'm hyperopic with about +6 at right eye and +6.50 at the left eye with an astigmatism of +1.50 at the Right eye and 1.75 at the left eye.
Please do not have unnecessary surgery on your eyes. If you see perfectly with your progressive lenses, do not risk the quality of your vision. If you've read these forums then you know the various issues that can arise from these surgeries; why would you risk your eyesight?
No implanted lens works as well as the real thing. Not to mention that there is no guarantee that you will be glasses-free afterwards. In fact, the chances are very good that you will still need glasses in some situations. Just be thankful your eyesight is as good as it is and leave well enough alone!
i felt the need to reply, as i too at one point considered the lens exchange long before cataracts developed. my eye dr suggested two basic options...multifocal or monovision( one eye set at distance, one eye set for near) i tried contact lenses with monovision and couldnt stand it and removed contacts within 4 hours...my depth perception was completely thrown off. i tried the lenses in different eyes and just couldnt understand how people would want to live this way. i believe the dr gave the wrong prescription to the clerk.
as the above comment, no replacement lens will compare to your original eye sight, there will be compromises. halos, starbursts, floaters, dry eye, astigmatism from the surgery alone, and basically a compromise in overall vision, even with multifocal, no distance is exactly perfect 20/20 vison--im pretty close but had better vision before surgery with a slight cataract that was effecting low light condidtions and near vision ( like threading a needle)
i ended up with multifocal lenses restor3.0from acrysoft one eye with a toric to combat an astigmatism, but im still left with an astigmatism due to the surgeries ( i ended up having 5 surgeries total due to the original drs mistakes)
going forward with lens exchange is a wonderful idea, but the results arent always what we expect. i suggest you gather as much information as possible, get multiple dr opinions before going under the knife.
most lenses can only be dialed in with .50 of prescription...so if you are between sizes, it does compromise your vision slightly ( when they ask if "one or two is better" type comparison. i hope this laymans explanation helps you to make a clearer choice
good luck
Thanks Bookwoman and Julielyn. In effect I'm tempted, really tempted to make the surgery, in effect, to have a life without glasses after 49 years (yes practically I was born with glasses) it's a kind of dream and I will be able to accept a compromise; now what I'm trying to understand is if this compromise can be suitable/acceptable or not. Reading at this forum I meet people that are really enthusiast and extremely happy for it saying that they restore the sight when they were young, saying that they never had a sight like that, and other that meet a lot of trouble. I have read that in my case can be even better to make this surgery because hi hyperopic people has more chance to meet glaucoma after 50 and suppose to be the best candidate for the crystalline transplant. I have also look at some halos simulator based on the patient outcomes trying to convincing me that that first, they are realistic, and second if can be acceptable the worst outcomes represented in the simulation The reality is that I'm really confused... the temptation is very high but there is a part of me the is pushing the brakes...
Hi Mirko I think in a forum like this, where most people come, because they have had some sort of problem with their surgery, you will probably find most people will say don´t do it. Because if you are in the unlucky few percents, it would never be worth it. That said clear lens exchange is widely used here in Denmark. I have At Lara in one eye and At Lisa in one eye, i did have cataracts before surgery. Lara is not a bad lens, but Lisa just have something extra in the same package, that in my opinion makes Lisa the winner. There are two videos that I really think you should see, made of a guy that have had a clear lens exchange, he explains a lot about his journey, and also a lot about side effects. He have had the Finevision trifocal, that are very similar to Lisa. Search youtube for Testimonial Trifocal IOL lens inplant from day 1 to 11 months after operation Trifocal IOL lens inplant testimonial from month 12 until month 24 (part 10)
i have to agree. the natural god given lens even with corrections is fantastic quality.
Hi Danish, nice to meet you.
I follow your discussion and I can say that I was initially oriented to the EDOF, but after reading your thread I get convinced for the At Lisa. Yesterday night I watched at both of the you tube video you have indicated to me (really thank you for it). The reality is that I still confused, my first concern is the halos and the rest of the sight disturbs. I feel now better to know that these, in case, will disappears, is just matter of time, but if they will be so hard in order to make me impossible to drive, maybe this can be a problem because everyday I need to drive 65 Km (40 miles)from my work place at home, and when I drive back is always dark... I can have a ride from a colleague, but the idea to loose my independence obviously discourages me. So now I'm thinking at the monofocal , OK I will dress lenses for PC and reading but I will never have glasses as wide as bottoms, I will becomes like a normal man at my edge that becomes presbyopic; or, I just need to accept to invest at least my next 6 months in discomfort in order to have a total independence from the glasses (and rehabilitation seems to be immediate).
I have a question: based on your experience, are the sides effect to strong to totally prevent driving and in case for how long this lasted. Thanks all and sorry if in some ways I could be boring all of you.
Thanks Bookwoman, I feel sorry for you if you had a bad experience, I feel a genuine advice from you. I don't want to looks like an ephemeral but in my case my eyes was never perfect and sometimes I have suffered for it, please consider that without glasses I'm practically blind! even distinguishing the bottle of shampoo with shower gel during a shower is not possible for me, so if there is a possibility to cancel this or make it lighter I feel tempted to try
Thank you Julielyn
Hi Mirko In my case I had full vision on each of the operated eyes the day after surgeries. When it comes to side effects and night vision i must say, that I feel I have very good night vision. Keep in mind that I had cataracts before surgery, but when I got the new lenses I felt like they had given me the eyes from a cat or something, I could see so much better in the dark with my new lenses. I do have halos and starburst, but they are only around strong light sources in the dark. So the side effects are there, but it have never been a problem at all for me, I feel in general I have very good vision in the dark. Driving in the dark is much more relaxing now with the new lenses, I don´t feel blinded by lights at all, even when other cars comes towards me, I can still see the road and everything perfectly. The halos and starburst are there, but only around lights sources such as head lights, brake lights and so on, and it does really not bother me much. I have read others telling that they have a hard time driving at night, but I have never had that problem, I took my car out at drove it at night the day after surgery to test it out, for me it is opposite, I can see so much better at night with the new lenses. The "worst" period for me was between the surgeries, because the brain worked hard to blend the vision from the new lens and the eye with cataracts, but when I had the second eye done, then the day after surgery I had perfect blended vision. I am probably one the few in here, that would say go for it, if your surgeon finds you to be a good candidate for iols. I was born with cataracts, I have lived 45 years with it, battling with poor vision each and every day, because eye doctors always said the same thing, there is a risk, this and that can happen, there will come better lenses on the marked, wait as long as possible, and so on. And now I wish I had taken the step many years ago.... So I fully understand your thoughts about wanting iols. Personally I would choose trifocals, if eyes are healthy and the surgeon finds it to be a good match, but off course you need to be prepared for the trade off with halos and stuff.
Thank you so much Danish, Yes my doctor said that I'm the "ideal" candidate for this type of implant and for the magnitude of my sight defect. Again I'm really tempted to go over with the At Lisa... but I also work in the entertainment business and I often work with PC and in dark condition without considering that the surrounding environment is normally full of show lighting... and in this case I do not know how much I can be right my decision towards multifocal...
Oh, you misunderstand. I had a fantastic experience, with two near-distance monofocal lenses implanted about 4 months ago. I am thrilled beyond words with my vision, which is now perfectly clear at all distances while wearing glasses with progressive lenses. I had bad cataracts in both eyes, and all I wanted was correctable vision. I have always been very nearsighted (-8 in both eyes before the surgery) and have worn contact lenses or glasses since I was 7, so continuing to wear glasses was just fine with me. All that said, I cannot imagine undergoing the surgery if it wasn't medically necessary. Why take any risks at all that your eyesight might be worse?
Oh happy to hear this...
I know, it is a difficult decision. You could also try to look at the lens "in between". Oculentis lenses do not have the rings on the front side like all the other multifocals, so it should have less side effects, even that it is a bifocal that can give you more close up vision than monofocals. Try to search for Oculentis MF20 just as an example, this lens gives you distance and +2.0 which is a strong midrange for pc work and stuff like that. Because it looks similar to monofocals in its design, it have no more contrast loss than monofocals.
I had cataracts and and extremely pleased with results with tri-focals (I got the Alcon PanOptix). Before surgery, I was similar to you in that I needed progressive prescription lens to see anything, thought I'm not myopic as you are. So I was happy to get the chance to be free from glasses, and understood that I might have halos and starbursts or other issues (in my case pretty minor).
However, if you see fine with glasses, and this just comes from desire to do away from glasses, I personally would not do it. it is not so much the risk of halos and starbursts, which for most people is not significant or will go away as the brain learns to filter out the noise, but it's the risk of worse outcomes. If you have cataracts, you have no choice, you must do surgery and the risk is small.
I responded to a similar question posted by Delia (IOL Procedure), so repeating some of my prior response here:
If you do see reasonable well with glasses, then this is purely elective. The worst case scenario if you don't do the procedure is that you will continue to wear glasses until you eventually develop cataracts, and then you will likely have better IOL options to choose from (as IOL improve every few years). If you do RLE procedure, there is very good chance you will be happy with the results, but the worst case scenario is impaired vision for the rest of you life (then you would regret having decided to do a purely elective procedure).
If particular while the risk of a very bad result is small, it is not insignificant, and it is important to note that the risk is much higher for RLE patients than cataract surgery patients.RLE patients are much more likely to eventually have retinal detachment than standard cataract surgery patients (due to most RLE patients being highly myopic and being younger - read in one article risk of eventual retinal detachment is 25 times higher). And RLE closes the door to better IOL designs that will come.
Many eye surgeons (including my surgeon) who are not interest in maximizing their income are also very wary of RLE. If vision is extremely bad, and person is getting close to age where cataracts are likely, then maybe. But if it just because person is tired of having to use glasses/contacts, or doesn't like progressive prescription glasses -- then I don't think it's worth the risk.
Search for article: "Refractive lens exchange: is it worth the risk?"
Junus, Thank you so much for your long explanation. Definitely you are right, in my case, because I've not a cataract and have a good vision with my progressive glasses should be more appropriate to wait until the onset of a cataract, furthermore we should talk about RLE for my case (sorry if maybe I'm not 100% in the right thread). But as I said, my dream is to have a life without glasses, and I though that actually we can consider this like a really low issue incident surgery at the moment. In my case that I'm not myopic but hyperopic (+8, 49 years hold man with presbyopia) I should be a good candidate; I hope now that I'm not in wrong. Let me say that I want to be pretty optimistic based also on the collected informations, but what it most worried me are the sides effect with the trifocal. I heard that the pilot normally use to implant the monofocal, of course I'm not a pilot but I take this consideration (if this is confirmed) like a good one; If they can pilot a plane with a monofocal, maneuvering with all that commands, meanings that monofocal are a good solution... I could accept to use a PC/reading glasses honestly, I will be like a normal man at my edge... That said I know perfectly that nobody can fix my concerns so is just something that I need to agree with my self. At the moment I'm waiting that the Dr call me for day of surgery and we have agree for the At Lisa, but he told me that because there always an 1% of case were during the surgery this lens can not be installed, he will have always a monofocal available there just in case. Thanks
mmm not sure I can get this lens here where I am... UAE
Maybe not. But anyway, you will be fine with Lisa :-)
Mirko, I got confused. If you are a hyperopic , not myopic, then I believe the risk of retinal detachment is not elevated, so RLE (or clear lens exchange -- seems like there are different names for cataract surgery before you have cataracts), could be a option.
Still personally, I would not do it if I were in your shoes.
You say you see perfectly with prescription progressive glasses. If you see perfectly fine, I would not suggest taking unnecessary risk with RLE.
While most people are very happy, a good number experience halos, glare, starburst that may go away over time (but may not).
How's your distance vision? If it is very good, then replacing your natural lens now may result in not as good distance vision.
Again, I got tri-focal IOL and I am very happy with the results. But I personally would not elect to exchange my natural lens if I could see perfectly fine with glasses.Worst case scenario is much worse for choosing to go ahead than if you just wait. All for desire to do away with glasses (and if you still need reading glasses after, is it really worth it?).