Hi Thanks for your reply ;) My ops were in mid December 2020. I was told my vision would improve significantly so to have these issues given my expectations is a nightmare. My mid and far distance vision is definitely not what i was expecting and I've read everywhere that your distance vision always improves first - I'm wondering why that's not applying to me as my distance vision is the same now as it was days after the ops. Re the IOL sizes or calculations being wrong I will ask them next time I attend but I get the impression they won't like that!
One other thing in case it's significant - If i "squint" or make my eyes go "cock-eyed", my vision is perfect near and distance, the clarity, definition, detail and colour change is instant????
If you are concerned about angering the surgeon (and after the fee you paid they really should be be bending over backwards to ensure you are pleased with outcome) you can go to tour regular optometrist for simple refraction test. Usually healing is 6 weeks after cataract surgeon if all went well and no complications. Given surgeon says all is well how come it isn't? Yes small changes dan occur over 6 months but sounds as if there are bigger issues. See what your optometrist says and then see your surgeon and if necessary get another surgeon's opinion.
Again I am sorry this has been a terrible experience and I wish surgeons didn't suggest this where glasses are adequate.
Hi... Just and update. So I attended the hospital today and was told again they're happy with my eyes. I conveyed my concerns and was told that all my issues are due to the IOL's and that the lenses are the correct power and sited properly. I basically have three options - Wait longer in order to adapt, Get glasses again for mid and far distance or (least favourable option) have lenses removed and exchanged for monofocals. Doing this would take me back to square one but with a total dependency on spectacles and a stronger prescription. The surgeon stressed for several reasons of practicality, safety and eye health lens exchange was not a good option. :(
Up to you. If i were in your shoes I would get a second opinion from a different surgeon. Maybe an interim step would be to see your optometrist. If an optometrist can correct your vision with glasses then that would indicate something isn't quite right with the power of your IOLs.
Unless your eyes haven't healed and there is swelling or another eye issue going on enough time has passed where you should be seeing better than you are in my opinion.
It's odd you say if an optometrist can correct my vision with glasses may show something isn't right with the IOL power... I might get an appointment with the optician. It was actually the surgeon who suggested spectacles as a possible means of correction for some of my issues but made it very clear that ALL my issues were due to the IOL's and that I was one of the few patients that may take longer to heal etc. Thanks again ;)
IOL power calculations are not always bang on. The healing process too even if the calculation was accurate could alter vision by .25 diopter either way due to healing process. The IOL is much thinner than one's natural lens so as the eye heals from surgery the IOL shifts shifts back and forth till it heals (about 6 weeks) and why surgeons recommend you wait that length of time to visit your optician if you need glasses. Cataract surgery can also induce astigmatism so that may need to be corrected with glasses as well.
Due to these elements no surgeon should promise glasses free as that may not end up being the case.
Hi :-/ There's just so much that I appear not to have been told about and regards wearing glasses post-op that was only mentioned for very small print. Although the surgeon disagreed i wasn't advised of anything apart from halos and reduced contrast. With the contrast reduction I think you could adapt to that easier. I'm really worried about my job now as i reckon it would be impossible for me to drive safely anywhere at night - Ive got halos, starbursts and glare - constantly and that's not improved at all since surgery. Regrettably, i can't see much in the way of help with that e.g. special night glasses and the like. The discussion about halos was short like everything else and only the other day was it mentioned my eyes would have changed shape post-op which i believe is astigmatism!? May i ask, are you clinical?
I may have missed your post/ thread. How long ago was your surgery and which IOL lenses did you choose?
First off do you see well during day time and your issue is with nigh vision with glare halos and starbursts at night?unfortunately there isn't a fix with glasses to help with night time glare etc that i am aware. i tried glasses off amazon (yellow) but didnt find they helped at all. I have the edof symfony lenses (both eyes). 3 years later i still see huge concentric circles around lights but oddly enough those no longer trouble me - they are faint especially the outer rings and i have to look intently to see them. First 6 months or so i had to plan my routes driving at night - it was easier to drive on streets with overhead lighting than no street lights. What helped a little was driving with my car's interior dome light on. the glare starbursts and halos did subside. Now I really dont think twice about night driving. inside lights do not bother me - not even concentric circles as those lights have to be a certain distance to see them.
Do you drive for a living? That would be difficult and your surgeon should have considered that when recommending a premium lens and steered you away from them. Regrettably many just think of the money as the premium lenses cost so much more and usually not covered by insurance.
If you are not seeing clearly (daytime) there are other issues going on and you should follow up with the surgeon and if you get know where may get a refraction test from your optometrist.
The powers have to be off. That's the whole reason you got a PanOptix. Now you wont have perfect vision at all ranges but you nothing should really be very blurry. I have a Symfony IOL in my right eye and my distance prescription is -.50. I can see intermediate and distance without glasses with no issues. I rarely wear glasses. As Sue said, it would be a good idea to go to an optometrist to get a prescription check. I would be very interested to see what your numbers are. Has your surgeon mentioned a Lasik touch up?
Hi I had dual AcrySof IQ PanOptix Tri-focal IOL’s (Model TFNT00) placed in mid December last year. Other than a short discussion regards monofocals versus multifocals, there was no options given for which trifocals I would receive - I was told several times the lenses were the best. By day i see better but by no means near perfect - Basically my near vision to about 6/8 ft is OK but with "artifacts" and beyond that is just blurred and out of focus - I can generally see things but without definition. For instance, some days I can read a reg plate from 20 meters with some difficulty and some days I can't. I also can't recognise people from certain distances as well. At night, as light decreases, so does my vision and the Halos, starbursts and glare are present everywhere with any light source both day and night, just far worse at night. I tend to walk now looking at the pavement as it's weird looking forward and my head gets sore. The pictures in my post above are exactly what i see as i edited the pics to show that although I do also see a starburst with the halo but that's not in the pic. The size of these light issues depend on the type of light and distance from it - sometimes they're huge!
I've looked into the driving glasses on the web and to my concern found nothing. The driving is a huge issue because I'm in the emergency services and do drive at work. This is now and again but is sometimes dependant on my role or partner. The halos etc will cause other issues at work that I hadn't even thought of, but I'll take note of your advice if I get to drive my own car again. The surgeon did say that multifocals "may" cause halos and "could" affect driving from a work perspective and I did say I don't always drive at work and he accepted that. He did not mention anything about it affecting me when driving in general such as my own car, so i just thought it was about blue lights or something! I also had no idea that it would be so bad as even looking at pics on the net don't look as bad as what i see, not to mention nothing was said about dealing with these issues during the day as well. I also said to him about my headaches and eye aches and he just passed it off as stress due to my eyes adapting, being off work and being in lockdown - I wasn't very happy about that tbh and subtly disagreed.
I've had a refraction test every time I've been at the hospital and they just run over the fact I've blurred vision etc just saying it's the effects of the lenses and I'm adapting! With the tests from the optometrist, I've always described what i'm seeing when doing the letter on the wall tests. She's heard it so many times now that when testing, she just says "it doesn't matter if it's blurred just tell me what you can read"! I am going to make an appointment for an assessment from my local optician though. Thanks again for your input and support with this :)
kevin77191 Hi kevin and thanks for your support ;) I asked the surgeon on the last visit if my lenses were the correct power and in the correct position and he said categorically yes and again said the both procedures went without issue - Which i don't agree with but hey what do i know?! He actually showed me some hand written notes (no idea as i couldn't raed them from the distance ) and said the numbers showed my vision was or was close to 20/20? Re lasik no no quite. I said to him that i was upset as i was hoping they would find a problem and he asked why. I said because at least then they'd have a cause and something to fix. He then looked at some notes again then said something about using laser to clean a little opacity from the back of my left eye but immediately stressed it would not change anything. The issue was I believe maybe a remnant of the inflammation that i had previously post-op in my left eye. I had inflammation, some swelling and eye was rather painful and bloodshot.
Hi kevin and thanks for your support 😉
I asked the surgeon on the last visit if my lenses were the correct power and in the correct position and he said categorically yes and again said the both procedures went without issue - Which i don't agree with but hey what do i know?! He actually showed me some hand written notes (no idea as i couldn't read them from the distance ) and said the numbers showed my vision was or was close to 20/20? Re Lasik no no quite. I said to him that i was upset as i was hoping they would find a problem and he asked why. I said because at least then they'd have a cause and something to fix. He then looked at some notes again then said something about using laser to clean a little ?something/opacity from the back of my left eye but immediately stressed it would not change anything. The issue was I believe maybe a remnant of the inflammation that i had previously post-op in my left eye. I had inflammation, some swelling and eye was rather painful and bloodshot.
How disappointing - Really think it was thoughtless of him to put it down to pandemic lockdown and adjusting. Night vision should have nothing to do with how well you see during the daylight. Things should be sharp and crisp.
Is there another cataract surgeon you could see for an independent opinion. You would not be first person that found a reason from going to another surgeon for a 2nd opinion
Hi Yeah I could maybe visit another private clinic but in the meantime I've arranged to see my own optician early April. I've read heaps today both on the forum and the net and watched quite a few of Dr Chong Youtube videos - very educational and eye opening. Also been looking at other lenses e.g. Symfony and Tecnis Synergy but there's not much on the latter. I'm feeling now that I've made a major mistake because of the night time light and contrast issues and such been searching desperately for a solution. As there's been no change in four months, I'm now thinking there's unlikely to be and such, my career is now on the rocks. With that in mind over the short term and avoiding insanity over the long, it may be the only fix is lens exchange for monofocals with a reliance (again) on spectacles!
Yes so agree with this. Something about surgeon's attitude and dismissal of blurred vision us not right. Refraction test by cataract surgeon not the same. And optometrist will be able to test provide a prescription which should tell you what is going on.
Reliance on glasses not the end of the world compared to what you are experiencing. First things first and find out from your optometrist what your prescription is. Wishing you all the best. Let us know what you find out.
I know what you mean. You want them to find something that it causing your issues that they can fix but the unfortunate part about cataract surgery is that once the IOL is in your eye, anything of the things that can go wrong are not an easy fix because they most likely would have to re-enter your eye again.
When he is talking about a laser to clean a little, he is talking about PCO. It is possible that you have that and he could laser it away. Why would he say that it would not change anything? Why did he mention it then? Makes me wonder if he knows the power of the IOL is wrong and thats whats causing the blurriness, not PCO.
Anyways, good to hear that you have an appointment with your optometrist coming up. Let us know how that goes :)
At 4 months out to still be so unhappy with the outcome and having issues with visual acuity I would 100% be looking for a surgeon with experience in IOL exchange. I hate to say it but I don't see it getting any better at this point. Healing and adaptation can take time but 4 months is long enough. I personally think you need to get that IOL out of there. Yes it's true that they don't like to do that and it's a little more risky but it IS done all the time. The time to do that would be as soon as possible. The longer the IOL is in there the more it will adhere to the capsular bag which makes it harder to remove.
Please note! If they do the laser for PCO an IOL exchange will be almost impossible. Not completely impossible but significantly more difficult and risky. The number of surgeons that would attempt it would be few and far between. That procedure actually removes a portion of the back of the capsular bag. And I AM NOT a surgeon... I'm just some idiot on the internet... but I doubt the Yagg laser will help. If I were you I'd be pushing for an exchange / looking for another surgeon.
yes I agree, a lens exchange is a good idea. I think it's also important that she gets a prescription check. if it can be corrected with glasses and she's OK with that, she can avoid a lens exchange
and also agree that a YAG should be last resort at this point.