The 2 places I notice it the most are at work under low overhead fluorescent lighting and at home in front of my computer with a window to my left. I hardly notice it at all when I am outside. Also, while the window to my left bothers me, lamps do not seem to have the same effect which I think is odd (but nice).
Mine lasted about 8 wks I barely see them now 5 mths on.
I just had cataract surgery in my left eye on 6/14/18 and am experiencing flickering light from outside corner of my eye. I'm glad I found this website and now know I am not alone in this problem. My doctor said it's "normal" (don't think so) for some people to experience this and it could go away in a few days to a month. I am scheduled to have my right eye done next week and am thinking I should cancel it. It's sounds like some of you have had this issue for some time now. I've been wearing the patch they sent me home with and don't have an issue with the flashing while wearing it (just a dent in my face) but flashing returns when I remove the patch. Doctor also told me to watch for any grey or black shadow on outer edge or from the bottom edge and to call immediately because it could mean retina detachment. Scared the S*** out of me. Andrew did you have the left eye done first and if so you decided to go ahead with the right eye?
Don't cancel is my advice. I have had both eyes done over the past 2 years and I have no regrets. My vision is better than it has ever been. That said, I do get halos around bright pin sources of light at night ( my optician says that it is a consequence of an open pupil in dark conditions and hard edged IOLs) and, as stated above, I get occasional flickering from bright side lights - such as LED strip lighting in supermarkets.
Thanks David, did you get flickering in both eyes after surgery or just the left? My other concern with the right eye is the vitreous layer detached and I now have what the doctor called a wrinkle in that eye. He says cataract surgery can still be done safely but now I'm hesitant because of the problem w/left eye. My left eye was normal except for the cataract.
Both eyes, but it isn’t something that I now worry about. FWIW, I also get more ocular migraines than I did before having cataract surgery. Arguably, these are more annoying than the occasional light flicker. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much trust you have in your eye surgeon. I was advised by my optician to choose a cornea specialist. It was something to do with advanced skill sets within the eye specialism.
I was incredibly nervous about my decision to go forward, but yes, I had the right eye done 2 weeks after the left. I used a different lense in the right eye (Symfony). It was planned from the start to use a different lens. Anyway, the right eye does not have this issue fortunately. **my doctor has told me the flickering should subside within 3 months. He seemed to think having the right eye may quicken the “neural adaptation”**
For now, I am not using any correction. Near and intermediate vision is excellent. Distance is ok. See MD in 2 weeks for status and will see where I stand. (Biggest result for me is the Symfony lens in right eye)
Thank you Andrew, I am very nervous about having the right eye done especially with the wrinkle in the eye. I'm having the same lense as the left eye (installed). I'll call my doctor and ask him about a different lense because if it is a lense issue causing the flashing it would make sense to use a different one. I'm scheduled for surgery this coming Thursday. Why was a different lense recommended for one eye
Did a cornea specialist do your surgery? I chose a well respected ophthalmologist who has performed this surgery for many years. He actually performed 15 that day I think I was #13. Sorry you are having headaches from it now. I have a big decision to make before this Thursday. My doctor told me to do my pre-surgery drops and if I want to cancel I can cancel even the day of surgery. Thank you for your input.
The original lens was a Trulign (the toric version of the Crystalens), which was supposed to give me far and intermediate vision with a good chance at near too. I only got fairly good vision at computer distance, plus the flickering and all the night stuff. The piggyback was a monofocal.
I'm reluctantly leaning toward toward a mono lens for the 2nd eye.
Hi. My experiences:
I had cataract surgery on my right eye in November 2018. It was fine for 2 weeks, then I started to get jagged edge flickering (briefly) on the RHS of my operated eye. After 3 weeks I also sometimes got what looked like a slightly broken brown circle (clear in the middle) appear (like the mark a coke bottle might leave on a glass table) I also sometimes saw a couple of ants walking across the table, but there were no ants there in reality. I went to the optician and explained these things and the optician said they are "visual migraines" and nothing whatsoever to do with the cataract surgery. I said 'yeah right; that's why I've never had them before the surgery but only afterwards and I don't get any headaches'. He insisted they were visual migraines and nothing whatsoever to worry about. He said the "ants" were also nothing to worry about unless they increased in numbers...a couple here and there is fine, he said.
Now, I get these "visual migraines" maybe only 10 times a week (it was previously several times most days). I have learned to 'screen them out' so they may actually be occurring more frequently, but they are only noticeable and annoying perhaps 10 times a week (on about 2 days of the week, several times each day). The "ants" I tend to see maybe once a week, and it is usually when I am particularly tired. So, yes, it has improved over time (gradually) and I have learned not to worry and to live with it.
I hope those experiences help.
I have amblyopia in the left eye. The vision can't really be corrected all that much other than just keeping it clear so he with with a monofocal lens. The right eye is the work horse so to speak so he wanted to try to get a better multifocal experience. For the most part, that did work. If it were not for this flickering issue, I would be extremely happy with the results.
Hi Andrew - is it your Symfony eye that has the flickering? I have 2 Symfony lenses. How do you find it with a mix of IOLs - some surgeons don’t like to do that. Does the Symfony eye provide good reading distance for you?
Thanks for the info.
The Symfony is in the right eye and fortunately I have no flickering from that lens. The monofocal one in the left is the problem one. Because I have amblyopia in the left, I really can't tell that I have 2 different type lenses. My left eye has always had clear vision, but it is like using peripheral vision. So when I close my right eye and look straight at something with my left eye, I can see maybe a little better than what a person with excellent vision sees with their peripheral vision if that makes sense? So it would be like trying to read a sign while using your peripheral vision (not looking straight at it). The Symfony provides excellent close and intermediate vision for me. It is OK at distance. I am only 2 weeks out with it though so I assume there may be some changes to that.
Andrew, what's your corrected visual acuity in the amblyopia eye?
20/60. It was 20/100 prior to surgery. But I find that deceiving. When I read those “lower” lines, I may be able to see the letters, but I can’t always be sure where they are in comparison to each other but I still get credit.
I know exactly what you are talking about. 2017 was a terrible year for vision fr my family. My 10 year daughter was diagnosed with amblyopia in March and me with cataracts in August. Her Amblyopia went undetected as we were out of US for few years for my work and she didn't notice nor was there a vision test requirement in school. She did not have a squint.
After an year long therapy to restore vision they says she is at 20/30. Improvement from 20/400. But as the line get smaller she is all jumbled up just like you say and they give her credit for that. She has still not patched her eye.
We will begin patching over the next two months in an attempt to get her to 20/25 or better.
I inherited early cataract from my mother. And if she inherits from me then she is in amblyopia plus cataract boat.
Wow Soks - sorry to hear that. You’ve all been through (and still going through a tough year). Hopefully your daughter is doing better in school. I remember when my daughter was 2 she had lots of issues with ear infections/hearing - saw a specialist every 6 weeks. Finally grew out of it by age 5. Also due to her being left handed she had to go every 6 months to test vision (apparently a link between being left handed and dyxlesia. ) Since at that age there is no letter recognition they put an E on the screen in each direction and ask the child to mimic what direction the E went with their hand.
Interesting to note though that Symfony does mix fine with a monofocal. I know when I was asking surgeon when I had just one eye done it wasn’t encouraged to mix IOLs.