I had a cataract removed in my left ( distance eye) 2 weeks ago and my distance vision is worse than before the surgery. I know the colors are brighter but I can't see to drive. It's worse in the mornings and gets a bit better in the afternoon. My doctor says there is a bit of inflammation still there and that is what's causing this. He of course might be correct but it's frustrating.
I have a few concerns, one of which why is it worse in the mornings and is the blurriest normal.
im doing the drops he prescribed regularly bur don't see any improvement. I understand what he says but would have thought it should get a bit better each day. So far it's is just about the same
I'm in the same boat. I did not require glasses to drive prior to surgery. I'm about 6 weeks out and haven't had any improvement. The surgeon said that I had no inflammation, so I'm guessing mine will not improve. I told my surgeon that I didn't feel like I could not see well enough to drive to which he replied, "there are so many people out there driving who are worse off than you". Ok is that supposed to make me feel better or does that make it right?!? I sincerely hope that your vision gets better!
Whew what a comment for a doctor to make. Have you had a second opinion? I am going next week for oneto a Dr. highly reccomended by a cousin of mine, and i"m going to wait and see what he says. I didn"t need glasses before to drive but felt that my difficultios were from the cataract as I had no problem before it developed. Certainly if glasses will help for driving I'll give it a try.
I would have DEMANDED a better explanation from your Dr. for your diffculties.
I know that it takes time for things to heal but since your Dr. said there is no inflamation he should be held accountable for at least some ideas. I hope your vision gets better as well. Good luck
It has been a nightmare to say the least. My vision was 20/30 before surgery and is now 20/50. He said his job was to make by eye healthy and now it is because I no longer have a cataract. It's just really hard for me to understand how my vision is worse after removing the cataract. He said that I should be happy b/c I can correct to 20/20 with glasses. I know glasses are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but I had no idea that this was a possibility after cataract removal. He had offered me a corrective lense before surgery that would alleviate me having to wear reading glasses but I opted not to do this b/c I don't have to wear them often. At the follow up he made the comment that I should be glad that I didn't get that lens b/c if the one that he used bothered me I would have really hated the corrective lens. He really has no explanation of why my vision is worse other than he may used the wrong sized lense. He had a huge chip on his shoulder when I went into my follow up. He also said because I'm younger than the average person who has a catact (I'm 47) I shouldn't expect as much clarity as most people experiene. I really wished that he would have told me this BEFORE surgery. I would not have gotten the surgery had I known. I was only having difficulties driving at night, now it's day and night. The light sensitivity is through the roof. It's difficult for me to go into any brightly lit store. It sends my eye into overload. I just really want answers as to why this simple surgery has caused me so much grief. He got me out of there quick and just told me to follow up with my regular eye dr. I do have an appointment with another surgeon next week. I'm really hoping that I can get some answers
did you get laser or conventional? what type of lens did you get? monofocal? multifocal? ? different lenses have different side effects. It would be helpful to know which Lens you got
also what type of anesthesia did you get? was your eye put totally to sleep our could you see during operation? were you yourself awake our asleep during operation? have to have all the input right if you want to try to figure out the cause.
I lens I received was for distance only as I decided to go mono vision . I had a retinal re attachment on the other eye and it left me with mono vision so I decided to stay with that. It was the premium single vision( I think that's the right term) .not sure on the anesthesia but I wasn't completely out. I was talking to the doctor during it.
I assume you meant monofocal, not monovision. If you had a premium lens, then it would not be a monofocal. premium lenses are the more expensive alternatives to monofocals. such as multi focals or even crystalline accomodating lenses. There are some monofocals on the market but such as the symfony lens which is an extended range of focus monofocal but not yet available in the U.S. So not sure what type of lens you got but I assume you got a standard monofocal. Try to find out what type of lens you got. If you got a monofocal,that is the lens with the least likely occurance of side effects so seems like the issue is with the procedure rather than the lens.
Light sensitivity is extremely common after cataract surgery since the new lens lets in far more light than the clouded natural lens did, so it is unlikely to be due to any problem. I had to turn my computer monitor brightness down to 0 for the first several weeks after my surgery and to wear sunglasses outside at times when I wouldn't have needed them, though eventually I got used to it after a few weeks. I don't notice things being noticeably bright anymore and can be outside without sun glasses. Though it is best to wear sun glasses since unless you got a blue blocking lens (some are, mine isn't) the artificial lens lets in more UV than the natural lens did.
re: "I shouldn't expect as much clarity as most people experience"
That seems backwards since the rest of the eye should be in better condition than someone older. I've never heard that before and I know of a few patients within a few years of your age that have good distance vision. I had my surgery at the also atypically young age of 52 and had almost 20/15 vision at distance by a week after surgery.
If your vision can be corrected to 20/20 with glasses then it seems most likely the lens power was off and that there isn't anything else wrong. They consider that a success because with a cataract they wouldn't have been able to correct your vision to 20/20 because of the clouding.
Unfortunately determining the lens power isn't an exact science. They use statistics to determine based on the result of past patients with similar eye measurements what power you will likely need. That isn't guaranteed to work but is merely an educated guess. Usually for most people the results are fairly accurate, the results seem more likely to be off for those who needed strong glasses beforehand (likely because there are fewer data points from similar patients, though there are guesses that there may be errors in the equipment measuring highly nearsighted eyes). However even if mistakes in lens power from people with fairly normal vision beforehand are rare, *someone* unfortunately winds up being the "statistic" whose lens power was off, and that might be what happened in this case.
It is possible it could also have been a mistake, like the wrong lens ordered, or a manufacturing error. I would ask them what the formulas said your lens power should be (one of the most common pieces of equipment they use for that is an IOL Master which prints out what the formulas recommend for an IOL power) and what lens power you actually received.
If the lens power is off, it is possibel for them to correct it either via glasses, contact lens, laser correction like PRK or LASIK, or via either another surgery to replace the lens (which involves risk since it is surgery, even if its fairly safe like the original cataract surgery).
It sounds like you shouldn't worry about what your distance vision will be yet due to the inflammation. Even without inflammation It often takes 3-4 weeks for the distance vision to settle down enough to where they will give people a prescription for any needed glasses, since the lens can move a little bit forward or backward while healing and that changes its power. Occassionally they need to wait 2-3 months. It may be that you will be lucky and your distance vision will improve and you won't need any correction, but unfortunately that isn't guaranteed (see the reply I just posted to kim94356 regarding lens power).
I'm not sure if you received my last reply as I believe I hit the wrong button. But as I said in a prior attempt the only drugs that I am aware of or the post operative drops that I have been required to use it is five weeks now after surgery and my vision is worse and worse. So if the drops were supposed to care of the inflammation it's obvious that it hasn't done so. When I called to share my concerns with the doctor last week which I've made it 3 1/2 weeks post surgery the nurse that called me back I believe gave me information they weren't supposed to. He told me that my vision before the surgery was 20/30 or 20/40 I can't remember right now. Then he told me that my vision when I went back after two weeks post surgery it was 20/70 so he admitted that it deteriorated. I'm not sure of me telling you what drops I used would help but feel free to contact me again
You need to have a doctor determine if there is continued inflammation, if so they likely need to give you other medicines. There are a number of choices of NSAIDs (non-steriodal anti inflammatory drugs) and steroids that can be used if the first one isn't working, though the question is also whether there may be something like an infection involved as well which only a doctor can determine.
When people say their vision was "20/70" at an appointment, that is ambiguous. It could mean that your *best corrected* vision, even with glasses/contacts, is only 20/70, which indicates some problem with your eyes, whether it is inflammation or something else. Or it could merely mean that without correction that is your visual acuity, but that with glasses/contacts your vision can be corrected to 20/20. Those are two very different situations.
The fact that your vision is "worse and worse" doesn't indicate whether it is the inflammation or another cause without the doctor checking on it. If it is may be that your refrection is shifting, e.g. you are becoming more nearsighted or farsighted and glasses/contacts would correct the issue. Usually they wait around a month after surgery before they prescribe glasses/contacts to be sure your vision is stable because it can be changing during that time as the lens heals in place. The lens can move forward or backward as it heals and that changes the focal point of your eye to make you more or less farsighed or near sighted. However sometimes it can take another few weeks to stabilize, even though that isn't common. If you don't wish to wear glasses or contacts, then after vision has stabilized they can consider a laser correction, swapping the lens for one with a different power, or a 2nd piggyback lens to correct the first.
Although you say your vision "deteriorated" after the cataract surgery, whether that is really a problem that isn't clear without knowing what your "best corrected" vision is. The odds are that once any inflammation is dealt with that your vision can be corrected to 20/20, which it wouldn't have been able to be before surgery. If the natural lens with the cataract hadn't been removed, your vision would have gotten continually worse until you went blind, so any temporary problems postop need to be kept in perspective.
I agree with you about changing the medication. Since the drops they have given me which they've increased a week post surgery is not giving the desired results .I do believe and hope that there were other options. I'm hoping that's what the doctor this week who is my second opinion is going to come up with. It's 5 1/2 weeks post surgery and certainly worse than prior to the surgery . I Didn't wear any glasses before the Cataracs developed. I have what they call monovision. Since I had a retinal detachment in my right eye ( not the eye with the cataract removal)and that made the right eye good for reading without glasses the left eye which had the cataract surgery was for distance. Until the Cataracs got worse the distance was fine for driving and distance . the right I was fine for reading in essence again monovision. As I said the vision in the left eye I was 2030 prior to the cataract surgery. I was OK except for the effect of the cataracts.
Hi Linda. So sorry to hear about your blurred vision. I had the same problem with the eye I had done three weeks ago that you responded to. My vision was clear the day after surgery but then got blurry. I was told it was due to inflammation but after 4 days and a continued eye ache my eye pressure was high. He adjusted my drops. Didn't help. Finally put me on drops to reduce the pressure and my vision did get better. I have had a whole set of new issues with my second eye. I wish you well and hope your vision improves soon. It is so discouraging
Linda,
how is your vision now. I had IOL implanted 3 week back. Day 1 after surgery was 25/25 and then I see my vision blurry. Went to 2 week check and doctor said its inflammation but eye is fine. Just wanted to see if for you blurry vision is gone and after how long.
thanks
Rich
I understand your problem. I had cataract surgery 8 weeks ago. My vision is worse, I have blurry vision, double vision, the light sensitivity is also horrible. My long distance and close up vision is also absolutely terrible I also have a dark cresent type shape in the corner of my eye and its driving me crazy. To be honest I wish I never went through this surgery. I could see better with the cataract in my eye except for a little blurriness. The surgeon keeps telling me that it will get better. At this point I don't believe it. To me its been far too long to see any improvement. I have never been so upset over something as I have been with this. I know that I won't have my other eye done. I need to see with one as I am unable to see correctly with the one I had the cataract removed.
I had cataract surgery in March. My vision was great the first week but started getting PCO bybthe 2nd or 3rd week. I had Yag surgery last month and my vision is no better. i am short sighted in my right and far in my left.
i could cry as the diopters between both eyes has created a huge 5 diopters inbalance and now looking for see if I can get piggy back lenses to put my left eye back to short so I can wear glasses again and the bance my vision up.
its not the silver lininv I hoped, cataract surgery.
my mom in same boat. thought she would be seeing to read. but still can't see.
my mom in same boat. thought she would be seeing to read. but still can't see.
to me it sounds like he didn't care weather u could see or not. something has to change here. the chip he's holding dearly to or more information for what to do