Hi everyone- yesterday morning I had my 2nd cataract surgery. Chose same IOL as first eye Technis Symfony extended depth of focus lens.
After surgery all was very blurry and light refracted off every light source in weird angles. Basically after taking the Ativan prior to surgery I spent rest of day and all night asleep till post op visit this morning with my surgeon. What a difference a day made. I could see very well today. My 1st eye operated on 6 weeks ago tested 20/20 (post op I read 30/30 but missed 2 letters). I could read line under that one but wasn't asked to test for that. Newly operated eye missed 3 letters in 20/20 line but once it settles I'm sure it will improve.
Two eyes reading together did well. (wasn't tested for that after first op as my surgeon says Symfony does that better together). I could read all the way down reading chart except last line. I can read at 13 inches away which surgeon found to be excellent. He will see me in 6 weeks once both eyes are settled.
As for night vision haven't yet been outside after dark with both Symfony eyes. I did have a discussion with my surgeon. He says it is normal with overhead street lights night driving would be better than dark highways. He mentioned younger patients eyes dialate more than older ones which would make glare from headlights bigger. This could improve as I age. Also he doesn't believe the concentric circles disappear- it may be as I get used to seeing them I will tune them out over time. Although he didn't say prior to my surgery he said this is the lens he would choose for himself. I asked about the newer lenses in the pipeline (LAL - light adjustable lens) and he said they aren't proving to be the breakthrough yet.
Sitting in waiting area with same patients yesterday for surgery most had monofocal lenses. 2 ladies were asking about mine as I wasn't wearing glasses and texting on my iPhone. I said I could see gone without glasses. Both said even with their arm outstretched they could not read their iPhone or iPad. At 2 feet outwards things were clear. They didn't know their lens type though. Perhaps not all
Monofocals are created equal.
Anyways so far so good one day after surgery I am happy with the results. Unbelievable to walk around and be able to read everything see vibrant colours. Hopefully get on with life again!
Congratulations on your successful second eye surgery. Am very happy for you.
Thanks. Was so happy this morning to see everything so clearly. Took a day. Blurring could have been caused by pupil being dialated or Ativan who knows. was especially surprised how near I can read. With one eye done it was 16-18 inches . Now closer at 13 with both eyes.
Will test out night vision later. I knew it would be the compromise. If the near vision didn't work out would be rather disappointed after making the night time compromise.
Do you think the glare from headlights is worse on young patients due to how much pupil dialates?
Hi Sue.AN,
my story is almost identical to yours. I'm 2 weeks out from my 2nd surgery and never reach for my glasses. I too had Symfony in both eyes. No night driving yet, but i anticipate the concentric circles; on dark cloudy days i can barely see them. I'm overjoyed with my results. If anyone is in Little Rock, Arkansas i highly recommend McFarland for cataract surgery.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Despite some negative reviews I think ours is the norm for outcome. I hav driven a couple of times at night locally and been a passenger on a longer drive on dark highway. Locally I mad out fine - see the concentric circles. Those are not as annoying as glare from headlights from oncoming cars.
Drove my car tonight first time with both eyes implanted with Symfony. I was able to manage the drive ok. With overhead street lighting I had no problem. Yes there is glare and halos. The concentric circles are not actually as troublesome as the glare from headlights of oncoming g cars. I also found the size of the glare and halos around lights smaller now that I have 2 Symfony lenses.
Drive to see my daughter's soccer game - first game this summer that I could see the players well. Floodlights didn't bother me at all - glare from those I didn't think were any different than with my natural eye.
The real test will be darkened highways. Without the overhead streetlights this might prove more bothersome.
I drive tonight- first time with both eyes done with Symfony. With overhead streetlights I found the drive ok. Just looked to side of road when faced with oncoming car's headlights. Concentric circles aren't bright - can see through those. Real test will be on a darkened highway without overhead lighting. I knew that was going to be the compromise- my surgeon did say this decision was going to necessitate my giving up something.
Overall really happy with near vision I got. Can see from 14 inches out.
Thanks for the feedback Sue. I have to be able to drive at night on a road that isn't perfectly lit up on all parts of it with some people who literally drive 100+ mph (illegally of course, but nothing is done to stop them) weaving in and out of cars. So if I even have a small chance of night driving issues, I'm sticking with an aspheric monofocal lens since my intermediate vision is perfect in my first eye as I have said before.
Also have to worry about driving in heavy rain at night where I live even though I try to avoid doing that.
Oh and my eye tested at 20/15 for distance yesterday, wow!
I also hope some other people who have Symfony lenses and have no problems with night driving (in a very populated area) will comment here.
Excellent Nina. Happy you are pleased with results.
Yes would be nice to get that feedback. I live in a smaller city in Atlantic Canada - not sure what driving at night would be like in Toronto Montreal or Vancouver where there certainly would be many lanes of traffic that I do not have to contend with here.
That is great!
Since you have confirmed that your distance vision is very good and that intermediate vision is also good, you should definitely consider aiming for -1.0 D or -1.25 D for the second eye. That will provide you much better near and intermediate visions.
My suggestion is fo stay with the same monofocal lens for the second eye.
Thanks for the info at201 - I'll definitely update again as I go along.
Thanks Sue - happy all is going well with you too.
Wow - did your eye improve after a week or two from 20/25 to 20/15?
Has your intermediate vision down to 20" or so stayed about the same or has it gotten a little worse as your eye got better for distance over the past week or so?
I'm leaning toward maybe just getting the 2nd eye set for distance also since I'm not sure I want to mess around with depth perception no matter how small the amount. I can just get a pair of bifocals with no prescription in the top part to wear when necessary (which I highly doubt would ever be while driving since I can see my dashboard perfectly, although it's digital, but I'm sure I would be able to see it fine if it wasn't digital - I can also see my built-in GPS fine and that's closer than the dashboard). Not sure yet though of course...I have a few weeks to make up my mind.
The glasses are just called "bifocal reading glasses" if anyone who happens to be reading this wants to look into them (they have no line - they're reading glasses on the bottom and clear with no prescription on top to see distance so you don't have to keep taking them off and putting them back on and they look like regular glasses).