Cataract surgery?

[Tim Hancock]

Just went in for an eye exam as my vision has changed a bit from my last prescription from about 10 years ago. I only have ever needed glasses for occasional use and for the last 10 years I only wear prescription glasses for flying or if driving at night on long trips. Been noticing it has become a bit tougher lately to see far off road signs even with my excellent squinting techniques or with my old prescription glasses/sunglasses.

Of course at 57, I also now have to use old man cheaters for reading small print. Lol

That said, my eye doctor shocked me by telling me I now have cataracts that are at a level 2 (with 4 being the worst rating). She said I don't have to have surgery, but that eventually I will want to. Yuck....

Anyone here had the surgery? Sounds scary having your eyes cut open to replace the lens with new plastic ones.

This getting old crap does not sit well with me. Thus far my only heath issue is slightly high blood pressure and I have never been on any medications. Cholesterol, blood sugar etc are always excellent and I stay reasonably fit, but I get do find myself less limber and I get pretty sore any time I do any kind of hard physical activity. Dang it.... I am not OK with the thought of turning into a broken old man.

[GH85Carrera]

My wife was a lifetime glasses or contact person. He cataracts got to the point the Ophthalmologist was ready to do them She had one eye done at a time. She now does not need glasses at all.

The only downside is you will see rings around headlights of oncoming cars at night. I will have to have the same surgery someday in the near future. I will wait as long as possible to avoid the night time driving issues.

[Tim Hancock]

My night time driving vision has never been great, but it seems worse now due likely to the cataracts. My new prescription she gave me is not too different than my old one, but she said the slightly blurred vison even through the prescription is due to the cataracts. I can't remember the term she used, but she showed me some different types of cataracts and mine are not the complete clouding. Mine look somewhat clear in the middle but irregular cloudiness around the edges.

[brp914]

Just an fyi because I have an eye issue I had never heard of before. I noticed some smudginess in central vision while reading. I thought oh crap because my dad has age related macula degeneration. Turns out, as you get older your vitreous humor gets sticky and can tug on your retina and cause distortion. It can vary with time. If it gets bad it they can remove your vitreous humor. For some reason, doing this often leads to cataract. This condition has a name but I don't recall it right now.

[Jeff Higgins]

Here you go, Tim:

Cataracts

In short, JUST DO IT!!! It changed my life.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Here you go, Tim:

Cataracts

In short, JUST DO IT!!! It changed my life.

Yup.

[Tim Hancock]

Oops.... guess I should have searched first.

I am thinking I may wait until my health insurance at work is up for renewal again as I am on our high deductible plan right now. $6400 out of pocket.

Will have to remember to switch to the PPO plan and then have the surgery. Besides, my vision might be a bit worse by then which would help me make the decision.

[Superman]

I hear you, Tim. At 66 years old, I am starting to see my hopes for Olympic gymnastics gold slip away. But seriously, my physical capabilities have always been fairly high. My body did whatever I asked. But it is starting to let me down. I will spare the details.

Thanks Jeff. I was going to offer the same URL. Your write made me WANT to have the procedure.

Tim, the surgery involves a simple, small slit cut into the white of your eye. They suck the old lens out and then roll the new one up like a piece of paper and slip it in. See Jeff's write up (10 minutes). Also, it appears they can fix many other vision imperfections at the same time.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cataract-surgery/about/pac-20384765

[steveo12345]

It is a pretty routine thing now. Not to scare you but do your homework and choose the best surgeon you can find. Also pay attention when they talk about what lenses you want. Pay attention to the brand of lenses also. My wife had a very bad experience with a surgeon who really messed up her eyes. She was left with thousands of floaters and very poor vision.

We went to an awesome specialist, best in the world. Had to have the vitreous in both eyes sucked out and replaced with saline. Also got two replacement lenses because the first ones were crap. Lots of $ and travel time but her vision is now great.

[The Synergizer]

I would go to her if I could do it over.
I like her eyes.
They say it is the most common surgery performed now.

[Tim Hancock]

Got a Vivity lens put in my right eye this past Thursday. First day I couldn't even read a stop sign.... Super foggy/blurry. Next day it started improving and follow up visit doc said this is normal as this surgery center injects a medicine in eye during surgery which negates the need for eye drops post surgery. After 3 days, improvement has slowed. Distance vision is ok but not perfect. Computer distance vision is not great. Hoping for more improvement over the next week..... fingers crossed.

I really thought I would have better results by now (5 days post surgery). My doc said I can resume sports (pickleball) and start swimming again after 5 days (today). Not so sure as some online info says to wait as long as 4-6 weeks. Might try pickleball tomorrow and we are supposed to be boating over this coming 4th of July weekend.

[Dixie]

I just had it done. It's quick, easy, and painless. The recovery is nothing.

I only encountered two minor wrinkles. I needed an okay from a retinologist beforehand as my extreme myopia greatly increases my odds of developing retina issues. The other was needing to pay $3,000 OOP for a lens to address the astigmatism in my right eye. Medicare only covers the basic lens.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Dixie

I just had it done. It's quick, easy, and painless. The recovery is nothing.

I only encountered two minor wrinkles. I needed an okay from a retinologist beforehand as my extreme myopia greatly increases my odds of developing retina issues. The other was needing to pay $3,000 OOP for a lens to address the astigmatism in my right eye. Medicare only covers the basic lens.

Mine was easy and painless (other than the IV needle in my arm ), but I am not thrilled with my vision after 5 days.

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Mine was easy and painless (other than the IV needle in my arm ), but I am not thrilled with my vision after 5 days.

I vote give it time. The blurriness will improve. I'm a month out from having my second eye done, and I'm still finding improvement. I will add that my right eye still seem a bit wonky. I think it's because I see better out of it now, and it's confusing my brain.

Bottom line is my pool game has gone to hell. Not to imply I was good before.

[Tim Hancock]

Thanks Dixie.... Makes me feel better to know that you are still noticing improvement a month out.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Oops.... guess I should have searched first.

I am thinking I may wait until my health insurance at work is up for renewal again as I am on our high deductible plan right now. $6400 out of pocket.

Will have to remember to switch to the PPO plan and then have the surgery. Besides, my vision might be a bit worse by then which would help me make the decision.

$5K per eye average cost.
Medicare for eyes & teeth doesn't exist.

[Tim Hancock]

I think I have about $2500 out of pocket thus far but might have to pony up some more once the insurance/billing is done. I got the Vivity lens which costs more and insurance does not cover the extra cost for premium lens.

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

$5K per eye average cost.
Medicare for eyes & teeth doesn't exist.

Medicare covers your eyes, not your vision. It will pay for cataract surgery using a standard implant lens, but won't cover regaining better vision using an expensive specialized lens. That's why I forked out the extra money for a lens to correct my astigmatism. Otherwise I'd need glasses even after the procedure was done. Glasses and contacts aren't covered as they address vision.

Also, checking my EOBs, my surgeon billed $2,500 per eye. The surgery center billed $10,600 per eye. What you pay depends on your insurance, if you have it.

[ckcarr]

I'm qualified to jump in and post the "what can go wrong" items now that it's been almost two years for me. I had the surgery and (of course) opted for the premium lenses to correct my vision. And I experienced all the below. It wasn't smooth sailing in other words. My right eye is definitely better than the left now, which is ironic since my left was formerly the sharp eye before surgery. And also, I have far superior vision in the morning, which may make sense as the eyes are rested and better lubricated.

1. Bright light may affect your eyes for a while. Sunglasses will become the normal if you didn't always wear before (as you should).

2. If you had dry eye prior to cataract surgery it will get worse after. This may be temporary, or could be a permanent change. AND dry eye will affect your after surgery vision. Without well lubricated eyes, the vision will be distorted, cloudy, or even some double vision. You probably will want to use a quality eye drop like Refresh Optive Mega-3, or equivalent. You may not notice, but I live in the desert and it's hot, dry and dusty here.

3. Eye floaters. It's very common to experience more eye floaters after the surgery. Hopefully they eventually dissolve, or settle to the bottom of the eye. But not always. Afterwards, and it could be a week, month, or a year after the surgery but you may suddenly experience what are called "pepper floaters" where there may suddenly be hundreds of tiny dots in your vision, not the regular floater. Something breaks loose all at once in the eye and you are suddenly thinking WTF? Fortunately (I am told) this happens only once, and they eventually go away. Which seems true.

4. Having cataract surgery, even with premium lenses doesn't always mean you'll have perfect vision. The primary objective of the surgery is to remove the cataract clouded lens and replace with the artificial one to clear up the vision.

5. After the surgery you may need to return and have the lens blasted - called a YAG laser capsulotomy to remove possible cloudiness on the lens which is sometimes caused by your own body rebelling against the implanted lens.

6. Just a personal observation, which may not be common, but if you work on a computer all day like I do, I've found that my eyes are much slower to react - going from close vision to distance. Can't say working on a computer is good or bad, but it pays the bills... If I had a choice I wouldn't.

7. My close vision without readers is far better than before surgery, and I didn't choose that type lens. It just happened.

So that's my two-cents.....

[Evans, Marv]

I had both eyes done on April 3rd at Kaiser. I just opted for the standard lenses, since I didn't mind reading glasses and distance which included a correction for my astigmatism. Plus, I'm getting pretty old and don't think the extra cost is worth it. The surgery went off as expected. The recovery was uneventful, except for the inconvenience of the eye drops for six to eight weeks afterwards. But that's all behind me now. I'd advise against doing any sports or heavy liftiing for the six weeks afterwards just to avoid the chance of creating a problem that is difficult to rectify. What I found out afterwards is that I don't really need reading glasses for regular reading. I use them for really small print. My distance prescription totally changed. I couldn't use my distance glasses from prior to the surgery and had to get new glasses along with sun glasses. Medicare covered the cost of the surgery and a pair of glasses. I had to pay for my new sun glasses. I still see a halo from the sides of my eyes in low ligtht coming from the side, but the opthamologist says my miind will ocmpensate for that eventually. I'd recommend having it done.