Cataracts

[John at J&S]

I went for a second opinion, before my surgeon gave me the bad news. He said they might be able to cut the plastic lens in half, then remove it, so they could try again from the front.

Is there a way to find out if this has been done?

[tdw28210]

Yeah, been there at a fairly early age. Never wore glasses until about 3 years ago. So started using readers,..comes with territory. anyway, i start thinking/feeling I have an eyelash in my right eye. Like CONSTANTLY. I mention it to my optometrist during my check up last December. She looks into the eye and says I have a cataract. WTF? I can see fine, I just have a black slash across my right field of vision. She goes on to say it is a trauma-induced cataract likely from some kind of sports injury or maybe a fight. It's relatively fast growing and should be addressed soon. Yeah, so I played sports (football, basketball and some baseball). A couple fights, but usually while I was playing one of the above sports. Never got punched in the eye but did break my nose three times. However, I DID get a super nasty shiner when I was on a horse, galloping across a field when I was like 14.

BACKSTORY: I was with my crazy Uncle Steve. As we were streaking across the field on these two rather large horses, my saddle starts to let go and I start falling off the horse. I reach for the horse's neck and my uncle sees what is happening and reaches out and grabs the bridle on my horse and yanks the **** out of it. The horse puts all 4 hooves into stop mode and I go flying. The right side of my face smacks the absolute **** out of the back of the horse's jawbone. I am now in the dirt and damn near knocked out. Crazy Uncle Steve is laughing at this point. He gets off his horse, cinches the **** out of the belly strap on my horse's saddle and tells me to get back on. I do (reluctantly) and when get back to the house.

By this time my face is staring to hurt even more. Don't think we thought to put ice on it right away, but by later than night it is starting to hurt pretty badly. CUS grabs something frozen out his freezer and I stick it on my face. By noon the next day I look like I took a bat to my right eye socket. Black and blue and my eye looks like smoked all of Steve's stash. Yeah it hurt like hell, but pretty sure I got a couple beers out of the whole ordeal.

Anyway,had the surgery in June of this year. It was a little freaky with the COVID but I got through it. I had some sort of "torque lens" installed. I can't say I had an immediate improvement because my cataract was sort of unique and only affected a very small part of my field of vision. But It has gotten noticeably better over time. And holy **** did I put a ton of prescription drops in my right eye in the following weeks. Anyway glad I did it, but would have preferred to do it when there wasn't a pandemic going on. Don't remember a thing about the actual procedure.

Good luck with your procedure.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by John at J&S

...I will need to go to a guy that does internal eye surgery, to try to get it out from behind the lens case. For now, I'm legally blind in that eye, and my right eye is getting worse, but I don't want to do anything with it until I have my left eye fixed. aarrgg.

Originally Posted by John at J&S

I went for a second opinion, before my surgeon gave me the bad news. He said they might be able to cut the plastic lens in half, then remove it, so they could try again from the front.

Is there a way to find out if this has been done?

Ouch! John I hope all is gong well!

I went in today for detailed exam for my left eye. Cataracts, no other damage, everything is healthy. I am 64. He had the eye mapped, dilated and pixelated...he gave a whole new meaning to, "look into my eyes..."

I remembered this thread and I am so glad I revisited.

I though about going local but I will go to the Wilmer Institute at Johns Hopkins to get the work done...they are the best on the East Coast. They did my son's eye surgery.

[John at J&S]

I haven't looked for a solution yet. I applied for a VA disability pension as (for now) I am legally blind in my left eye.

I'll start looking once I hear back from the VA. They are slow. From what I understand, it could be another three months.

I wish I had looked for a better doctor.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by John at J&S

I haven't looked for a solution yet. I applied for a VA disability pension as (for now) I am legally blind in my left eye.

I'll start looking once I hear back from the VA. They are slow. From what I understand, it could be another three months.

I wish I had looked for a better doctor.

I am so sorry to hear that, John. Your post inspired me to make the trip to Baltimore to Hopkins.

[ZOO]

I am scheduled for Refractive Lens Exchange in 20 days -- I don't have any cataracts, but it is the best way to correct my vision. I'm excited, and of course a little anxious.

[Hawkeye's-911T]

Timely thread - from my perspective - presently recovering from epiretinal membrane surgery (left eye) but I shall have to undergo cataract surgery about mid May. Some good positive thoughts & opinions here - Good on you guys & good luck to those yet to have the procedure.

Cheers
JB

[sammyg2]

Many moons ago I had small metal fragments removed from both eyes after a small explosion at work. The ER doc said no biggie, it ain't that bad. Go see an eye doc on Monday. Here's a prescription for eye drops. That was on Saturday.
The metal shards were small and weren't that painful at first but that changed over the next day. The eye surgeon was pissed that the ER doc who diagnosed the problem didn't notice that the metal bits were rusty and were staining the tissue around them.
The opthadoc said that on a good vs. bad scale, rusty metal in your eyes is way down at the bottom right next to bad. And infection had started.
He did the surgery while I was awake. It was kinda freaky but not unpleasant.
My eyes were wrapped for about 5 days IIRC, couldn't see anything till they took the bandages off. Everything was fine after but vision was just a tad off. Just enough to be noticeable. I had great vision before but was just good afterwards.
No problems since except started wearing reading glasses around age 45.

But over the last year or so, I started noticing that I had trouble seeing in low-light conditions. I'd turn on lights to see when before I didn't need do.
Colors were not as bright, it was as if I was looking through a filter.

In October I went for an eye exam and the doc said yep, cataracts in both eyes.
But he said I prolly won't require surgery for a few years so I got that to look forward to.

[charlesbahn]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I am so sorry to hear that, John. Your post inspired me to make the trip to Baltimore to Hopkins.

When you go to JHH, see Dr. Oliver Schein, tell him "hello" for me. He is the Master. If you have any questions I'm just around the corner in Bethesda,

Charles

[gsxrken]

Originally Posted by John at J&S

I haven't looked for a solution yet. I applied for a VA disability pension as (for now) I am legally blind in my left eye.

I'll start looking once I hear back from the VA. They are slow. From what I understand, it could be another three months.

I wish I had looked for a better doctor.

Damn it, John! Get yourself to a premier Ophthalmology surgery center in your area ASAP and screw the VA. Time is of the essence. Each day that goes by, more fibrosis / scarring of the “haptics” takes place. These are the little arms on the implanted lens that spring out and keep the lens where it belongs. If you need to R&R a lens, it is best to do so as soon as possible so the surgeon is not fighting the healing that has taken place around the original lens insertion point or at the haptic contact points.
Sorry to kick you in the ass but it sounds like it’s what you need right now. Wishing you the best.

[porsche tech]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I remembered this thread and I am so glad I revisited.

I though about going local but I will go to the Wilmer Institute at Johns Hopkins to get the work done...they are the best on the East Coast. They did my son's eye surgery.

An excellent idea to go there. A golfing buddy of mine has had diabetes since he was 12 or something and apparently cataract surgery is very touchy for diabetics. He went to JH and had good success.
As I said before the “multi focal” lens is wonderful (albeit not cheap). It fixes close up, midrange, distance and astigmatism. I highly recommend those lenses if they work for your needs. Once you have one done, you will be anxious to get the second one! Amazing technology and easily accomplished.—Dave

[John at J&S]

I had surgery to remove the remaining portion of the cataract in June and all is well, eyesight is 20/25 in that eye. My right eye is scheduled for early September.

Thanks guys for your concern. I appreciate it.

[John at J&S]

I had my right eye done just before Christmas, everything is great.

Using drugstore readers for close work at the moment.

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by John at J&S

I had my right eye done just before Christmas, everything is great.

Using drugstore readers for close work at the moment.

I am having my right eye done on Tuesday morning, and the left eye on March 1st following our trip to Jamaica.

I just got done with the pre=op call from the doctor, and will start applying eye drops on Saturday.

I can't wait to see better...my current glasses RX is only a year old, and I have trouble seeing the computer screen, or traffic signs, and have been wearing contacts since 1977.

[shadowjack1]

I'm getting this done in March. Can't wait to see the improvement

[Hawkeye's-911T]

Can't wait to see the improvement

For me, the results were quite dramatic. You'll like it!
Good Luck & Cheers
JB