Cataract surgery...

[Cliff Hilbert]

I was going to ask about the night driving glare. Is that how to avoid it?

What's everyone else's experience with night driving glare?

My doctor at the VA ordered night-driving glasses for me. You have to see an optometrist to have the glasses fitted for your vision for night driving. It takes time for your eyes to adjust to the night-driving glasses because they focus your vision differently than regular glasses, but they do work.

 

[davidedric]

​

"My surgery went flawlessly and painlessly as most relate above. I was unable to get bifocal implants due to a macular retinal pucker in my right eye that had to be corrected later (the bifocal implant lens distorts the surgeon's view when the retina surgery is performed). The pucker is caused when the vitreous (gel-like filling in the eye) gradually shrinks and pulls away from the retina as one ages. The scar tissue forms an "epiretinal membrane" that causes the retina to wrinkle or pucker"

I had something similar, but in my case the vitreous gel had actually pulled a hole in the macular, which had to be corrected by surgery. I could actually see the surgical tools inside my eyeball. Ugh!!!!
I'm told the repair is as good as possible, but my vision in that eye is still quite impaired.

 

[paddler4]

I was going to ask about the night driving glare. Is that how to avoid it?

What's everyone else's experience with night driving glare?

Much reduced. glare while driving at night is the main reason some people I know have had the surgery. However, in my experience, there is some glare, although much less, with the artificial lenses.

 

[Archibald]

I was going to ask about the night driving glare. Is that how to avoid it?

What's everyone else's experience with night driving glare?

I suppose everyone is different.

I have quite a bit of flare in my right eye. The optometrist says it is cloudiness that forms after cataract surgery and can be burned away by laser. But the eye doctor says it is a contrast sensitivity issue, which I believe is a retina problem. Very different. I think the former is more common.

 

[paddler4]

I suppose everyone is different.

I have quite a bit of flare in my right eye. The optometrist says it is cloudiness that forms after cataract surgery and can be burned away by laser. But the eye doctor says it is a contrast sensitivity issue, which I believe is a retina problem. Very different. I think the former is more common.

Yes, I experienced that as well. My ophthalmologist said that a substantial proportion of cataract patients develop cloudiness at some point later. I developed it in one eye only, several years after surgery. The laser treatment is trivial: a few minutes. And no sedation. I was able to drive myself home from the procedure.

 

[Greyswan]

I was going to ask about the night driving glare. Is that how to avoid it?

What's everyone else's experience with night driving glare?

Monofocals do not have the glare for the most part, because they don't have the concentric rings bending light in more directions, like EDOF lenses. (They look like fresnel lense in lighthouses). I don't get glare with mine, but there are also other reasons for glare happening. Another reason I got monofocals is because they have the clearest vision with the most contrast. The trade-off is that the DOF is smaller. But I don't find that a problem - the DOF is deep enough that it does not bother me, and does not suddenly fall off, I can see quite comfortably at about 20" with blurriness starting before that, at about 10" that (but it starts slowly, not suddenly). And of course distance is fine.

Now many people may want EDOF (extended depth of field) IOLs, if they play golf or other sports, to be able to follow the ball more easily, so there's that. In my case I hate sports, so I'm ok with monos, but the people that get EDOFs seem to love them.

I wished I could have gotten an aspheric monofocal, for more contrast, but unfortunately they weren't available to me by my provider. I honestly don't know if they would be much better than my standard monofocals to be honest.

Glare is also caused by seeing the edge of the implanted lens - our eyes are all different and some people actually have larger eyes, and the implants, which are all one standard size - may actually get glare off the edges of the implant, catching light because their pupils don't contract far enough to block off the edges of the lens. Which means in dark conditions, street lights and headlights will catch the edge of the implant. Funnily enough manufactureres don't make larger IOL's for people with bigger eyes. The are all one single size. That may have something to do with the flexibility being less if they are larger, as it would be harder to fold into a smaller package for insertion, I dunno.

Everyone's experience with IOL's are different, even sometimes each eye will react differently, to the same operation and IOL. The formulas which they use to figure out the target power in your eyes is not foolproof, it's a bit of art and experience involved as well as science, because everyone's eyes are different. You can have astigmatism in the cataracted lens itself, which is underneath the cornea, and that astigmatism will completely disappear with IOL's - or you can have a corneal cataract that actually cancels out the lens astigmatism - and then it appears when you get IOL's. Although my understanding is that corneal astigmatism can be fixed with Lasik.

So many variables are intrinsic to the results, it's impossible to catalogue them all, hopefully you can do the research (and find a GOOD surgeon with good reviews) to maximise your results. But cataract surgery is 99.9% successful.

 

[Greyswan]

As I learned it, the reason for presbyopia is different. The lens continues to grow and gradually gets too big for its "house" until it hasn't room to assume the shape that near vision requires.

That's interesting, I didn't know that could happen.

 

[Tronhard]

I had both my eyes done in Canada before I returned to live in NZ, about 8 years ago. I can assure you the op is painless, fast and has minimal requirement except for some eye drops that I had to put in for a few days. The free surgery included a corrective lens, so like the others I am a bit long-sighted in one eye now. About 5 years ago I did have some cloudiness in one eye that can happen sometimes after cataract surgery, but it was sorted with some laser treatment - no surgery required. I have never had issues with night driving.

 

[Wilt]

I was going to ask about the night driving glare. Is that how to avoid it?

What's everyone else's experience with night driving glare?

This past week, and acquaintance mentioned aftermarket tinted lenses which he says reduces glare while driving at night. In a dark parking lot he showed the lenses to my wife (one eye cataract surgery less than a month ago) and me (beginning stages of cataract formation). He shines a very bright flashlight at us, and we viewed with and without the yellow lenses, and both of us noted a considerable reduction of glare from the bright flashlight in the dark parking lot.

 

[Greyswan]

I had both my eyes done in Canada before I returned to live in NZ, about 8 years ago. I can assure you the op is painless, fast and has minimal requirement except for some eye drops that I had to put in for a few days. The free surgery included a corrective lens, so like the others I am a bit long-sighted in one eye now. About 5 years ago I did have some cloudiness in one eye that can happen sometimes after cataract surgery, but it was sorted with some laser treatment - no surgery required. I have never had issues with night driving.

I feel like the 'premium IOL's are a bit oversold, the insured monofocals are of a high quality and often you don't need more. Unless there's a specific reason you need them sports or if you absolutely hate glasses, I don't consider them to be worth the drawbacks involved with many of them. That's not to say anyone should not get them, or that they don't benefit from the EDOF lenses, it's just that many people worry that the 'free' version is somehow lesser, either in quality or benefits, and are not looking at their needs as opposed to thinking that somehow more expensive is better.

And as a photographer I wanted the clearest distance vision possible, which is actually a benefit of the monofocals. Just my opinion though.

 

[electronpusher]

​

"My surgery went flawlessly and painlessly as most relate above. I was unable to get bifocal implants due to a macular retinal pucker in my right eye that had to be corrected later (the bifocal implant lens distorts the surgeon's view when the retina surgery is performed). The pucker is caused when the vitreous (gel-like filling in the eye) gradually shrinks and pulls away from the retina as one ages. The scar tissue forms an "epiretinal membrane" that causes the retina to wrinkle or pucker"

I had something similar, but in my case the vitreous gel had actually pulled a hole in the macular, which had to be corrected by surgery. I could actually see the surgical tools inside my eyeball. Ugh!!!!
I'm told the repair is as good as possible, but my vision in that eye is still quite impaired.

I was very lucky that the membrane that formed began to create distortion to the extent I sought help before it tore the retina. I still have a slight permanent retinal pucker in the right eye but it's much improved (only slight liner distortion).

I do see a star effect at night when looking at car headlights or street lights. Before the surgery, it was becoming dangerous to drive at night due to the dimming caused by the cataracts, so it's an acceptable trade.

The part that surprised me was that I was mostly awake and could converse while he was digging around inside my eye peeling the membrane. My terror was completely abated by the "twilight" drugs. It became, "interesting". Actually, the following two weeks of eye drops bothered me more than the procedure. An added benefit was that removing the vitreous got rid of my floaters!

 

[paddler4]

I think one consistent message in this thread is that people who could benefit from this shouldn't be frightened of it. It's quick and painless, and the recovery is usually trivial. My surgeon will only do one eye at at time, and as soon as I saw the results in the first eye, I was eager to do the second. Vision is especially important to photographers and other visual artists, so this procedure is especially valuable for us.

Re what electronpusher said about sedation: I've had the same experience.

 

[shinksma]

I'll chime in with my experience. I had lens replacements in both eyes done about 7 years ago. I chose the two different focal lengths, which 99% of the time means I can see almost anything at any distance, because the brain just ignores the out of focus imagery. At night it is a bit more obvious, because the irises open up, and just like camera lenses, the increased aperture narrows the focal plane "range".

I don't feel I experience any night driving glare.

It also makes hammering in nails interesting, because I no longer have true binocular vision at hand-held distance.

The surgeries, done about a month apart, were quick and painless - it helps that they dope you up with some sort of cool sedative that calms you down, like you're really sleepy and mildly drunk and in a dream-like state. If I did drugs like LSD or weed maybe I could compare it to something else, but I don't, so I can't. But electronpusher's phrase "twilight drugs" is accurate, IMHO.

 

[Greyswan]

I think one consistent message in this thread is that people who could benefit from this shouldn't be frightened of it. It's quick and painless, and the recovery is usually trivial. My surgeon will only do one eye at at time, and as soon as I saw the results in the first eye, I was eager to do the second. Vision is especially important to photographers and other visual artists, so this procedure is especially valuable for us.

Re what electronpusher said about sedation: I've had the same experience.

And for photographers they need to know that it will not drastically change their ability to do their art. I went out today for spring birding, and tested myself with following flying birds. I really saw no appreciable difference in finding them with the lens, nor following. It was exactly the same as before, when I wore glasses, with sunglasses added over the top of my regular glasses. I had no problems at all. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to see well enough to continue with birding.

Minor adjustments have to be made depending on the type of vision you have installed, using readers for some situations, , etc. So glad I finally got it done! I think that sentiment is usual for 99% of cataract patients. You will love it!

 

[flowrider]

I'm an 86 year old guy and I had my surgery, both eyes, a couple of years ago. Turned out GREAT. Colors were more vivid, and the sky was blue again I have the regular lenses, not prescription lenses. As far as glare, I always wear prescription brown sunglasses when outside. My regular prescription glasses have a shooter lens. I find the yellow tint better for night driving.

Lou

 

[RDKirk]

I'm an 86 year old guy and I had my surgery, both eyes, a couple of years ago. Turned out GREAT. Colors were more vivid, and the sky was blue again I have the regular lenses, not prescription lenses. As far as glare, I always wear prescription brown sunglasses when outside. My regular prescription glasses have a shooter lens. I find the yellow tint better for night driving.

Lou

Will all the blue-tinted LED headlights on the road, those yelow tinted glasses for driving probably work well.

But what do you mean by "shooter lens?"

 

[flowrider]

^^^^

Why Are Shooting Glasses Yellow?

The yellow tint on the lenses of your ballistics glasses help to filter out UV rays of light. Learn more why shooting glasses are yellow.

rx-safety.com

Lou

 

[bfluegie]

I just had cataract surgery about six weeks ago, both eyes done. I know many here are in my age bracket (just started the 7th decade, aagh!) and facing that operation.

Anyway, one of the things I worried about, as many photographers do, was how would that affect my shooting, and I just wanted to reassure anyone facing this, that it really does not. I've been extremely myopic all my life, and got distance vision installed as I thought it would actually help finding birds, and also give greater DOF. Yes, the lens they install in your eyes are exactly like camera lenses. It is SO nice not to have to reach for glasses first thing in the morning! So I do have great distance vision now.

The only impact it has had with photography, is not being able to see the camera settings on the rear view monitor - I need cheap readers for that. And since I do mostly wildlife, I can look through the viewfinder and see the settings perfectly, after adjusting the diopter for my new distance vision. Laptop and phone also require the readers, no big deal for me.

I also found that most of my photos were pushed to overexposure in post, unfortunately because the cataracts clouded my vision somewhat with a a sepia tint, and the colours were not what I thought they were. Quite a few blown whites in them as well. Thankfully I never did a lot of colour adjustments or saturation, so not too bad.

So for anyone facing this, if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

Cheers, Chris.

Thank you for posting this, Chris. I was literally just writing a post with questions about cataract surgery, thought I should do a search first, and found this thread. I've known I had cataracts developing for almost 10 years but my optometrist always said they weren't bad enough for surgery. He finally said at my last visit that I could get the surgery any time but I was still OK to drive (day and night) with my current glasses. I've been trying to decide what lens and correction will work best for photography. I'm leaning toward a toric (astigmatism) lens with a distance correction. Although I'm so nearsighted that I can currently read and use my phone without glasses and I will lose that. The one thing I know for sure is that I will have the same correction in both eyes. I tried the one for near one for distance with contacts and my brain never did adapt. I spent a year going "right eye or left eye". Having that permanently installed would drive me crazier.

 

[Bergmen]

My ophthalmologist retired a couple of years ago and had been monitoring the slow progression of cataracts in both eyes (I'm 75). I do not have any optical insurance so if I have the cataract surgery it will be out of pocket (after I find a new eye doctor. I wonder what this will cost?

Dan

 

[joayne]

My ophthalmologist retired a couple of years ago and had been monitoring the slow progression of cataracts in both eyes (I'm 75). I do not have any optical insurance so if I have the cataract surgery it will be out of pocket (after I find a new eye doctor. I wonder what this will cost?

Dan

IF you have medicare, it's covered afaik