Cataract in just one eye

I'm 37 and have a cataract in my left eye. I'm "quite near-sighted," as my ophthalmologist said, in both eyes. (I'm not sure, but I think I'm at about -8.) I have to have surgery on the cataract. My doctor said he could give me perfect vision in my left eye and I could wear a contact lens in my right eye, but it would be better to match my right eye to prevent eye strain.

I'm young to have a cataract, and I don't have any of the typical risk factors. My problem with matching my right eye is that if I were to develop a cataract in the right eye, then I'd be stuck matching my bad vision instead of having the vision without corrective lenses for the first time since I was about 10.

Does anyone have experience with this? Any advice would be appreciated.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

YES STOP:  Get a second or third consult about what to do. It's not a good idea at your age to take a cataract out and put in an IOL that leaves you still -8.00 myopic.

If you only have cataract in one eye one solution would be to have the eye set for distance "perfect" vision -0.25  then have lasik on the other eye which would probably correct 5-6 diopters of myopia and leave that eye about -2.00 which would let you read without glasses even after you turn 40 and become presbyopia  This would be "Monovision". If it didn't work well you could wear a contact on the lasik eye to even the vision out but sometime after 40 you would need reading glasses.

I have NEVER left a person -8.00 after surgery.

JCH MD

[2ndsight]

I had cataract surgery in just one eye a year and a half ago and wear a contact lens in the other. My contact lens prescription in the cataract eye was -7.50 prior to surgery and -6.50 in the other eye. I still wear a -6.50 contact lens in my unoperated eye and am doing fine with it.

The only thing I will say about it is that the vision you get with a contact lens is not quite the same as what you will have with an IOL. Last year around the time of my surgery there were quite a few other discussions about this on this board. You may find that your vision is a little imbalanced or you may not. I found this to be true at first and have gotten adjusted to it. As Dr Hagan suggests I would get some more consults about this and find a doctor who has experience with it.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

-