Cateract surgery for high myopic patient

[Patsy3033]

Dr. Hagan,
I made 2 second opinion appointments and am waiting for them to come up.
In the mean time could you please explain the visual difference I would experience between the two choices I've been given.  Current doctor would be using -2 basic implant in both eyes.
Current RX  RT: -12.00 -3.50  021  LT  -10.00  -9.25 120.  He says I would see clearly for reading and within a 10 to 15 ' room. Would need
bifocal glasses for tiny print and for longer distance but would not get 20/20.   What I can't wrap my head around is what would my vision be like if he put my distance RX in the implant and let me use an RX for  close up like I do now.  It seems to me my brain would adapt to this faster then changing 68 years of the way I've been seeing. If this was done would my glasses continue to be as thick as they are now?
I'm not going to jump at this surgery until I'm comfortable with my decision and understand how I will
see close and far after the surgery.
Thank you again Dr. Hagan for sharing you time and expertise with
all of us.
Patsy3033      

[Patsy3033]

From your last response to my post under CraniumNY's  I finally understand that in my case cataract surgery with a monofocal implant can only provide me with near vision or far vision.  The mid vision that I currently have with my
glasses is there only because of RX in my glasses.  

What if I had the IOLs set for distance.  Would it only make things worse?.
Thank you

[JohnHaganMD]

With a monofocal IOL and a spherical cornea (no astigmatism) it is possible to set the uncorrected vision for distance (>20 feet) the uncorrected refractive error would be 0.00   or near (-2.00 to -2.50) or intermediate -0.75 to -1.00  

[Patsy3033]

Found my error in Distance Left RX  
Left  eye RX should read:
-10.00  - 0.25  X 120

Distance Glasses
RT: -12.00 -3.50  021
LT  -10.00  - 0.25  X 120

Reading Glasses
Right eye  -9.25 - 3.00 X 020
Left eye    -675 -0.25 X 120

[Patsy3033]

Vision not as sharp as I'd like it to be especially at night.  Lots of glare from Headlights

[JohnHaganMD]

Assuming you have written down your glasses RX correctly your RE would likely benefit from a toric IOL. The LE does not have enough to warrant a toric IOL. You've posted a lot and say you've read my article.  Leaving both eyes -2.00 might not be a great choice  Note that to leave your RE -2.00 you would have to have a toric IOLs.  You might consider a -2.00 in your non-dominant eye and a -1.00 in your dominant. That would give you a much better range of clear vision WITHOUT glasses. That would be mini-monofocal near bias.

[JohnHaganMD]

What is your vision now with those glasses?  does your LE really have 9.25 diopters of astigmatism?