Fast cataract development on young patient

I wonder if someone had the same experience as I had.

Last year (2010), on september, I started to notice someting strange on my RE.
After a long exam, my dr. said I was starting to develop a cataract, but it was still very small.
He also said that it should develop fast.
On december (3 months after), my vision was terrible (multiple images, I could see 3 lights for every car light!), and he could see the cataract very easy.
He said it was not much big, but as he antecipated, it was developing very fast and it would get worse each day.
He also said it was centered on my lens.
Ok, so lets remove it and implant a monofocal IOL.
I had to wait until february, I could not schedule it sooner, so I had a hard time at work on december and january.
Also I decided to stop driving at night on the last days of january, because I was already seeing 5 car lights for each light !!
My surgery was perfect. I used to be myopic with -5.75, but on the next day after surgery I could see 20/20. My distance vision was better then it was even before cataract.
Of course near vision was bad, but thats ok, a reading glass would solve this problem.
But then just 20 days after surgery, although I still can see 20/20, I already developed PCO, and I feel that it is developing fast, like the cataract.
I heard thats its common and can develop between months and years after surgery, but days !!!???
He said it will be solved easy with YAG laser, but we will wait 2 to 3 months to wait a full recovery of my cataract surgery. To make things worse, I can`t wear my glasses because now I have -3.75 on LE e "0" on RE, so my brains go nuts when I put the glasses. I will try contacts, if it does not work I will do the surgery on my LE to implant a IOL. But that is another problem.
I am 43 years old, and I heard that on young cataract patients like me, this can happen, I mean, it can develop very fast. For now my LE is ok, I didn`t notice any signs of cataract on it, but my dr. said the probability of having cataract on LE is high. I forgot to mention, I also have glaucoma under control.
I was thinking, is this scenario could indicate someting more serious ? Or it is a age related thing ?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I doubt this indicates something more serious.  I assume you do not have diabetes since you did not mention it.

Dr. O.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I doubt this indicates something more serious.  I assume you do not have diabetes since you did not mention it.

Dr. O.

[cwatt1]

I've also heard that PC opacification can develop more rapidly in younger patients.  However, I'm thinking it could also be folds or creases in the capsular bag, which can also cause vision distortion.  The capsule starts to "shrink wrap" around the IOL quite soon after surgery (which is why an explant is generally easier if done within the first month after receiving the IOL) and sometimes it "crinkles" a little bit.  That happened to me (I'm 60 years old) even though my cataract surgery was only about 5 weeks ago, and my eye surgeon already knows I will need a YAG.  Keep in mind, however, that in many cases insurers are reluctant to reimburse for that procedure until 3-4 months have elapsed since your cataract surgery.

[ledbrv]

Dr. Ray,

Thanks for your comment.
I am glad to know you could not image other reasons for this complication.
Yes, you are right, I don`t have diabetes, also my Dr. didn`t find nothing else, just the PCO, so YAG laser would solve this problem (I hope so!).
I`ve learned that YAG laser have rare complications like IOL displacement/decentralization, but I`ve also  learned that my IOL (Alcon SN60WF) is very resistent to this displacement/decentralization.
Do you know if this information is correct ?
My Dr. said my IOL is perfectly centered, and my experience on the first 7 to 15 was that  my vision was wonderful, and despite PCO it is still very good (of course  now it is not so goof at night due to PCO).

[ledbrv]

cwatt1,

Thanks for your comment.
I don`t notice distortions, in fact, I just notice that something is not right at night, due to glares and halos. Sun reflections sometimes also shows glares.
These glares and halos are very uniform, so I image it is not due to folds, creases or shrinks, but due to an uniform opacification, but I could be wrong.
I will talk to my Dr. on my next surgery review about these possibilties.

About reimbursement, well, I am from Brazil, I don`t know how this works in America, but here we have something called "plano de saúde" or "health plan".
In my case, the company I work for pay for this health plan, and cataract surgery is covered by the plan, so I didn`t pay for it, I just paid for the IOL, and it was not expensive.