Glare and starburst after cataract surgery

[gyro1919]

I had cataract on May 14 on my right eye. My vision is now 20/20, before surgery it was very bad so i am very happy with that part of it.  My iol used was a toric lens and it also eliminated my astig.  My question is if anyone has had the same side effect after surgery. I have mild glare and starburst on lights at night, is this permanent?  I need the other eye done in the future but i am a little worried that it will happen in the other eye and possibly be much worse.

[me40822]

sir i had a cataract surgery two weeks ago. but my vision is not recovering ever since and i am continuing to experience lot of glare and starburst along with the astigmatism, my refraction results say that i have to wear cylindrical eye glasses of power around 3. the lens implanted in my eye was AR40e +22.5 D.
sir if you could explain me about my case and give me some suggestions about what to do i would be very thankful of yours.
you can also reply me on my mail  thank you

[moraglio]

I hope your starbursting problem has improved.  I had a Toric IOL successfully implanted in August 2014 and developed PCO shortly after surgery because I am fairly young.  I complained of halos around lights at night, but no starbursting.  My doctor diagnosed PCO and used a YAG laser to treat it and, immediately after that, I developed bad starbursting.  He wasn't sure why it was happening and suggested it might just be the shape of my eye and the artificial implant, but he increased the size of the hole in my posterior capsule wall with a brief second treatment from the YAG and that has helped reduce the extent of the starburst effect.  My guess is that it has something to do with my pupil's size and, perhaps, the size of the hole the YAG creates.  I hope that a high definition, polarized and anti-glare lens will help even more.  My surgeon also suggested trying something I never would have thought of.  Turn on a light in the cabin of the car while driving at night.  If you have a light near the rear view mirror, use that one.  I gave that a try and it seemed to help.  In effect, you increase the ambient light near your eyes and the starburting effect is reduced.  I hope this helps...

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

-

[gyro1919]

Thanks for answering my question.  Its always appreciated to hear from someone who has had the same procedure and side effects and how they got along with it.

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

-

[Craig10x]

I think it's fairly common...like you, i also had toric lens iols as well...and at night, street lights have a bit of a starburst type effect around them...they haven't gone away but you kind of get use to it after a while (i had my iols put in about 1 1/2 years ago)...doesn't really bother me...

it looks kind of interesting actually (lol)...I asked the eye doctor at my eye surgeons office and she told me it wasn't that unusual to have them...

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

Sure, chances are good you can be helped by your surgeon. if glasses are indicated do not think that wearing them will make your eye weak or dependent. It just means you have some uncorrected residual refractive error that the glasses fine tune when you need your best vision (like driving at night in the rain)
JCH MD

[yingjow]

I had a problem with halos and starbursts at nighttime last year. My eye doctor recommended cataract surgery. I had toric lenses placed in both eyes last March. Zero improvement. He prescribed glasses with Crizal lenses. Zero improvement. Saw a cataract specialist at Wills Eye hospital. Was told there is nothing that can be done. At this time, I still have the problem. I feel the surgery and the Crizal lenses were a complete waste.
Is there anything else that could be done??  

[gyro1919]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question,it was very helpful.

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

This is a common problem. It likely will not go away but you may get use to it so that it doesn't bother you. Wearing custom glasses at night may improve or eliminate the problem. Your surgeon needs to be sure your IOL has not rotated, moved or that the posterior capsule is not getting cloudy.

JCH MD

[Dianab1030]

Ive had surgery 1 yr ago and my right eye is good but my left eye has crazy starbursts more then my right and i watch tv and a little light comes in from my window it comes in the inside of my left eye and i see an arch or half of my len!!! Its very annoying, what can i do to fix this???

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

See an ophthalmologist Eye MD.  It could be 1. you need glasses,  2 you have glasses but the RX is wrong  3. you have developed a 'secondary membrane" and need yag laser capsulotomy, you have a macular problem, your have a cornea problem like irregular astignmatism.