Had my right eye cataract surgery 9/17/09

[lotsoquestions4me]

Hi Everyone!

I had my right eye cataract surgery done, used Acrysoft IQ toric set at distance.  WOW what a difference!  I've always been farsighted with astigmatism, and now that eye is closer to normal than it probably has ever been.  I've really enjoyed seeing all the details that I've been missing since the cataract started. Now I have a few more questions for those of you who have been through this.

1.  My left eye will be done in about two weeks.  What have those of you done with one eye fixed and one eye not?  When I wear my old glasses, my left eye is fine but my right is really blurry, and vice versa without the glasses.  Any suggestions?  (My left eye is +3.5 and 1.25 cylinder, if I remember correctly)

2.  How long does it take the vision to stabilize in the cataract surgery eye?  Saturday morning my vision seemed better than it did on saturday night.  I assume that fluctuations are normal?  

Thanks so much!  You all have been a tremendous source of information and experience, and I really appreciate your  advice!

Liz

[disappointed66]

I would not rush into getting the 2nd eye done.

[khoblit]

4 days ago I had a Crystalens implanted in my left eye (dominant), I am still dilated and see some without glasses with it at computer distance. However the distance vision is too blurry to drive without use of my other eye that still has a cataract.  I am scheduled to implant the Crystalens in the other eye on Monday. I am worried about doing that since the first eye is still blurry. Is this typical to have blurry distance vision 4 days after the surgery? My dr. said I was doing fine on the 1 day follow up even with the blurry distance vision. I am sceptical now. Any information will be helpful.

[lotsoquestions4me]

Thanks so much for all of your helpful comments.  I'm now experimenting with just going around without glasses (haven't done that since I was a baby!) and leaving my left eye uncorrected.  I think it's easier for my brain to ignore the out of focus image, and pay attention to the newly corrected one.  I also got some reader glasses from Walgreens to help me out until my other eye is done.  Thanks to Londonbridge, Dr. Feldman, Jodie J, Sally, and all the other participants on this forum.  You all are awesome!

Liz

[londonbridge]

I did my left non dominant eye at mid distance and my right will be done eventually for plano. I have been wearing a contact in my right eye to correct my -8.0 astigmatism. As you can imagine without the contacts a -8 diopter difference is rather intolerable. So I had a pair of glasses made to block one eye out with something called a mirage anti reflective coating. It looks fairly normal to someone looking at you but it blurs out the one eye and I can rely on the other eye. Havn't been able to drive so my good vision is limited to the hours of wearing my contact, about 12 per day.
I wear progressive reading glasses over the contact to correct for astigmatism and for reading.
Hope this helps.
londonbridge

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear lotsoquestions4me,

As you now have an imbalance between the two eyes, glasses may not work well.  A contact lens may be possible; however, since it is temporary, may not be worth the effort.  Fluctuating vision can be normal following cataract surgery and should stabilize over the course of one month.  Be careful of worsening vision, pain or increased redness. These could indicate an infection that requires immediate treatment.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[lotsoquestions4me]

My surgeon did warn me, but I have frameless glasses.  Apparently it's trickier to replace the lens with a clear one.  I do have a contact lens that my dr gave me to play around with when I was considering monovision.  I'll try that.

Interestingly, I've just gone around with no glasses, just to see what it's like.  I live in colorado, where it can be quite windy, and never noticed how annoying it is to have hair blow in my face!   But the sunset tonight was beautiful--very worth it!

[sally987]

I think all the drops may make your vision seem unstable.  Mine seemed to fluctuate some that first week after surgery

[sally987]

Liz, I used a disposable contact lens, as Jodie mentioned.   A few weeks before my first cataract surgery, I asked my eye doc about modified mono-vision and having one eye set at plano and the other at -1.25.  He said there was no way he would do that unless I tried it out with contacts first.  So I did.  And I did not like it at all (but I didn't have very long to test it..and I did have the cataracts obstructing my vision, so this may not be a fair assessment).  Anyway, I ended up w/ a contact to wear between the surgeries, and that was helpful for the interum period.  When I wasn't wearing the contact, I would walk around the house w/ a bandana covering the natural eye (looked like a pirate).  I would wear reading glasses over the bandana.  

My doctor did end up setting my iols at slightly different powers (I don't know if that term would be correct), but not as extreme as plano and -1.25 (not that that is extreme~).  How close in can you see things clearly?  For me, the dinner plate is blurry, but I can see people across the table clearly.  My second eye surgery was 3 1/2 weeks ago. Best of luck with your recovery, it sounds like you are doing great!

I have the Acrysof IQ toric, too.

[JodieJ]

Your best between surgeries would be a disposable contact lens for your left eye.  Otherwise, it's going to be a little challenging--you can either use one eye or the other.  You can try removing the right lens from your glasses.  (Didn't your surgeon warn you about this?)

There are individual differences in how long it takes your vision to stabilize.  I had limbal relaxing incision and had good vision in a couple of days (and pretty good vision the day after surgery.)