IOL choice for cataracts caused by vitrectomy's

Unfortunately, my cataracts caused by two virtectomy's have gotten worse and I have decided to get cataract surgery.  Everyone who writes about this in this forum has had bad experiences...so I am very worried.

My left eye was 2.5 diopter but was a 7 after the vitrecomy but 20/20, then it went to 7.5 and I could make out some letters at 20/25 now I'm at 8.0 and maybe 20/25 or 2/30 but not very clearly.  This all happened from Nov - now (March).  The right eye already had a cataract and could not be corrected for some time. The vitrectomy in that eye just make it worse. The rightr eye was at 2.0 before the cataract happened.   I am 51.

1. What type of IOL should I be looking at having and avoiding.
2. Are there certain brands to avoid?
3. How soon after surgery can I go back to work - assuming all goes well?  
4. How many people have trouble with this surgery?  Seem like everyone.

[JodieJ]

I needed cataract surgery following a vitrectomy with ERM peeling.  My results were excellent.  In my case, cataract surgery turned out to be an unexpected gift.  I was thrilled to be able to drive without glasses/contacts.  Previously, I needed glasses/contacts to find my car.

I'd recommend that you have an experienced cataract surgeon.  Your retinal specialist could refer you.  My retinal specialist recommended acrylic monofocal IOLs, and I've been happy with them.

I had topical anesthesia (eye drops) without IV sedation, and I could have left the surgery center and gone right to work if I had wanted to.  (I did not want to.)  I ended up taking a couple of days off.

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

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[jd3450]

Thanks for sharing a postive experience!

My retina specialist works with my catatract / glacoma specialist.  But I will talk to others to get their input.  My cataract MD is not a fan of the accomidating lense due to the long term unknown of the hinge.  I also know retina specialist do not recommend multifocal lenses.  So my only other options would be a Toric but read horror stories yesterday - I have an astigmatism.  Again, I'll talk to others just to understand more but it helps when people who wear them describe their situation as they are the ones experiencing it.

I assume you need glasses to read?  
Curious, was your diopters similar to mine?  
Also, did you have both eyes done?
Lastly, how long has it been since the surgery?

[JodieJ]

I was about -7 with astigmatism in both eyes.  I only had a cataract in my eye that had had a vitrectomy, but I had both eyes done.  Back in September 2006, Alcon's toric IOL was not made in the power that I needed, so I had limbal relaxing incisions instead to reduce my astigmatism.  During the past 4+ years, some of the astigmatism that was eliminated by my LRIs has returned.  If your surgeon recommends a toric IOL for you, I'd go with it.

I'd suggest that you get professional input about the best settings for you IOLs.  Both of my IOLs are set for plano (best distance vision).  Although my acuity in my right (bad) eye is excellent (i.e., I can read the 20/20 line on the eye chart), my vision in this eye has mild distortion.  However, I'm rarely aware of the distortion because my left (good) eye over-rides it when I'm using both eyes together.  I need progressive glasses for intermediate/near vision.  By contrast, having mini-monovision would give you a wider range of focus, but it might not be your best choice if one eye has distorted vision.

Forums like this often attract people (like me) who have had problems.  My first vitrectomy was botched and had to be repeated.  But I've never experienced a problem resulting from my cataract surgery.  My vision in my left eye  (with no cataract) was at least as good post-cataract surgery as it had been before--probably a little better at night.