Is this sound normal?

I am 48, in good helath and had cataract surgery 5 days ago with a Restor lens. I had a moderate cataract in my right eye. My Doc recommended the Restor as a good choice since my left eye is 20/25 distance and 20/30 for reading. My Restor lens is still very blurry at all distances, and my eyes feel like they are not focusing together causing eye strain and a constant dull headache since my surgery. The surgery went well other than some post-op fluid the same day that the doc relieved by inserting a needle, draining the fluid and adding a small bubble, which has now dissapated. At my follow up appt. my doc said I was healing nicely and the lens looked good. He told me it would just take time to adapt.

My question is - Since I had a successful surgery and am healing well, why do I still have no improvement in my vision? And, how common is this at this stage of healing? The imbalanced feeling and dull headche from the eye strain of not being able to focus my eyes together is making my life miserable and impairing my ability to function.
This isn't what I expected. Does this sound normal?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

It is still a little early in the course of things to make strong statements yet.  It does sound like things are coming along a little slowly, though, that's about all I can say.  I will tell you that it takes some time to adapt to this type of lens and since you really can't try it on first, there are no guarantees that you will like it.  Stay the course for now, follow instructions, tell your doctor all your problems and concerns,  and hopefully you will find some improvements in vision and some more adaptation.  In the meantime you can use the search feature on this site and use keywork restor to see the experiences of others.

Michael Kutryb, MD