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What kind of vision will I have after the cataract surgery?

I am 69 years old. I have cataract surgery coming up in less than two weeks. I have chosen to have mini monovision. I am left eye dominant which also has astigmatism, so Dr. Says he would use Toric IOL in that eye with 20/25 vision aim for -0.25D. he will set this eye for distance and will do after he does right eye
Cataract surgery will be done on Right eye  in two weeks with Alcons aspheric IOL SN60WF. He will do this eye with 20/40 vision aiming for -1.25D for near and intermediate vision.
I will wear glasses for small prints, but otherwise I do not like to wear glasses or contacts and I do not want premium IOLS
I would appreciate if the doctors and members of medhelp community will take some time out of their busy holiday schedule to respond to my following questions as soon as possible.
1. What kind of vision should I expect after the cataract surgery?
2. How many weeks apart both eyes are done? What do u do between the two surgeries and do you feel unbalanced?
3. Will my post op. vision give me independence from the glasses to do make up, house chores, cook, cut veges, see car dashboard, see clock when I get up in the morning, grocery shopping?
Any other suggestions are very welcome
I really thank you all the answers and suggestions
Confused Kate
23 Responses
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177275 tn?1511755244
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hello everyone,
Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving

As you know I had successful cataract surgery on my RE almost a year ago

Dr put in Alcon's Acrysoft IOL. Since I wanted mini monovision to lessen the dependancy on glasses/ contact lenses, he did  RE for near / intermediate aimed for -1.25 D. I had good reading and intermediate vision. Now this IOL has developed cloudiness and DR will fix it with Laser after I get my LE done

I am having cataract surgery on my LE on Dec 15. Due to astigmatism he will insert Alcon's Toril IOL. He will do LE for distance aiming for -0.25 D

I have following questions for everyone on this forum. Please help me out

--will I be less dependent on glasses/ contact lenses?

--what kind of overall vision will I have?

--how long will it take for my eyes to adjust mini monovision?

-- how about depth perception?

This forum has helped me a lot and I thank everyone for their time and effort to educate people like me

Thank u all in advance, hope to hear from you soon as my surgery is only four days away

Confused Kate
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hello guys I’m glad to see everyone here getting better with their eye problem after few eye surgery I already seen more testimony at PlacidWay of LASIK Surgery in Mexico they are both like your story Kate. I think PlacidWay was a group of hospitals that been put together for sharing purposes.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Sara, thank you
I think I will get used to the fluttering after a while.

IOL for my RE is Alcons SN60WF. Before the surgery I had told him that I do not want to depend on glasses all the time. He did this eye so I can see intermediate and also read without glasses. He aimed for -1.25D and achieved that.

My right eye is not good for distance.

I can see people across the fine. Faces are not blurred. Vision is good.

Watching TV is slightly blurred. I use both eyes for all distances and do not do A/B. I am not bothered by it because after the second eye is done for distance, I think TV should be clearer.

I hope thiese answers satisfy u. If u have any more questions, please do not hesitate. I will try to answer to the best of my ability

Confused Kate

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Avatar universal
Glad to hear you are doing well! I hope the flickering goes away soon. Seems to be one of those things you might need to "neuro-adapt" to? Eventually you may not notice it anymore.
     So if you are not doing the LE now... What type of vision are you having in that eye? Is it good for distance at all? How is the distance vision in your operated eye? If you are sitting across the table from someone, is their face blurred? How about across the room? Just curious if any changes have occurred since having the surgery for a little bit of time now.
    Anyway, glad to hear you are doing well!

Sara
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Avatar universal
Hi Craig and everybody

Just to keep u updated

Today I went to see my doctor for post op checkup on my RE and to discuss upcoming LE cataract surgery.

He said my RE is doing wonderful and he congratulated me about hitting target of -1.25. I mentioned to him about feeling unbalanced and fluttering when I am shopping in the stores with florescent lights. he says it will get better with time. He gave me prescription for glasses for my right eye.

He told me that cataract in my LE is small. So at this point he sees no need to take it out. Now remember he was gonna operate on this eye after two days. I was scheduled for the surgery and this was the reason for today's visit to discuss about the IOL he was going to put in my LE.

I asked him what would he do if It was his relative in my position. He says he would tell them "do not fix it, if it ain't broken. I do not have any problem with this decision. i do not understand why he told me this at the last moment. He
has been checking my both eyes every time I see him.

I will see him in three months about my LE

Regards, Confused Kate
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Avatar universal
I went to the mall first time after my cataract surgery on my RE.

While walking through the mall, I felt funny as if I was leaning towards my left side and unbalanced.

Also while inside the stores, when I am looking at the items, I feel some kind of fluttering on  the outer corner of my RE. This does not happen when I am walking In the mall

None of these symptoms appear at home.

Has anyone experience these symptoms? Are these temporary and will go Away after I get my LE done?

Please answer my question. I would appreciate it. Thank u very much In Advance

Confused Kate
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi everybody
I thank everyone for their input. Now I hope one of the doctors can give me their opinion .

I am leaning towards #3 also. I am having my left eye done in second week of Jan and I am seeing surgeon before that to discuss what kind of vision I want In that eye.

I can do makeup fine using both the eyes but for tweezing eyebrows, I am used to magnifying mirror. While seeing with my newly operated eye, If I hold my hand very close to my face then vision is blurry and so is the distant
vision. I expected this kind of vision with one eye done. my surgeon says vision in my right will improve.

I am exactly not sure what kind of vision will I have after the second eye is
done. I will keep you all posted.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Congratulations Ms Kate.
Personally, I'd go with option #3 since I do most of my reading on my Kindle Paperwhite.  (Love the adjustable font sizes!)
My OD sees cataract surgery in my near future, so your updates are greatly appreciated.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Kate- glad to hear your surgery went well! I have a couple of questions for you.... How is your "close" "upclose" vision? (For example, if you hold your hand up to your face is it blurred or can you see it good?) and how is your distance vision in your newly operated eye? Is it very blurry beyond the focal point? I'm curious to know how the vision is up close being myopic.. It's very important for me to be able to get close to a mirror and apply makeup or tweeze eyebrows etc.. Thanks!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Kate!  Very glad to hear he hit the target on your non dominant eye and that you are doing well after the surgery...I'd go for #3 which would make you the most "glasses free" in most situations...

Then you could have 2 pairs made up for occasional use (1 for extensive reading and the other if there are certain situations where you want to optimize the distance vision)...
Toric is good choice to correct astigmatism....

I would think the first two choices would have you using glasses much more frequently...

Since i tend to read much more from the computer (which is no problem with my mini monovision and can do light reading (holding things at about 12" just as you do) i rarely put on my readers...If i was going to sit down to read a whole newspaper or a book...well, then i'd pop the on...

Sometimes i am tempted to put on my "distance" pair (for ulitimate sharpness) when i go to the movies or watch TV but lots of times i don't bother....still, they are there in case i want them (lol)...

I hope others (and one of the doctors) will give you their input too...
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi everybody
Five days ago I had cataract surgery done on my right non dominant eye. I have Alcon Acrysoft IQ SN60WF, Power 19.5 D. Length is 13.0 mm and Optic is 6.0 mm.
I had post op check  up with the surgeon. He did hit the target of -1.25, so he was very pleased.Surgery went okay. I do not have any discomfort from the surgery. I already see the difference in my eyesight and I am pleased with it.
I can read clearly at 12inches with my left eye closed.
Now for my left dominant eye, he has following three options for me and I have to pick one of them. He says he will do whatever I want. Due to astigmatismtism in my left eye, he will implant Toric IOL.
1. Do my left eye aiming for -1.25D and use glasses for distance
2. Do LE aiming for -1.75 for crisp clear near vision and wear glasses for distance
3. Do LE for distance aiming for -0.25 and I will need readers for small print

Anybody from the community including the doctors have any suggestions or input for me to make right decision, I really will appreciate it.
Thank you all In advance
Have Happy and safe Holidays
Confused kate
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you Craig for the encouragement and putting my mind at ease. Cataract surgery on my right non dominant eye is next week. I will keep in touch with you all  after the surgery.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it
Confused Kate
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You are very welcome, Kate...glad to be of help...I have the Acrysof aspheric iols also although both of mine are torics because i had fairly high astigmatism in both eyes...

Best of luck on your coming surgery...it's not really bad at all..in fact, after having the first one one i could not wait to have the second eye done...

And keep in mind, lasik touch up is usually an option if things have to be fine-tuned a bit...Let us know how things turn out...and remember, it will take a while to recover and adjust...
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Avatar universal
Thanks a lot Craig,
I should have clarified about eye exercise. What I meant was exercise for eye muscles after cataract surgery.
As I have mentioned before he wants to do my left dominant eye ( 20/25) with Toric IOL for distance, with -0.25D.
He will do my non dominant right eye ( 20/40 ) with Alcons aspheric IOL for near and intermediate with -1.25D.
I hope I will be satisfied with the outcome
Thanks, Craig, your input helps a lot

thanks, Kate
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You're welcome, Kate...glad to be of help...My eyes were done only 4 days apart, so it was pretty quick...he did the dominant eye first followed by the non dominant one...Originally, he did full monovision (about -2.25 diopters) but  i wasn't too happy with it...seemed to compromise vision too much and hard to adjust to...

About a year later i had a lasik touchup in the non dominant eye which brought me up to -1.0 diopters....much easier to adjust to and better distance vision.

Doing house chores is no problem at all...and depth perception seems fine to me with the mini-monovision...I don't do much driving but it seemed fine when i do...of course one can wear glasses that correct for maximum sharpness if needed in certain situations...

Movies is fine because of the large screen...TV Viewing and things i look at when i am out and about, sometimes i do get a little envious if i just look through my dominant eye and see that distance or tv would be like if i had the full 20/20 correction on the other eye...you do lose a tad of crispness with this...

Problem is that even if everything works out fine as it did for me, you always compromise a bit in one way or another...

Sometimes i am tempted to have one more lasik touchup and have the non dominant corrected to full 20/20 but then of course, i'd lose most of my useful close range and be more dependent on readers...so i guess you have to decide which is more important...I am more glasses-free this way of course!

There really isn't any exercises you can do as far as i know to improve vision, though taking any kind of omega oil supplements help with the dry eyes you are likely to get after surgery (iols or lasik) and that helps restore tear flow and gives better vision anyway...

Also, even mini monovision will take some time to get use to and you will be recovering from the surgery of course...takes time for the eyes to stabilize..then it is a matter of how well your brain does to adjust to the two different images coming into it...

If for any reason, you ultimately decide you would prefer to be 20/20 in both and willing to use readers more, then there is always the option available to do a lasik touch up (you would not want to to an implant replacement...once it is in and working well, better not to take it out again and doing lasik is far less intrusive)...

Hope that helps...
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Craig, thank u for jumping in on this thread. I am very happy for u that mini monovision worked for u and u are happy  with it. I wish my outcome will be like yours.Now I am really worried about him doing my non dominant right eye first. I will see if I can talk to him on Monday. He gets sensitive if I question about his decision. I do not know how much time he allows between the two eyes.
After your first eye was done, did u do any kind of exercise for the eye muscles to improve your vision in that eye?When was next eye done?
Did u have problem in between two surgeries, eg. Balancing, depth perception, driving, doing regular house chores etc?
Thank you, Craig for your valuable time and input
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I would think he would want to do the dominant eye first, because if the target of 20/20 isn't hit then they may not want to do any form of monovision...it's important to get the dominant right on target for it to work the best...

I have mini-monovision (i am plano or 20/20 in dominant eye and about 20/40 in my non dominant eye with about -1.0 diopters) i have no problem doing shopping...if i want to read the label on the can i do have to hold it a bit further back but can read it without readers...i don't carry readers around with me at all..mostly use them for extended reading....light reading i can manage without them...

Computer is no problem...combined distanced vision is about 20/30...not always razor sharp but quite good...I also have a pair of glasses to correct the -1.0 diopters in my non dominant eye for ultra sharp vision but rarely use them...
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Dr. Oyakawa
Thank you very much
I respect your opinion. I have read on this forum about many unhappy patients who had any kind of premium IOL. I am not for it because of the price and all the side effects it causes. Regarding shopping u did mention that it will be difficult going up and down the isle to see the prices. How close do I have to get to check the prices? I do go shopping three to four times in a week.
Is it normal that my Dr. Wants to do my non dominant for intermediate/ near first and then do dominant eye for distant later on. I read on this form that Dr. Always does dominant eye for distant first. Is there a particular reason why my Dr. Wants to do this way.
I worry about what kind of vision will I have after both eyes are done. This kind of worry sometimes keep me up at night
If any one out there has any input for me, I would appreciate it very much

Again thank you very much,
Confused Kate

Helpful - 0
711220 tn?1251891127
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Shopping is not a problem with mini-monovision. Almost all of my patients with the AT50AO or Truling do not wear glasses for distance or computers.  About 50% for extended reading with inexpensive readers.

Regarding Femto Assisted Cataract Surgery--see someone who has done a fair number.  I use the Catalys for the Crystalens and Trulign.  Our center also has the Lensx and most surgeon use the Catalys.

Dr. O.
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Avatar universal
Dr. Oyakawa
Thank you very much for your prompt response. With mini monovision, if shopping is a problem, what would u suggest besides premium IOL. can Contact lens help?
I do wearing multifocal contact lenses when I go to weddings and parties.
I wear multifocal glasses when I drive and go shopping. I do not need glasses for computer and reading until now. I do not like glasses.
Can my surgeon do anything to improve shopping experience?
Again thank you very much
Confused kate
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Avatar universal
Dr O,
If the out-of-pocket costs were not a factor, would you recommend Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery for the Trulign or Crystalens IOLs?
Helpful - 0
711220 tn?1251891127
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Monovision is very hard to predict.  I usually do it in patients who had monovision.  Use contact lens to balance the two eyes between surgeries. 3) Can not predict for most.  However, for shopping it will be a problem.  You will have to get up close to see prices and this is very difficult going down the aisles (personal experience)

My preference for patient wanting to decrease dependence on glasses is Crystalens or the Toric version of Crystalens-Trulign.

Dr. O.
Helpful - 0
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