cataract surgery.

[mevoila]

I had cataract surgery on my left eye on November 3, 2014, and was told that my right eye had only a small cataract and did not require surgery yet. I was never told which of my eyes was dominant, nor what kind of IOL I would get until the day of the surgery. I was not happy about it, but was told that that was the best kind for me because I also had glaucoma, again in that eye only. Since I received an IOL fordistance, I am assuming that I was left eye dominant.I have 20/20 vision on my left eye now, but have practically no near or intermediate vision and my vision is blurry, and I cannot get glasses as my optometrist said that my eyes would not work together. I believe this is called aneisometrophia. Now my surgeon is recommending surgery on my right eye. He also will correct the astigmatism I have in that eye. My question is: is mini-monovision a good choice for me. The doctor had me try a Toric eye contact that gave me accxeptable vision and tried to convince me to get a Toric IOL, although he did say that there was no guaranty it would work. So, that is out. I would really appreciate your opinion on the kind of IOL that would work best in my case. The card I was given describes my IOL as Model: SN60WF, Power: 22.0D, Length:13.0mm: Optic: 6.0mm, UV with blue light. Thank you so very much. I would also like to add that I had a pair or reading glasses that I used before my surgery because I read a lot, and they work pretty well now, although a little blurry. That's is what I have been using since my first cataract surgery.

[mevoila]

Thank you for your comment. My surgeon plans on correcting the astigmatism in my right eye. I was never told about an ABBE lense.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

I'm not sure why you would dismiss a toric lens just because there is no guarantee it will work, if there is some chance that it would (unless its a cost issue, which would be understandable).

Rather than a toric lens,  doctors can also attempt to correct astigmatism during cataract surgery with a small incision which leads the eye to reshape a bit, called an LRI, limbal relaxing incision. That may or may not cost extra depending on the surgeon, I hadn't checked on it. You don't say how much astigmatism you have, its usually used only for fairly small amounts of astigmatism.  


One thing people should be aware of is that not all monofocal lenses are created equal, just as not all eyeglasses are created equal since for example  the materials used to make the lens differ in attributes such as "Abbe number" which impacts how much the image is distorted by what is called "chromatic aberration".  The Tecnis monofocals for instance are made with a material with a better Abbe number than the AcrySof monofocal you received. This recent cataract surgery publication explains the issue and lists the Abbe number of a few lens materials:


http://eyeworld.org/supplements/EW-December-supplement-2014.pdf
" Cataract surgery with an IOL with an Abbe number greater than that of the natural lens (47) can improve CA, so that our cataract patients could actually experience better vision quality than they did as young adults. "

I've seen other posts around the net suggesting that Tecnis lenses may overall be a better bet than Arysof. Here is an eye surgeon's blog discussing various monofocal lens choices:

http://eyesurgerysingapore.blogspot.com/2013/08/an-overview-of-cataract-surgery-lens.html

There is also a new Hoya lens which *might* be available in the US which is a monofocal but may provide slightly better intermediate&near vision, I posted links about  it on this other thread where someone was looking for an IOL:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/Lens-for-35-year-old-female--no-astigmatism/show/2420153

There are options for better intermediate&near other than multifocals, though   they also do cost extra. An accommodating lens,   the Crystalens, does cost extra, but it may be a better bet than just a monofocal to give you at least some chance at near or intermediate vision. I'm guessing you are in the US where the Symfony  lens isn't available, if you aren't  (or in the unlikely event you don't mind traveling for surgery) you can check my recent posts about the Symfony lens which isn't a multifocal lens but offers better vision at intermediate and near than a monofocal. I haven't seen any comments regarding whether it is acceptable for glaucoma patients, but I would suspect its an option.

[etrader]

Mini-monovision can work well for many people, it will give you some close up vision to go with your already good distance vision - as with anything you can't have all things and the right eye's distance vision will not be as good if you had it set at distance rather than close up.

Otherwise you should consider another distance monofocal lens and be happy to wear some reading glasses when you want to read.

Note also things tend to get better when you get two distance set eyes working together, reading will always be difficult but intermediate vision should be ok with a full distance setup - you should just need readers for close up work.

[smithanderson]

It is a procedure to remove the lens of your eye and, in most cases, replace it with an artificial lens. Cataract surgery is used to treat the clouding of the normally clear lens of your eye (cataract).In cataract surgery, the lens inside your eye that has become cloudy is removed and replaced with an artificial lens (called an intraocular lens, or IOL) to restore clear vision. The procedure typically is performed on an outpatient basis and does not require an overnight stay in a hospital or other care facility.