smudge on rezoom lenses

[vikspiks]

For 30 yrs., I wore hard contact lenses.  Occasionally, make up or oil would cause a smudge on the lens and I would have to remove and clean the lens and reinsert it.  I had Rezoom lenses put in about 2 mo's ago and both of them are like I am wearing the smudged lenses.  It is there 100% of the time.  But the best way to explain it here is that I can look down, the forward again, and the smudge will "click" into place - right over the pupil.    If only I could take these out and throw them away I would be so happy.  Is there any explanation for this and anything that can be done?  I am told to wait - it's a process - but I sure wasn't told that before the surgery.  I think something is very, very wrong here and I sometimes think I am having a nervous breakdown.  Thanks for any response.

[Eye-Kant-C]

I feel so bad for you and I have been going through the same feelings with my Crystalens IOL's. I think I scared one of my surgeon's technicians when she asked, "so how are you today?" And I replied "terrible. If I could rip these things out of my eyes, I'd do it myself!" She looked a little horrified. I am dealing with the emotional trauma of this now, as it's been about 3 months since my first lens and 2 months since the second. At least the majority of the pain in my 1st eye is gone. I think my surgeon damaged the nerve under my eyebrow with the lens that holds your eye open during surgery.

I am probably not going to have them explanted, as I've heard so many horror stories, especially about Crystalens explants. Hopefully yours would be easier. I am going to deal with contacts, possibly bi-focal contacts, or just try to become slightly nearsighted so that I can get back some of the near vision I lost. Are bi-focal contacts an option for you? You should definitely consider the mono-focal IOL's if you do get yours explanted -- don't even bother with any other multifocals -- it's not worth the grief!!! Then maybe mono-vision or bifocal contacts or glasses.

Good luck ... I feel your pain!

[JodieJ]

I can only tell you about my own experience with aspheric monofocal lenses, in the event that you do decide to explant your ReZooms.  I'm a former high myope who developed a cataract in one eye as a result of retinal surgery.  I wore hard contacts for many years before switching to soft lenses.  (Surprisingly, I did not notice a decline in my quality of vision with soft contacts; I could still read the 20/15 line.)  The quality of my vision with aspheric IOLs is every bit as good as it was before I developed the cataract, and my standards are very high because I had a clear lens exchange in one eye.  I've never had a problem with glare, ghosting, sensitivity to lighting, etc.  The manufacturers claim that aspheric IOLs actually improve night vision (see patient info video at www.tecnisiol.com); however,  the improvement must be extremely subtle (or nonexistent) in my case.  I got Alcon's aspheric AcrySof IQ lenses instead of Tecnis, but only because my surgeon used Alcon lenses exclusively.  If you've never done full monovision, I think you'd be happy with a modified monovision correction.  You could probably function quite well in most situations without glasses.  Best wishes.    

[vikspiks]

Thanks to both of you for responding.  Yes, I had this surgery because of cataracts.  However, they were in no way impacting my vision and for all I know I could have waited 10 + yrs. to do anything about it.  I know now that I should have waited until I had no other choice.  I agree that it is difficult to beat the vision quality you get with hard contacts and I did not expect it with these Rezooms.  However, nothing could have prepared me for what I ended up with.  I have all the usual problems - the ghosting, sensitivity to bright light, yadda, yadda, yadda - but it is this "smudge" thing that is driving me to distraction.  I simply cannot go into my future with this hideous situation and wondered if there might be any explanation.  I had not heard of the Vaseline syndrome but I supposed it could be discribed that way.  It is something I can mention to the Dr.  Of course, it would be better if I had one shred of faith left.  As it stands, I don't believe one word they tell me.  So your mentioning another Dr.s opinion is of course what I must do.  If I can get these out, do I then go to a simple single vision lens and expect far better results?  Sometimes I think that I cannot stand this another single second and feel so hopeless.  Your response helps me feel less alone.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

Hello, I'm sorry to hear about your vision problems.  You're not crazy and you're not alone.  JodieJ had a lot of good things to say.  I have also heard bout the "vaseline vision."   The lens is not focusing all the image rays together - it divides up some rays for near, some for intermediate, and some for far.  This is in contrast to your old hard contact which focused 100% of the rays for one type of vision (I assume you wore them for distance.)

Something I've learned over the years - it's almost impossible to beat the vision quality you can get with a hard contact lens.  Perhaps only perfect, wavefront Lasik or Prk can do it as well.  The tear film layer between the hard contact and the cornea just works out all the subtle and not so suble cornea irregularities and astigmatism and can provide awesome vision quality.  That being said, if you had experienced that - you could easily be disappointed in the vision with a Rezoom.  Unfortunately, you must have developed a cataract and the vision with the contacts deteriorated.
Have a long talk with your surgeon.  There are definitely ways to make you happier.   I had one Rezoom patient use pilocarpine drops and distance vision improved dramatically  (but near worsened.)  Good luck.
Michael Kutryb, MD

[JodieJ]

I know from personal experience just how anxiety-provoking vision problems can be.  One of the big complaints about ReZoom mentioned in the professional literature is the waxy, "Vaseline" vision that can result.  I'm not sure whether this is what you are experiencing.  What does your surgeon say about your vision problems?  Have you considered scheduling a second opinion with another surgeon who has a lot of experience with multifocals?  It is possible that a minor adjustment could resolve your issues, but a very experienced doctor may be needed to identify what's causing the problem.

The worst case scenario is that your IOLs will need to be explanted and replaced.  There was a post here a couple of days ago about this.  One of the forum docs wrote that an experienced surgeon can do this safely, especially early in the healing process.  So be assured that you can look forward to better vision soon, and try to stop worrying.  I hope that others will provide additional reassurance to you.