Aa
Crytalens concerns
I had cataract surgery 4 weeks ago and had a Crystalens implanted in my left eye. Even though Crytalens is not supposed to create halos or other light aberrations like Rezoom or Restor, I am seeing bad halos and starbursts at night. This makes it very difficult to drive. The halos and starbursts have subsided somewhat but they are still pretty bad. I am scheduled for surgery on my right eye this coming week but I am postponing it obviously. I was told by my doctor that the halos were due to the atropine I was given after the surgery which was dilating my pupil. I was given atropine drops for 5 days after the surgery but have been off atropine for 3 weeks now. My pupil has finally returned to what seems normal size but I am still having halos and starbursts and have difficulty seeing at distance particularly at night. The doctor told me that she made me .5D myopic intentionally so I could read better out of that eye and that hardly should make me see poorly at distance, seems to me. If I look through a 3mm pinhole on a piece of paper all problems go away, I can see clearly at distance and the halos and starbursts disappear. Don't know what to do with at this point other than wait or explant. Could someone please advise what is going on and if this is likely to improve with time. Thanks for your help.
Carlos
Carlos
It is great to hear such promising news! I bet you are relieved. I did not know about tension rings...learned something new. Definitely take it easy during recuperation. The 10-lb weight limit will be interesting; things can add up fast. Wish that I could offer useful info about recovery time, but I am still fairly cautious myself, only at 1.5 and 2 months post-op. I have a self-imposed rule that at least 6 months must pass before I do cartwheels (and/or carry a 20-lb bag of kitty litter). I would be really careful in your situation, since your eye is more fragile than usual. Oh, but maybe not - with the tension ring in place! That is pretty cool. I hope your vision will bounce back quickly. Best wishes!
OK, I'm 2 days out of the second surgery on my left eye. Doctor was able to install the tension ring without any problems. he took before,during,and after photos of my eye during the operation. It was interesting. My capsule was actually oval shaped, due to the zonule damage, from the trauma it sustained. The bottom of the capsule was also baggy, because the zonules couldn't hold the tension anymore. This is what caused my lens to vault on the bottom.....If you have just had your eyes implanted with the Crystalens and your vision comes in, in about 4 weeks time, and then gets blurry.....CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR! I was lucky I did....as I caught it while something still could be done......After the tension ring was implanted, my capsule is now nice and round.
My vision is still fuzzy, but seemed to get a little better today...of course I just went through surgery on Tuesday again. My pupil is still a pinpoint, due to drops I was given. I have my one week appointment on this Weds. I still do have a shine at the bottom of my lens, but it seems different now. It's almost as if my cheek and nose shine into my left eye causing me to see this. If I put my finger up there to block it, it seems better.....Anyone heard of this???
Also, does anyone know how long it will take me to recover from this second surgery? I'm limited to lifting anything over 10 pounds, plus a little scared to do to much...I don't want to do anything to put my lens in jeopardy.....
I've heard it can take up to a year, before the Crystalens actually performs at it's best...is this true??? Any response would be greatly appreciated....
My vision is still fuzzy, but seemed to get a little better today...of course I just went through surgery on Tuesday again. My pupil is still a pinpoint, due to drops I was given. I have my one week appointment on this Weds. I still do have a shine at the bottom of my lens, but it seems different now. It's almost as if my cheek and nose shine into my left eye causing me to see this. If I put my finger up there to block it, it seems better.....Anyone heard of this???
Also, does anyone know how long it will take me to recover from this second surgery? I'm limited to lifting anything over 10 pounds, plus a little scared to do to much...I don't want to do anything to put my lens in jeopardy.....
I've heard it can take up to a year, before the Crystalens actually performs at it's best...is this true??? Any response would be greatly appreciated....
Thanks happy2C!!!!
I think I"m starting to get a little nervous now....! BUT I have faith that the tension ring will be installed with no complications. I could live with the vision being a little blurry, but the thing is you can see the bottom of the lens, and it glares in your eye, like a flashlight. You see the halfmoon shape. It's mainly there when you look forward. If you look down it goes away for the most part. It takes a little getting used to.
If the tension ring can not be installed they can also do YAG laser treatment which will also help the lens go back into place. Not sure if I mentioned that in an earlier post.
The doc has me taking Econopred + every hour, vigamox, and xibrom 3 times a day. I hate the taste of this stuff......it likes to go down the back of my throat after I put the drops in my eye....
I will keep thinking good thoughts!
I think I"m starting to get a little nervous now....! BUT I have faith that the tension ring will be installed with no complications. I could live with the vision being a little blurry, but the thing is you can see the bottom of the lens, and it glares in your eye, like a flashlight. You see the halfmoon shape. It's mainly there when you look forward. If you look down it goes away for the most part. It takes a little getting used to.
If the tension ring can not be installed they can also do YAG laser treatment which will also help the lens go back into place. Not sure if I mentioned that in an earlier post.
The doc has me taking Econopred + every hour, vigamox, and xibrom 3 times a day. I hate the taste of this stuff......it likes to go down the back of my throat after I put the drops in my eye....
I will keep thinking good thoughts!
Yes, I have experienced vision fluctuation. For each eye it took about a month before I noticed more stability overall, especially at long distance. Intermediate vision has been consistently reliable; closer vision kicked in after about ten days, although I use +1.25 reading glasses to see clearly within 8-10 inches. I still detect slight variations in clarity for long distance, which seems related to time of day and eye surface issues, such as dryness (hooray for humidity). I do have a ghost effect in one eye similar to what you describe. I believe that mine is related to an irregular surface of the cornea, since I had the same doubling effect prior to surgery, only less pronounced. However, your reason could be different. You might want to contact your doctor for feedback on the return to blurriness with close vision. Maybe it is within the bounds of what is considered normal, but why not be safe? My best recent discovery is realizing that I no longer think about my eyes all the time. I tend to obsess, so that means improvement. Good luck!
Thanks for the reply.....unfortunately, I wish I had good news.....
I went down to see my doctor today....as the blurriness hadn't gotten any better, and it seemed liked a watery thing near the bottom of my eye. The doc is 3 hours away.....so today being friday, I wanted to have it checked. What has happened is that the top portion of the Crystalens has healed fine inside the lens capsule, however the bottom half of the lens capsule isn't tightly wrapped around the lens and allowed the bottom hinge spring forward, causing the blurriness. I was told that was because the filaments were slightly damaged due to the accident I was in...but when the surgeon went in the surgery...they were not damaged enough to cause any problems......well now I have lost close up vision....it's frustrating!!!
Now I'm scheduled to go back into surgery on this Tuesday..the surgeon is going to see if he can put a spring (forgot what he called it) to help shape the lens capsule better, which will hold the Crystalens in place. It's an all or nothing shot. It either works or it don't...and since the lens has already healed into my eye it can not be removed successfully, without permanent damage. So, now I keep my fingers crossed and hope he can fix it........I will keep you posted as to the outcome
I went down to see my doctor today....as the blurriness hadn't gotten any better, and it seemed liked a watery thing near the bottom of my eye. The doc is 3 hours away.....so today being friday, I wanted to have it checked. What has happened is that the top portion of the Crystalens has healed fine inside the lens capsule, however the bottom half of the lens capsule isn't tightly wrapped around the lens and allowed the bottom hinge spring forward, causing the blurriness. I was told that was because the filaments were slightly damaged due to the accident I was in...but when the surgeon went in the surgery...they were not damaged enough to cause any problems......well now I have lost close up vision....it's frustrating!!!
Now I'm scheduled to go back into surgery on this Tuesday..the surgeon is going to see if he can put a spring (forgot what he called it) to help shape the lens capsule better, which will hold the Crystalens in place. It's an all or nothing shot. It either works or it don't...and since the lens has already healed into my eye it can not be removed successfully, without permanent damage. So, now I keep my fingers crossed and hope he can fix it........I will keep you posted as to the outcome
Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that. I feel frustrated for you, too. Hopefully your surgeon's effort next Tuesday will be successful. I will think positive thoughts for you!
I had a Crystalens implant in my left eye 4 weeks ago this past Tuesday March 20th. I'm fairly young....32 and had to have the implant done, due to a car accident. It caused trauma in both eyes, which in turn, formed cataracts. I always had 20/15 vision before the accident. The left eye was the worst, and was opted to have done first. It went down to 20/80-100 vision at the time of surgery.
After the surgery, I experienced bad halos,strange vision like your eye was underwater, etc..... which have almost gone now....I could also read at arm's length and even a little closer(my laptop), just fine. Distance was fuzzy. Over the past 4 weeks, my vision changes almost daily and is slowly staying put. My distance vision is really good now....clear and in focus...that took about 2 weeks. Now in the last couple of days I lost the close up reading vision. It has become blurry at arm's length. My right eye takes over for the blurriness, so that I can still see....but I'm very concerned. I'm hoping that this is just another change as my eye heals and it will go back to seeing again. I also noticed that when I look out of the implanted eye, that is seems to have a little double vision right at the bottom that wasn't there before.
My doc has said it takes time...but he forgot to mention all the back and forth vision I would have and also how long it takes to heal.
Any advice on the blurry close up vision would be great! and any advice on how long before this eye should function properly would be really helpful.....I'm an artist and this is really hard for me to function daily right now....
After the surgery, I experienced bad halos,strange vision like your eye was underwater, etc..... which have almost gone now....I could also read at arm's length and even a little closer(my laptop), just fine. Distance was fuzzy. Over the past 4 weeks, my vision changes almost daily and is slowly staying put. My distance vision is really good now....clear and in focus...that took about 2 weeks. Now in the last couple of days I lost the close up reading vision. It has become blurry at arm's length. My right eye takes over for the blurriness, so that I can still see....but I'm very concerned. I'm hoping that this is just another change as my eye heals and it will go back to seeing again. I also noticed that when I look out of the implanted eye, that is seems to have a little double vision right at the bottom that wasn't there before.
My doc has said it takes time...but he forgot to mention all the back and forth vision I would have and also how long it takes to heal.
Any advice on the blurry close up vision would be great! and any advice on how long before this eye should function properly would be really helpful.....I'm an artist and this is really hard for me to function daily right now....
Carlos, by what I
Just an update: I went to the eye doc today for a one week post-op check up. The upshoot of it was, that my refractive error in that eye is +0.25D and no matter what correction he applied for the astigmatism, I still had starbursts. He said: "The only thing we replaced is the cataract and we put in a brand new lens, all the rest of it is 70 years old - get a new eye."
Anticipated postoperative astigmatism can be addresssed with limbal relaxing incisions or lasik. Some surgeons will elect to implant a toric IOL to correct anticipated postoperative astigmatism. At present only two IOL manufactures have a toric IOL on the market in the U.S. crystalens, ReSTOR, and ReZoom are not designed, at present to address anticipated pot-op astigmatism.
And you have no astigmatism? I have starbursts too, however, with a monofocal lens and 2 -0.5D refractive error (I am guessing) but with the addition of -1.0D astigmatism. Which, if you have it, can obviously not be corrected by the Crystalens.
To the Forum O.D.
Just an FYI, of the possible remedies suggested,second opinion, glasses, explantation(?), explantation should not be listed with the first two. A second opinion or glasses present no risk to the patient, explantation, on the other hand, does. It involves entering the eye again, removing the IOL while working with an altered capsule, introducing a new IOL, again working with an altered capsule. If all goes well, the patient has a new IOL placed in the capsule. However, the glare and halos may still be present. Especially if they are the result of corneal aberrations and not lens related. If things go badly, the capsule could tear creating the need for a vitrectomy and the need to place an implant in the ciliary sulcus rather than the capsule.
To the patient,
The best option, express your concerns to your surgeon. A little communication goes a long way. The chances are very good that if your second eye surgey results in a near plano (no measurable Rx)result, your binocular vision will be great, with no observable visual problems. I'm sure that your surgeon would be very open to a second opinion if the surgeon is aware of your concerns. It is most likely that your symptoms are the result of two factors:
1. The very slight myopic outcome in your first eye (I believe you said it was -0.50) and,
2. Degraded vision in the other eye due the catarct formation
These two conditions make it difficult for you to take advantage of binocular summation. With clear media in both eyes, your vision should improve.
Just an FYI, of the possible remedies suggested,second opinion, glasses, explantation(?), explantation should not be listed with the first two. A second opinion or glasses present no risk to the patient, explantation, on the other hand, does. It involves entering the eye again, removing the IOL while working with an altered capsule, introducing a new IOL, again working with an altered capsule. If all goes well, the patient has a new IOL placed in the capsule. However, the glare and halos may still be present. Especially if they are the result of corneal aberrations and not lens related. If things go badly, the capsule could tear creating the need for a vitrectomy and the need to place an implant in the ciliary sulcus rather than the capsule.
To the patient,
The best option, express your concerns to your surgeon. A little communication goes a long way. The chances are very good that if your second eye surgey results in a near plano (no measurable Rx)result, your binocular vision will be great, with no observable visual problems. I'm sure that your surgeon would be very open to a second opinion if the surgeon is aware of your concerns. It is most likely that your symptoms are the result of two factors:
1. The very slight myopic outcome in your first eye (I believe you said it was -0.50) and,
2. Degraded vision in the other eye due the catarct formation
These two conditions make it difficult for you to take advantage of binocular summation. With clear media in both eyes, your vision should improve.
Many many thanks, your great answers are much appreciated.
"Are the side effects likely to diminish with time if I just wait?"
yes, likely to diminish over time. 4 weeks isnt very long in the eye-recovery world.
"Would drops that reduce the pupil size help?"
pilocarpine. yes, in theory they'd help the vision, but put you at higher risk for retinal detachment. in fact there is a poster here who just experienced that exact scenario...cant remember his username. he had a multifocal implant, complained of blur/halos, was told it was his pupil size, was Rx's pilo, and had a retinal detachment. i'm sure he wishes he hadnt started the pilo...
"Do they last for any length of time?"
8-10 hrs i think
"Would night driving glasses help?"
maybe, if the problem was the -0.50. if the problem is the diffraction pattern, then no, night glasses wont help.
"How do they work?"
hmmm. too complicated to get into here. you would have to know/understand some significant optics to understand the explanation...
yes, likely to diminish over time. 4 weeks isnt very long in the eye-recovery world.
"Would drops that reduce the pupil size help?"
pilocarpine. yes, in theory they'd help the vision, but put you at higher risk for retinal detachment. in fact there is a poster here who just experienced that exact scenario...cant remember his username. he had a multifocal implant, complained of blur/halos, was told it was his pupil size, was Rx's pilo, and had a retinal detachment. i'm sure he wishes he hadnt started the pilo...
"Do they last for any length of time?"
8-10 hrs i think
"Would night driving glasses help?"
maybe, if the problem was the -0.50. if the problem is the diffraction pattern, then no, night glasses wont help.
"How do they work?"
hmmm. too complicated to get into here. you would have to know/understand some significant optics to understand the explanation...
Thanks for your quick reply... It is appreciated.
Are the side effects likely to diminish with time if I just wait?
Would drops that reduce the pupil size help? Do they last for any length of time?
Would night driving glasses help? How do they work?
Sorry for all the questions, this issue is of high importance to me obviously.
Many thanks...
Are the side effects likely to diminish with time if I just wait?
Would drops that reduce the pupil size help? Do they last for any length of time?
Would night driving glasses help? How do they work?
Sorry for all the questions, this issue is of high importance to me obviously.
Many thanks...
all implants have the potential to cause halos, including crystalens, regardless of what you've heard elsewhere.
the -0.50 might be contributing to the night vision problems.
seeing well thru a pinhole doesnt mean much. it just means that eye has the 'potential' to see well. it doesnt mean that your problems are necessarily fixable. not really diagnostic of anything in any way IMO. just more of a 'curiosity'.
i dont know what you're going to do, either. explant is still an option, as are glasses...or a second opinion. good luck...
the -0.50 might be contributing to the night vision problems.
seeing well thru a pinhole doesnt mean much. it just means that eye has the 'potential' to see well. it doesnt mean that your problems are necessarily fixable. not really diagnostic of anything in any way IMO. just more of a 'curiosity'.
i dont know what you're going to do, either. explant is still an option, as are glasses...or a second opinion. good luck...
You are reading content posted in the Eye Care Archive Forum
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
Eye whitening, iris color change, and eyeball "bling." Eye expert Dr. John Hagan warns of the dangers from these unnecessary surgeries.
Eye expert John Hagan, MD, FACS, FAAO discusses factors to consider and discuss with your eye care team before embarking on cataract surgery.
Is treating glaucoma with marijuana all hype, or can hemp actually help?
Protect against the leading cause of blindness in older adults
Got dry eyes? Eye drops aren't the only option! Ophthalmologist John C. Hagan III, MD explains other possible treatments.
