Cataract Surgery

[Lucy68]

I had cataract surgery on left eye on 5/27/08. Good result. I could see distance clearly from both eyes. Didn't even need to use reading glasses. My right eye had a cataract as well but Dr. said I could wait since I had good vision. I decided to go ahead with right eye on 8/19/08 because vision was still "yellowish" if I closed left eye.  Big mistake. Since I had surgery on right eye, my near vision is worse than before either surgery & far vision isn't all that great either.  There is a lot of blurriness in right eye.  Dr. said it's because I have an astigmatism.  Why didn't he see that before the surgery & tell me there was a possibility of not getting a good result?  Now I'm trying a contact in right eye to try the mono vision but it's not working out too well.  Is there anything else I can do?  I'm really bummed that I had this second eye done.  My vision is worse than it was before I did anything at all.  My optomotrist says I should wear glasses now for reading & distance as well.  I didn't even need to do that before. ???????

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Whatever you feel comfortable with and that your insurance will help you with.

JCH MD

[Lucy68]

Thank you for your comment.  I have Kaiser Insurance.  Do you suggest I see another opthamologist at the same facility?  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes ANY operation can have side effects and the worse side effect of cataract surgery loss of the eye which may occur in one in 7K-10,000 cases.  The eyes are often not mirror images of one another and its very very common for one eye to see better than the other.

I suggest you get a second opinion from another eye surgeon. Find one near you at www.aao.org   You may need to make your peace with wearing progressive (no line) bifocals. It's also important to exclude other disease like macular edema, macular degeneration or clouding of the posterior lens capsule.

JCH MD