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Crystalens Result

Hi,

I am 51.  I had a totally maxed-out PSC cataract in my right eye.  My left eye is 20/15 but needs a reader.  I had a Crystalens HD put in my right eye yesterday morning.  I removed the patch last night.  Since I have benefited tremendously from everyone's stories here on MedHelp, I thought that I would share mine.  Also, mine may turn out to be an extremely happy story.  I figure that happy patients are underrepresented on MedHelp.  Before the cataract, I had excellent vision in the right eye.  I've never worn glasses and, in the past, my eyes have almost totally rejected reading glasses.  (Too-weak readers still feel 100 times too strong.)

Let me just preface this by acknowledging that a lot can happen after Day 2.  This is just a report about how things seem now.  I will update it as I get farther along if it seems like anyone is interested.

So far, I am thrilled out of my mind.  I took the patch off last night at around 9:30 p.m. in front of a supermarket.  I had just bought bandage tape, allowing me to take my doctor up on his suggestion that I could redo my patch and didn't need it back on again until I went to sleep.  I was so curious to see my new vision, but I wasn't going to take off the patch until I knew I could repatch.  My first reaction was, "I AM SO SCREWED!"  The reasons were that a) I had a strong feeling similar to when one puts on glasses with a prescription 20 times too strong, and b) there were huge, bright, thin rings of colored light around every light source.  Because of a mispent youth in the early '70's, I could have pulled off driving at night with that much visual disturbance, but it would have been worse than criminal.  And the feeling of wearing a 20 times too strong prescription was downright depressing.  Why had I done this to myself?

I was home a few minutes later (I live across the street from the supermarket).  Inside, I noticed that from the Crystalens eye, everything looked clear, bright, and perfect.  I was told not to read, but my eyes fell on a few words of text smaller than newsprint size, and I thought I noticed that I could read the words.  I didn't want to test because I wasn't supposed to read.  I also noticed that everything looked a little yellow through the natural eye.  (I'll be using "Crystalens vs natural" throughout to distinguish the two eyes.  Remember that the natural eye can't read without a reader.)

(continued in next post)
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Avatar universal
The plan was to report on Day 2, Day 7, Day 30, and Day 180.  But since there was some excitement today, I'll pass it along.

Day 3

As mentioned above, I started to see a "hair" at the extreme right end of my field of vision if I looked to the extreme left.  That developed into the same with a flickering or fluttering (I called it "fluttering" above, but "flickering" is more accurate).  Then the "hair" moved so that it could be seen when I looked straight ahead, and the flickering continued to accompany it.

I reported these changes to my Dr.'s staff.  The fact that the "hair" moved closer to the center of my field of vision apparently reminded them too much of the "curtain from the side" of retinal detachment.  They asked me to come in to have it checked.

Although I would strongly prefer a "hair" and flickering to glasses for intermediate vision, the "hair" and flickering were really beginning to bug me.  The "hair" sometimes seemed to look two-pronged, and it took up more of my field of vision than when I had seen it earlier.

Naturally, the "hair" and the flickering promptly went away the moment I opened the door to the Dr.'s office.  They were replaced by one or two or three, at times, extremely small, thin, illuminated, rainbow-like, rod-shaped patches.  I was quite convinced that these patches were the edge of the Crystalens based on how they looked.  The Dr.'s waiting room was almost excessively filled with sunlight.  I had originally thought that the "hair" was the edge of the Crystalens, then I had thought that it was the incision, then I went back to thinking that it was the edge of the lens.  I finally believed that it was the edge of the lens because some light hit the "hair" just so, making it look like light on glass.

When the staff mentioned "retinal detachment" (after conferring with my Dr.'s partner), I went into a panic.  Cognitively, I could honestly assert that I didn't believe it was retinal detachment.  Emotionally, I went into a tailspin.  It's a 2-hour drive to the Dr.'s office, then it took another hour to actually get to see him.  The whole time I was melting down inside.  He and his staff performed an extensive, meticulous examination, looking at a whole bunch of things in addition to my retina.  Everything was picture perfect.  He told me that I was seeing the edge of the lens and that this goes away for most people.

The rainbow patches had stopped before I left the Dr.'s office, and the "hair" and the flickering still have not returned.

My measurements today were 20/15 distance, 20/20 intermediate, and 20/25 near.

I tell you, cataract surgery is rough!  :)
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233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
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Avatar universal
Thanks so much for sharing Mmmmmppppp.  I am glad someone posts back after their operation even if positive.  I have seen some people post and they stop after their surgery.  It's nice to see someone give back.  Please notifiy us of future developments.
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233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Thanks for sharing.
JKCH MD
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Avatar universal
First I called a friend who had had a Crystalens put in a year or two ago.  He told me to expect much crazier sights than my rings for a few days and that they would then pass.  Reassured, I relaxed and explored further.  They yellowness in the natural eye passed in 20 minutes.  I even thought that I noticed that the rings were getting a little better in the Crystalens eye.  I soon discovered something that is absolutely strong and definite that my doctor told me he had never heard of before.  Namely, if I cover one eye at a time, the natural eye sees everything more clearly.  But with both eyes open, everything looks DRAMATICALLY clearer with more, spectacular contrast and depth perception through the Crystalens eye.  That is true at every distance, though most noticeable with distance vision.  With both eyes open, if I am not paying attention to which eye I am using, everything just looks dramatically clear with spectacular depth perception and contrast.  My brain already seems to choose the Crystalens eye as its favorite, i.e., as the one to pay attention to.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning (Day 2) and thought I'd give a quick glance outside to see if the rings got any better.  They were completely gone.  I couldn't believe it.  I also thought I noticed that the 20-times-prescription feeling was getting a lot better.  I couldn't sleep anymore and started to marvel at how beautiful everything looked and how rich the contrasts are.  Yet with no sense of anything artificial.  It just turns out that beneath our very noses, the world is absolutely spectacular.

This morning, in my day-after surgery appointment, I came in at 20/15 distance, 20/25 intermediate, and 20/25 near.  The only surprise in that is that my intermediate vision is so phenomenal, I have a hard time believing it is not better than 20/20.  The way I make sense of it is my observation above: with the natural eye covered---as in the Dr.'s test this morning---the Crystalens seems far inferior to the way it seems when the natural eye is not covered.  I am convinced that with both eyes open, the Crystalens eye is performing at 20/15 intermediate.  It has to be!  I know everyone will say I'm crazy, but I swear that my Crystalens eye is worse than the natural eye by itself (with the natural eye closed) and far better than the natural eye with the natural eye open.

My Dr. feels that it's OK for me to start reading as of this morning.  After struggling for years to read before the cataract because my eyes rejected the glasses, I now have no problem whatsoever reading.  I can't read the back of the very tiniest plastic bottles, but I can read newsprint, letters, magazines, etc.  I don't know yet if I'll feel any strain reading for long periods.  I do still feel some of the 20-times-prescription feeling, but my Dr. says that that is exactly what normal adaptation feels like.  I can't help but think that, as in the case of my intermediate vision, I would bet that if they could measure my Crystalens eye with the natural eye open, I am really getting better than 20/20.  I won't quarrel with the 20/15 distance, though 20/10 wouldn't surprise me WITH the natural eye open.  (Don't confuse this with the fact that eyes help each other: my Crystalens eye is the WORSE one alone and much the best one together with the natural eye.  But eyes are only measured alone, hence my numbers.)  Right now, my vision is miraculous.

Five minutes after leaving my follow-up appointment, a new problem started.  I think it's a negative dysphotopsia, i.e., I started seeing something a little thicker than a hair at the extreme right side of my vision when I look all the way to the left.  I initially thought that it was the edge of the lens, but now I think that it is the incision.  That is based mostly on its shape.  I called the Dr.'s office (believing and claiming that it was the edge of the lens), and they told me that it's very common and usually goes away, but possibly could not.  With no other symptoms, they said not to worry.  Compared to my miraculous vision, if I had to live with that "hair" when I look all the way to the left, it's no contest.  However, later in the day, I started to see the "hair" sometimes when looking straight, and then I started seeing a fluttering near the "hair."  Another call to the doctor---and reading Dr. O talk about it on MedHelp---and again the word seems to be that with no other symptoms, this usually passes.  All evening, I thought that the hair and the fluttering had already stopped, but as I type this, I am staring at my keyboard and seeing the hair and a tiny fluttering near the hair.  I am sitting at my computer in near darkness, and I strongly suspect that the near darkness is a major contributor, especially to the fluttering.  But even still, I am profoundly thrilled and grateful at my results even if I were to have to live with the hair and the fluttering (which I don't think I'll have to).

Now I have to keep my fingers crossed, and I am hoping that seriously working on reading will insure that I won't need readers.  I have no idea how the Crystalens eye would/will like readers.  So far, it loves reading just about anything unassisted.  I have spent a few minutes making myself read tiny print on the back of a tube.  I'll keep working on that.  I caught myself twice scratching my eye, both times this evening.  Of course I was mortified.

So, in gory detail, with some unnecessary repetition I am sure, that is my Crystalens HD Day 2 story.

P.S.  I spent a long time and a lot of effort to find the best surgeon.  I think I succeeded.  He was downright giddy because my cataract was so severe, he couldn't see my retina at all and they got no measurements from the IOL Master (or whatever their measuring machine is called).  He had an immersion machine or ultrasound of some sort that gave him measurements, and he compared those with measurements of the healthy eye through both the IOL Master and the immersion/ultrasound.
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