Crystalens problems

[Vivadm]

I've read about a lot of people having problems with crystalens. I was implanted with it about two months ago. Initially the lens became "stuck" in the wrong position in my right eye which meant I had awesome vision at about 10" but everything closer and further was out of focus. The surgeon fixed the problem by rotating the lens. Now the new problem is that my distance vision seems blurred or "smeared" and I have lots of blurriness surrounding bright lights at night. (This makes it very dangerous to drive at night). What's really interesting is that this "bluriness" seems to functuate - one moment its hardly noticeable then a few hours later I can hardly see detail in my distant vision. It seems to be worse at night often. The surgeon says its dry eye, and although I do have dry eyes I'm confused as to 2 things: 1. Why would my dry eye get worse after the lens was implanted (I also had an LRI done for astigmatism - could that contribute)? 2. Why is this fluctuating so much? Drops don't seem to help at all. My doc has told me to use eye scrubs and hot compresses and go back in 6 weeks.  I'm 40 yrs old and had the implant because I couldn't get LASIK.

Would like to hear if anyone else had similar problems, or if they have any advice. Thanks.

[Karen111555]

Can a crystalens implant become misaligned six months after surgery? Or could a person develop astigmatism from the lens after it heals?

[darad]

By my experience, one problem of Crystalens is the surgeon does not have a clue for how the visual acuity will change as the lens pads scar in place.  Hence, either the surgeon screwed up twice, or he intended to give margin against getting too close to 20/20.  So 1st eye came out a weak 20/40, and 2nd eye two months later a good 20/40.  But five and three months later, resp., the 1st eye changed to 20/25 (great!), and the 2nd eye shifted to 20/80 with another 0.5D astigmatism and night lights starbursting sideways.   Must be caused by a little z-syndrome.  Prescription lens does not correct the starbursting, so the problem must be the final Crystalens positioning, as its highly doubtful the cornea changed shape that late in the game.

Of course, the doc says no worry, we can do a quick Lazik "touch-up" (of course, that would not fix the scattering).  We do 150 a month, and 1/3 of Crystalens patients require this simly touchup!  Hmmm, he did not mention when selecting Crystalens.  No way, I say.  Ever seen http://lasikcomplications.com/?   No answer.

In any event, good luck on how your Crystalens heals in place.  You could be lucky, and then you might not!  My recommendation to anyone considing $2K/eye upgrade is to go with standard lens.  Its much more likely you will achieve 20/20 or 20/25 in both eyes, without visual acuity changing after the haptics scar in place.

[Vivadm]

(Oops - accidentally posted last message before finishing)
.....and, 2. Could I still have an astigmatism which is causing the scattering of light at night? If that's the case, are here contacts spectacles that can remedy this?

Thanks again for your input.

[Vivadm]

Thanks for the response, Doc. I have Crystalens in both eyes. My left eye - which had very poor vision - was implanted first. It seemed to go okay, but my vision is still poor. (My left eye is underdeveloped (lazy eye when I was a kid) so didn't expect great vision in that eye - it was +6.0 prior to the implant). The problems have occurred in my right eye (my strong eye +4.5 prior surgery). When I had a vision test in that eye 2 days ago my vision was 30/15. Pretty outstanding. However, when the blurriness occurs I can't see very well at all. I've been using natural tears hourly for the passes 4 weeks to no avail. I started hot compresses yesterday ans eyelid scrubs yesterday so hopefully that will help.  Could I run something by you? Is it possible that I am experiencing 2 problems: 1. Dry eye, which is causing intermittent bluriness

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Do you have Crystalens in one or both eyes?  Crystalens do not work as well if only one eye is done.  Dry eye do get worse after an LRI but this improves with time.  The fluctuation may be due to your accommodation (you are focusing).  Try tears or alphagan (constricts your pupil) at night and see if it helps.

Dr. O.