Myopia -7.5

[Myopia_75]

I'm 45 and have high myopia in both eyes of minus 7.5 with a little astigmatism.  I'm just now researching and am wanting to get a multifocal lens implant.  I went to one doctor who pushed the Crystal lens and the other doctor pushed the Restor lens.  Not sure if it is a sales pitch on the two lens' or just their own opinions.

I do have dry eyes due to Rosacea and have had eyelid surgery due to a droopy eyelid.  So the dry eyes are somewhat of a concern. I use Restasis already. It seems my dry eye is worse when it is windy, under a ceiling fan, and sometimes in the morning upon waking (but gets better upon showering with the steam, etc.) I'm also hearing that some people who have had the multifocal lens implants still have to have lasik, a piggy back lens, and limbal relaxing incisions afterwards.  All that extra stuff doesn't really bother me if it can get me the best vision possible without needing glasses. I just need to know some of the outcomes of patients around my age with the same high myopia that I have.  Am I going to be in the 10-20% category that still need glasses after having all of this done?  

Is there anyone out there with the same prescription and age factor that I have and have had the Restor Lens or Crystal Lens?

[Myopia_75]

Any suggestions?

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear Myopia_75,

Each doctor and patient has his own tolerance for risks, complications and benefits.  Some patients are more tolerant of the side effects of these lenses and others not.  The best thing for you to do is become educated about the lenses and procedures and feel comfortable with the doctor performing the procedure.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[Restorsucess]

I was 48 when I had it done with no history of other refractive surgery.  I figured I'd need some lasik after with the astigmatism, but it ended up I didn't need any.  I think the replacement lenses come in quite a range of powers for the lens part of your focus, but the cornea has a lot to do with it also.  Like if you have astigmatism, and the amount of spherical abberation in it.  And I read something not too long ago that mentioned good tear film is also part of the focusing power of the eye.  That's why I mentioned your dry eye.

OD: sph -2.75, cyl -.50 axis 101, and
OS sph -2.50, cyl -1.00 axis 035 .

[Myopia_75]

What level of myopia did you have and what was your age range?  I think that might have alot to do with the results and outcome also.

[Restorsucess]

Hi,
Well, here's a link to one of the posts.  Has pro'd and con's.  
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/IOLs-Positive-experiences/show/1159017

Personally I wouldn't have done crystalens, as I didn't want to depend on my eye muscles moving the thing.  Seems the older you get, more and more things deteriorate in the body.  However if you don't mind wearing readers for some things, or maybe (if they don't work right) for all reading, I hear the distance clarity of them is excellent.

I do like my restors as they have given me excellent distance, intermediate and reading vision with minimal disturbances at night.  It only has 9 diffractive rings (I think the tecnis has 32), and it apodized, so I think that's why I only have some fuzz balls when looking at distant headlights at night.  Fuzziness clears upon approach, and everything else at night is crystal clear.

Be sure to get a super experienced surgeon, as you do have the issue with dry eyes.  Your eyes need to be in tip top condition when you have the surgery.

Good luck!

[shindi441]

I had cataract surgery 12 weeks ago- both eyes within two days.I am 60 yr old female and have been myopic all my adult life; was -4 in both eyes before surgery with no major astigmatism issues but have suffered with dry eyes since the menopause. I too wanted to be glasses free or less dependant and had made up my mind to have mini-monovision after consulting medhelp forums but was talked into multifocal lenses by my surgeon- Lentis mplus- the new kid on the block, and was told that the inventors of this lens have sorted all the major issues found in the other multifocal lens. So far this lens has delivered only day time good vision.Evening and night time vision is very poor. My dry eyes have caused post surgery inflammation to linger on and on to this day giving me light sensitivity and glare; so I am still wearing my goggles as I sit and write this blogg- so much for glasses independance! I wish I had gone for monofocals. Its no big deal to carry readers around. It is not a big prize to pay for the crisp clear distance vision withot night- time/light problems.

[AntonReiser]

Have you already used the search feature in the forum?
There are lots of discussions about cataract surgery, monofocal and multifocal IOLs.

Having a prescription of -10/-14 my mild cataracts don't bother me, so I postponed Cataract surgery for myself.
I'd choose monofocal IOL. Second were Crystalens.