Restor Lens Problems

[MiserableinNj]

I had cataracts removed 9 weeks ago right eye, 7 weeks ago left eye.  I had the Restor lens put in both eyes.  I have had nothing but problems and curious if anyone else has had similar problems. My first problem was light sensitivity. I had to wear my sunglasses inside for almost 8 weeks (my husband refers to our house as the Bat Cave).  Fluorescent lighting is the worst and thats whats in my office. I had to work with the lights off for the first 8 weeks, I can turn them on now but the light still bothers me. I have dry eyes and it has gotten worse since surgery, the doctor put plugs in my tearducts but I'm constantly putting artificial tears in, which blurs my vision. Then my eyesight kept getting blurry with double vision. The doctor said I have Blepharitis and gave me Azisite. That seems to help but I have to use it every day along with warm compresses and a cleansing routine or the blurry vision gets worse.  She now wants to perform laser surgery on me for a slight astigmatism I have. She says this will help, they gave me glasses to try on with the way it should look after surgery. I can see clearer but still double vision and she doesn't know if that will go away.
I went to another doctor for a second opinion and he said don't do the surgery if there is a chance I'm going to extract the lens and put in a monofocal lens. Now I don't know what to do. I'm scared to have these lens' extracted and would like to try and keep them in. We won't even get into the issue of the so called "halos" around headlights. They are such HUGE spider webs that I can not drive at night any more. Has anyone had any or all of my problems? Has it gotten better with time? Has anyone had the laser surgery for astigmastism after implants? Any help would be appreciated, my quality of life is 0 these days.

[JohnHaganMD]

Just because you had yah capsulotomy does NOT MESN THEY CAN'T BE REMOVED AND MONOFOCAL IOL PUT IN

[Judybell59]

I had cataract surgery an had the restore lens put in was that a mistake I had thening but problems an with what costs you think hard before you do this

[achillea]

A contrary note here:  

In 2010, I had cataract surgery for both eyes.  My surgeon is an unusally thoughtful person, and after careful assessment of my eyes ("far-sighted," small pupils, very slight astigmatism), he chose the ReStor D1 lens for me.

One day after each surgery, my vision, from 14 inches from my face to infinity, was perfect.  I had almost the vision of a kid again, with only the need to wear readers in very low-light situations.

Six years later, this is still true.  I got a superb result with these early ReStor lenses.  

[SCUcolumbia]

Your case is rare!

[Restor]

Let me add my miserable experience to that of the other Restor sufferers. After a year, I still have very bad eye problems, and blink so much that people think I have a tic. I use Hydroeye supplements 4 daily, all sorts of drops, eye lash cleaners, etc, but nothing seems to help. It is impossible to read except with an auxiliary type of light, like my phone flashlight, and mid range acuity is terrible.  I am a sculptor and have a lot of difficulty focusing. Of course, I have the halos and glare when driving at night.

My renowned eye doctor in Sarasota Florida pretty much has given up,trying to help and says my problems were all pre existing.  He had no problem cashing the $7000 check above the Medicare payments, though.

In my opinion, the Restor lenses are a scam to pad the pockets of the docs who are not content with the normal insurance payments.

I just wish I had the normal mono focal lenses which seem to work for most everyone. Since I had the YAG, I know it is not advisable to take out these lenses, so I will suffer with them the rest of my life.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

As the doctor seems to be struggling to post off an iPhone, I thought I'd elaborate that as he says, it is possible even after a YAG to have a lens exchange to a monofocal. The issue is that after a YAG it is likely that when they remove the lens, the  capsular bag where they prefer to put IOLs likely won't remain intact. However there are IOLs that can be placed *outside* the bag , they are merely designed a little differently (and usually monofocals). If you look at a thread here on "Should I risk for IOL after 24 yrs of Aphakia?" you'll see someone who needs to have a lens implant that goes outside of the bag (he never had a lens implant so his capsular bag isn't intact to place an IOL into it).

Obviously some of those issues like halos and glare and lower quality midrange vision are related to the lens choice unfortunately. The majority of people are happy with multifocals, the existence of an unhappy minority doesn't make them a "scam". What might be considered a "scam" is if they didn't properly inform you of the risks beforehand and the slight possibility you might wish a lens exchange.

I will note that some of the issues you mention don't have anything to do with the lens choice. The issue of using drops suggests eye problems like dry eye which can be a side effect of cataract surgery. Whatever issues you are using drops for have *nothing* to do with which particular lens you had put in .

[SoftwareDeveloper]

I should add that it isn't clear that you would have had any better midrange vision with a monofocal.  Unfortunately the US IOLs are bifocals that are best for distance and near, though the newer ones have lower near adds so they should be better with intermediate than older high add bifocals.  Outside the US they have better lenses for intermediate (trifocals, even lower add bifocals, and extended depth of focus like the Symfony).  If the Crystalens accommodates at all (vs. the small minority that have it essentially perform like a monofocal), it may be better for intermediate than US approved bifocals

[arubachick]

how did you proceed to get your money back?  Did you ask your surgeon or get an attorney? I am having the same problems as you and everyone else on this board

[SoftwareDeveloper]

At 4 weeks the lens may not have been healed completely in the capsule, I'd see what they say at the 2 month mark to see if it is lens movement within the capsule or the capsule moving from loose zonules (either from pseudoexfoliation or whatever other reason).  If it is loose within the capsule past when it is supposed to have healed, I'm wondering if   suturing/gluing would  be an option if that movement is the likely cause.   You could mention where you live in case anyone has any recommendations for surgeons experienced with dysphotopsias or other issues there.  

The lens I mentioned that is physically larger and comes closer to filling the capsule is the WIOL-CF, a premium lens (extended depth of focus/possibly accommodating) which isn't approved in the US yet. Although it is approved in Europe, from what I've read however they are still focused on doing more testing and potentially refining the product more before they start widespread commercialization of it. That suggests being cautious before considering it, which is part of why I hadn't tried to get answers regarding whether it can be used for a lens exchange or needs to be implanted only right after removing the natural lens before the capsule collapses, and whether or not its larger size could potentially have any impact on iris movement (I wonder in retrospect if I'd not have had an issue if I'd gotten that lens to begin with).  

One surgeon who sometimes posts on this site, wanlien3,  had expressed concerns in email to someone  about the design of the lens however since it doesn't have haptics to keep it in place, though he hadn't personally used the lens and was just speculating about concerns (they expect filling the bag to keep it in place). I do see one paper online talking about case reports of 2 people where the lens dislocated, but I don't know what the overall statistics are since other types of lenses can dislocate also.

[Starlight_nEye]

I've been told IOL position is good. Operated RE distance vision is 20/20, near vision good w/reading lens. Eye health pre- and post-op good. No dry eye, pressure problems, glaucoma, etc. No capsular tear or vitreous loss occurred during/from surgery. Lens jiggle was noted at 4 weeks as was iris fluttering. Eye has been examined before and after dilation. I will ask about pseudoexfoliation at my next appointment but it hasn't been mentioned. I have searched for and read other threads and articles about flickering on the net, seeking answers.

It would seem the surgery was a success but the patient still has a vision problem! From the 1st day, the flickering has been there and there has been no change or improvement. Maybe it's the floppy iris or maybe issues with the zonules. I certainly don't know and the doctors I've seen haven't had definite answers, which is why I turned to this forum with its doctors and knowledgeable participants. I appreciate the responses. I certainly want to take a cautious approach and not make my situation worse. Maybe I should try hypnosis to attempt to speed up neuroadaption!