Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

Starbursts after YAG (Crystalens IOL's)

I have extreme starbursts around headlights, traffic lights, candles, even Christmas lights especially at night, but even somewhat in the daytime.

The stars are the color of the light, except if it's a white light -- then they are rainbow. My surgeon says I'll get used to it and "they must be pretty."

It's not only irritating, but quite dangerous. I can hardly see to drive at night. I'm 48 years old and drive every night.

I didn't have cataracts, but high myopia, so I never should have got the Crystalenses in the first place. (They don't seem to "accommodate" much, if at all, anyway.) The claims that these lenses will give you the full range of vision are false, as far as I'm concerned. I should have just kept wearing contact lenses. At least I used to be able to see at night with the contacts.

Is there any hope to get rid of the stars??
11 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
Just curious if you ever got better.  I'm two months from YAG and gave the capsular bag attached to a vitreous strand. It's like a piece of frosted glass all day long with different eye movements.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
177275 tn?1511755244
=
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
    I have an identical problem to mtngal. Maybe worse. Ever since my YAG I live in what I can only describe as a post apocalyptic snow globe.
     I do not have a crystalens, I have the synchrony IOL which was never available in the US. Immediately after YAG I developed floor to ceiling starbursts. Mine also rotate. I can see a piece of the capsule moving through my vision that causes light beams to lengthen and rotate every time I move my eye. It also looks like fog or smoke, but can cause blurring or even temporary double vision as it passes through in certain situations. In my left eye its so thick it will actually reduce my vision below reading acuity as it passes through. In my right eye I can barely see it, but the rotation and star bursts are much worse in the right eye. They're like white windshield wipers that cross my field of vision whenever I move my eyes. (I can barely see the one in my right eye and if the one in my left wasnt so bad, I may never have realized thats what was causing it.) Try using a pupil constricting drop like pilocarpine or alphagam and going outside in bright light. (This will make it easiest to see) Then move your eyes back and forth at different speeds and see if you can see a shadow or smoke or something MOVE across your vision. (It does not stay in teh same place and move with your eye the way that a floater does)
       3 cataract surgeons and a retinologist insist that I am perfectly fine and there is nothing that can be causing what I am describing. At the same time I have been completely and totally disabled by this. I can't read, I can't drive at night, and I am in a constant state of irritation about how ridiculously awful my vision is. Even walking the dog at night is a laser light show adventure that I can barely complete without worrying for my safety and becoming extremely depressed. At work I can watch rotating beams from every single light source sweep back and forth as I move my eyes.I am severely depressed and this has more or less derailed my entire life. (I am 31 years old and refuse to leave my house. My friends have stopped speaking to me because they can't hear it anymore, and the only reason I still have a job is because my cataracts were so bad my workplace thankfully still has me registered as visually impaired and gives me whatever I need including time off when I can't deal)  At the same time I can read the eye chart at 20/20 (For one second out of every 5) so the doctors say I must be fine. They are blaming dry eye, but I had severe dry eye before the YAG and did not have any of  these problems.  
         I cannot be sure about this, but I suspect that pieces of the back of the capsule are hanging out right behind the IOL. (Not by the retina) My retinologist told me three times I had no floaters that could be causing what I was describing and then all of a sudden he told me to hang on  because he got a glimpse of a tiny piece of debris IN FRONT of the vitreous that was not usually visible, but moved through my central vision when I move my eye. He swears its too small to be causing my problem. However, its location and movement perfectly matches my symptoms and I believe that it is somehow interacting with the specialized optics on my IOL to cause the starbursting. The crystalens happens to have the same specialized optic as the synchrony.  
     The doctors keep insisting that YAG debris is reabsorbed over time, which is why I havent commited suicide yet. I believe a vitrectomy will solve the problem, but it seems like a pretty severe step for something that will supposedly go away on its own, that is not even in the vitreous. (And of course I doubt anyone would do one since I technically don't even have a visible floater) I wonder if explanting the IOL and going through the capsule to manually remove the piece lying behind it may be an option. I really have to wonder if I'd be better off with aphakic contact lenses or iris sutured IOLS and my vitreous intact than I am right now or I would be if I had a vitrectomy for this. I'm just taking it one day at a time hoping this gets better although I dont believe that it will anymore. (Its been 14 months since the YAG, and there has been no improvement. The piece in my left eye has lightened and become harder for me to see, and as it has done this the starbursting that eye has actually gotten more noticeable. My right eye has not changed, but the floater was nearly invisible to begin with)

       I have found around a dozen people complaining about these symptoms across the internet, and the only thing we have in common is that our doctors insist that there is nothing wrong with us, or admit that they don't know whats wrong with us. You aren't crazy. I am 99% sure it is unluckily located YAG debris (the tiny pieces of your capsule that the laser broke off) combined with the light bending properties of your IOL. I'm sure its fixable, but I'm still working out the least invasive option that I can get a doctor to do, since according to them I don't have a problem. On a side note, I did find a paper online where the patient had a large free floating capsular remnant moving across their central vision. The doctor TRIED to hit it with a YAG laser but  missed because the thing was moving. Even though they were unable to hit it, it was suddenly gone the next day. They theorized that the energy from the laser disturbed the vitreous face enough for the particle to fall into it, and then it settled out of her visual field. This is different from YAG laser vitreolysis, where they try to hit particles suspected in the vitreous. As these particles are not actualy in the vitreous, the goal is to get them in it, and not necessarily to destroy them.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
177275 tn?1511755244
=
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Wow, you have been through a lot and I understand your frustration.  The big mystery is-- is it the IOL or something else?  Is the jigglng due to loose zonules?  Are the halos and starbursts due to dysphotopsia?   Is the clouding due to a subsequent PVD (Posterior Vitreous Detachment?).  I see that you have been evaluated by multiple specialists, but have you been evaluated at a school of opthamology where all the specialists work together?  A complex puzzle is best solved by a team of experts.  Do you live in the U.S. ?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am in the same, sad boat.  I had a prescription of +5.25 in one eye and +5.50 in the other.  Wore glasses since I was 4 years old and had 20/20 corrected vision.  Once I turned 40, I started having some issues with presbyopia and looked into LASIK options.  The place I finally chose convinced me that my prescription was too high for LASIK, but I could have IOLs implanted and then further fine-tuning with LASIK at a later date.  Everything I researched on "cataract" surgery indicated that lens implants are generally extremely successful.  Immediately after the monovision IOLs were implanted (both done in one surgical procedure), I began seeing halos that extend and contract with my eye movement, as well as "jiggling" in the outside peripheral vision of my right eye.  I assumed this would go away over time, but it did not.  I also continued to wear glasses, as I had multiple images in each eye without correction (my astigmatism is apparently "too mild" to create the multiple images, however).  5 months after my surgery, I had a YAG procedure done in the right eye to clear up some clouding on the lens capsule.  Immediately following the YAG, I have broad starbursts when looking at any source of light through that eye only, including lines of spectra when looking at really bright, white light.  Yes, the rainbows are pretty.  It also means I can no longer drive at night at the ripe old age of 43.  The starburst lines also sometimes rotate, leading me to believe I may have a new floater from the YAG procedure in that eye, which is too small or too close to the retina to be seen with the slit lamp examination.  During the day it can look like a piece of dirty plastic or a smear of petroleum jelly passes through my vision, and if the sun is reflecting off of something at the time, the starburst will rotate.  I have been to vitreous fluid specialists, cornea specialists, and retinal specialists.  No one has been able to tell me what is wrong.  Now my left eye is starting to cloud and is making it very difficult for me to read.  The surgery was 2 1/2 years ago and I am terrified to do anything else, I just feel like I am slowly going blind.  My corrected vision in the left eye is now 20/25 at best, according to my most recent Dr visit and prescription.  My left eye is my dominant eye.  I left my job because I could no longer work on the computer due to the issues I'm having with my vision, plus the commute in the winter (gets dark early) was terrifying.  Amazing what modern science can do.....and what it can’t.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I as well had a Crystalens IOL implanted three years ago (2012) and had a yag some 3 months post surgery.  I thought as you did that the night time starbursts came after the YAG but my surgeon said that would be impossible.  Night time driving is extremely difficult when there is a lot of traffic or in a city with many street lights.  It now going on three years and my surgeon says I need to live with it and it is a side effect of the Crystalens IOL since it is not a natural lens.  Yes I did try all the pupil dilating drops as well without success.  Oddly enough, I get these starbusts on sunny days so I did not understand how constricting the pupil would help.
Have you had any success in removing the starbursts since your original posting?  If yes, what was done?  I'm in my fifties and having a long time ahead of me with these starbursts concerns me greatly.  
Thank you.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Im also having the same problems starburst after the yag laser befor i went for yag there were some little furthers around the lights that also came after IOL implant and they irritate me a lot especially at night
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
First of all, the surgeon who performed my crystalens installs a piggyback lens at the same time as the crystalens in highly myopic patients like you.  If you had astigmatism at boot, an LRI would be performed.  I had just the crystalens HD and the LRI. and wound up with a perfect refraction considering the odds were against me because I was a post RK patient.

As far as the starbursting after the YAG procedure, I am wondering if the surgeon who performed your YAG chipped your lens in the central portion of your vision???????????
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I just wondered how the YAG surgery could cause these starbursts, because I did not have them before. I had the YAG surgery about a year after the Crystalenses and only had YAG done in one eye. After having such terrible night vision, I will not consider doing the other eye with the laser. I have to close the bad eye now when I drive at night.

I will ask again if my eye doctor will let me try the Alphagan. He doesn't seem to want me to try it for some reason. I am going to try a University doctor, maybe will have better luck. There must be something that caused this. I don't find any posts of people who have had this side effect from the YAG.

Thanks for any help!
Helpful - 0
673691 tn?1226710670
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Any optical system in air can produce starburst. I have starbursts at night with glasses, contacts, and without any correction. And, have you ever seen a photograph of lights at night. There are always starbursts. However, I do understand that this has become worse for you. There may be some adaptation over time 6 months to a year after your surgery. I would try an eyedrop such as Alphagan (bromididine) which has the capability of making your pupils smaller. This gives a "pinhole" effect in the dark improving your vision. Ask your doctor about it, he may have some samples.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Eye Care Community

Top General Health Answerers
177275 tn?1511755244
Kansas City, MO
Avatar universal
Grand Prairie, TX
Avatar universal
San Diego, CA
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Discharge often isn't normal, and could mean an infection or an STD.
In this unique and fascinating report from Missouri Medicine, world-renowned expert Dr. Raymond Moody examines what really happens when we almost die.
Think a loved one may be experiencing hearing loss? Here are five warning signs to watch for.
When it comes to your health, timing is everything
We’ve got a crash course on metabolism basics.
Learn what you can do to avoid ski injury and other common winter sports injury.