Post Cataract Surgery: Seeing the sights!

[mikemyers]

If you've already seen an ophthalmologist (not optometrist) you now have a medical prescription for everything you need - the power of corrective lenses, and any needed astigmatism correction. It might not be written in "English", as mine weren't, but people who are used to that can tell you in simple English what the corrections include. At this point, it's unlikely that you need to spend $6,000 additional. What are they telling you that you will get for the extra money? ....and did you see an ophthalmologist, or an optometrist?

I checked on 'rimfirecentral.com' and the only thread I found so far was this:
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=520119&highlight=cataract
Do you use the same user name there as here?
Might they have moved the thread to a different forum?

 

[ThomasT]

Hi Mike. I saw the doctor that will do the surgery. The $6000 is over and above what insurance is paying. I am getting upgrade lenses and have to pay part of the doctor and part of the clinic as co-pay. Thats where the total came from.

And I go by "ratshooter" at RFC also. My thread is gone. Its not in my list of threads I started on the profile page. So I don't know about that one.

And its written in english. I just can't figure out what the hell they are talking about. But it sounded good when they told me I would only need reading glasses which I have been using for a year or so now. My doctor is an old white dude that worked on my MIL's eyes many years ago. The clinic for the surgery is in the connected building next door.

 

[mikemyers]

Aha! That makes total sense. I thought the extra money was to get extra features.

If you don't mind explaining, what are "upgrade lenses"? What do they do, over and beyond what the regular lenses do?

----------------

Regarding the other forum, I think their database may be corrupted.

I did an advanced search:
user: ratshooter
setting: find threads started by user
show results as: threads

results: you have 16 threads you started total, starting in 2008 and ending in 2010. If you've been starting posts from 2010 through now, they're all missing.

I used to run a vBulletin forum, and know how easy it is for the database to get confusabobbled. If you remember the title of the post, I can write to the moderator and he can search for it in the database. If he finds an error, he can fix it.

 

[ThomasT]

The lenses are called Lifestyle I think. They are supposed to be able to refract light from varied distances and focus at different ranges so that at most I will need reading glasses. Past that I am lost.

I don't remember the exact title of the thread but it would have been in the early part of february because the surgery was scheduled for march 3rd. But I think it was something like, has anyone had cataract surgery?.

I don't start many threads, I just do a lot of reading and comment if I think I have something to add.

 

[Fuego]

I am delighted with my cataract surgery.

I am 73 years old, and I told my surgeon that I shoot a pistol, and I wanted to be able to focus on my right thumb nail with my arm extended. He measured eye to thumbnail and that eye (right, dominant) is perfectly focused on the rear sight of my target pistol. He suggested a long focus (infinity) for my left eye. That turned out to be a great combination for me.

However, I do wear glasses when driving, although I do not need them. My depth perception is great without glasses.

For close work, like checkering, I do use an optivisor, but most of the time I can see just fine.

 

[mikemyers]

I'm confused - why would you want the rear sight in focus, not the front?

I did what you did (same age), but measured the distance from my eye to front sight, and told the doctor that was the distance to put the reading chart at. Worked great, until my eyes changed a bit.

 

[bill123]

Color me jealous. I had mine in January. I was -11.0 nearsighted. Chose distance lenses. Had pretty good sight for 5 months. Retina detach Saturday at 2pm on dominant eye. By Sunday afternoon, macula was detached also. Results - Almost no vision right eye, posterior cataracts both eyes, and 30 percent or better chance or retina detach in left eye.
Wish my Doc (of 20 years) did not take my insurance

 

[mikemyers]

Bill123, sorry to read that.

Did they tell you that the retina detachment was due to the cataract surgery? That is unusual, as they are completely separate. Did they re-attach the retina, using a laser? That "welds" the retina back in place.

I do volunteer work at Aravind Eye Hospital in South India. They do cataract surgery "assembly line", with one doctor doing one patient after another; the procedure was modeled after McDonalds, with hundreds of patients being treated (usually for free) in a single day. Not once did I hear about cataract surgery leading to retina detachment.


I know the USA has wonderful doctors, but you might want to contact Aravind (www.aravind.org) and see if they can help you.

 

[bill123]

Extreme myopia coupled with age related vitreous shrinkage. Retina detach is a complication (10 percent) of cataract surgery. Doc has warned me about it for years due to extreme myopia. If your Doc states they have after hours coverage, nail down what that means. (PSA It does no good to talk the the Doc on weekends only to be told to come in next business day. I should have been examined or referred ASAP)
. Offered to go to the ER and was talked out of it.
Appreciate the concern
Bill

 

[mikemyers]

bill123, what I've been told matches your advice - if you suddenly see an ocean of "floaters" in your eye, you need to immediately go to an emergency room to be treated. If caught early, the damage can be treated. Going a day later may be too late. Yes, you should have been examined immediately, but apparently many people don't know or understand this.

Lots of good information here, including the newer ways to correct cataracts.

http://www.cataracteye.com/cataract-surgery-retinal-detachment.html

 

[bill123]

43 % have no flashes or floaters. Also, mine started near the tear duct. An MD should know this. I had no symptoms. When I was working, having weekend coverage meant someone was on site. Then, it became someone would agree to be on call.
My experience is that cataract surgery/iol implants are something sold to people that have the condition and can pay for it. Up sell custom lenses, lasar measuring, etc..
It is all about the volume in today's medical world. Have to make up for the shortfalls in medicare reimbursement rates.

 

[bill123]

The annoying part is the Doc talked me out of going to the ER on Saturday. I had the PPS vitrectomy to repair the tear, but once the macula comes off, the damage is done

I mentioned the assembly line to the surgeon at the time. The diamond scalpel they used was three grand. The point is do your research and trust no one

 

[TAC]

I had cataract surgery in both eyes in September 2015. I chose Bausch + Lomb Crystalens AO lens.

They're very expensive! $7,400.00! Medicare only pays about $500.00 per eye. I did not have any other insurance that would help pay for these. They did make for a nice tax write-off however.

Initially, I was somewhat disappointed, as I still needed reading glasses to read fine print up close. The doctor told me this could improve over time. Some as soon as three months, some might take as long as a year, to train your own natural eye muscles, to focus the Crystalens. It took me one year, however, I now see with both eyes, like I did when I was in my teens, perfect. I'm 66 years old. It was worth every penny. It's your eyes, your vision, your life. What is it worth to you? I'm so happy I made this decision!

Talk to your doctor. Explore all your choices, and options. Make sure you fully understand the pro's and con's of each!

Don't be afraid of having it done. There's nothing to it, no pain. Scary as hell, for sure. But the only painful part is paying for them!

Bill


Crystalens AO Lens is an artificial lens implant that can treat both a person's cataracts and presbyopia —the clouding or hardening of your lenses, and the loss of near and intermediate vision, respectively. Crystalens was modeled after the human eye. Like the natural lens, it is a lens implant that uses the eye muscle to flex and accommodate in order to focus on objects in the environment at all distances. Crystalens dynamically adjusts to your visual needs. Many patients hardly, if ever, need glasses after surgery.

Crystalens AO is implanted during one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the world. Over 8,000 standard outpatient cataract surgeries are performed in the US daily. This safe and painless procedure also usually has a quick turnaround, as most patients can return to their daily activities almost immediately after surgery.

Key Features & Benefits

• The first and only FDA-approved accommodating intraocular lens - meaning that it uses the natural focusing ability of the eye
• Crystalens AO was inspired by the eye’s natural crystalline lens.
• Unlike other lenses, Crystalens AO directs all available light received by the eye to a single focal point, so that you can focus on objects at all distances.

[source]

http://www.bausch.com/our-products/surgical-products/cataract-surgery/crystalens-ao-lens

 

[entropy]

Thanks, for posting that TAC-sounds promising. I'm hopefully a couple decade away from that, but I work in vision care, so while I can't mention it by name, I can still make our patients that are nearing surgery aware of that option.

I'm kind of curious personally; I know you're only a year out, but did your opthalmalogist mention longevity of the lens' pliability? I'm guessing it is inserted into the capsule as in a regular IOL, but the pliability allows the zonules to shape it for accomodation. I could see where you might need up to a year to adapt, they and the brain would have to relearn the whole focusing process again.

 

[PRD1]

I've had implants in both eyes, optimized for distance vision, which is now excellent. For shooting with iron-sighted rifles and handguns, I find that inexpensive reading glasses work very well in enabling me to achieve a clear sight picture, and shoot very well. It is true that it is impossible to focus on three different objects at different distances (front and rear sights and the target), but the proper reading glasses permit sharp focus on the front sight (which is most critical, in my experience), quite good focus on an open rear sight (and apertures need not be in sharp focus at all), and reasonably good definition of the target. Inexpensive readers are available in a wide range of diopters, and you can find one or more pairs which will serve for all your shooting. Also, since most such glasses now have plastic, and relatively shatter-resistant, lenses, they provide pretty good eye protection, too. And, for my (very) occasional use of a shotgun, I can do without any additional correction, so my regular shooting glasses still serve.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke

 

[V-fib]

After having cataract surgery a few years ago I'm able to see 20/20 but need reading glasses for closeup work. I've found with iron sights instead of using bifocals (which was difficult to get my head in the proper position to see the sights with the bifocal) I went with dedicated reading glasses in my case these are +2.50 they enable me to see my iron sights on my revolver. however the target is blurred somewhat but if I'm shooting at steel or paper plates it's not bad.

v-fib

 

[TAC]

Thanks, for posting that TAC-sounds promising. I'm hopefully a couple decade away from that, but I work in vision care, so while I can't mention it by name, I can still make our patients that are nearing surgery aware of that option.

I'm kind of curious personally; I know you're only a year out, but did your opthalmalogist mention longevity of the lens' pliability? I'm guessing it is inserted into the capsule as in a regular IOL, but the pliability allows the zonules to shape it for accomodation. I could see where you might need up to a year to adapt, they and the brain would have to relearn the whole focusing process again.

No, that was not discussed. Wouldn't that be a gradual process, where you would adapt gradually, as it occurs?

I have some issues with my heart, and I might be around long enough to worry about my eyes. Not necessarily a good thing however.

 

[beag_nut]

WOW!!! That's my reaction to this thread, which I somehow overlooked when it first appeared. My reaction is not to all you people who have had the surgery, but to the totally false advertising which appears way too frequently trying to get people to have cataract surgery, even when they do NOT have cataracts. The procedure is now being pitched as a way to (completely) eliminate corrective glasses/optics, even for those who do not have clouding of the natural lens. I am blown away by the results, and I thank you all for your relating your experiences.

 

[F-111 John]

For defensive use, when donning reading glasses is not practical, have you considered a laser sight?

 

[Kman314]

I have not read all of the responses so I apologize if I am repeating something already said. I have not had the surgery, but have very poor vision. I wear glasses or contact lenses to correct my distance vision, but cannot focus clearly closer than about 5 feet. I have switched to peep sights or scopes on my long guns. For handguns, I learned to shoot focusing on the target, not the sights. I can see a blurred image of the sights, but my focus is on the target. Granted, I don't shoot competitively, but I can shoot pretty well. This may not work for you, but it is worth a try.