Cataract sugery... which lens system worked for you!

[Brokenbear]

Well ...the Surgeon says yup ...you are a candidate ...both eyes ...2 weeks apart ...told him of my dad's detached retina after cat surgery and later macular degeneration ...say means zero ..that both eyes are great candidates ...so Aug 30 then Sept 13

NOW ...which lens system to implant ...the regular lens is a free ride via medicare & supplement insurance
The Toric IOL which corrects for the astigmatism I have is $895 per eye and covered by no insurance
And then there is the question of set up for good distance vision then reading glasses
OR ....no reading glasses but glasses needed for distance
OR ...one long one short distance which seems to me to be a bad choice/nightmare and personally have little interest in unless someone comes up with one heck of a good reason/results

What say you oh experienced ones?
Bear

[wddodge]

I used to wear "coke bottle" glasses till about 15 years ago. I had lasic surgery on both eyes and couldn't be happier. Now to answer your question, my right eye is 20/20 and can see distance perfect. My left eye he left a little near-sighted so I could read most print. It was a little weird at first, maybe a month or more, then I got used to it. 99% of the time I never notice it.

Where I first noticed it would be when I was sitting at a red light. I'd look in the outside mirror at the car behind me and it'd be all fuzzy. WTH?? Then I'd tilt my head over so my right eye could see in the mirror and it'd be perfect. Also shooting strong side/weak side using different eyes took a bit of getting used to.

After 15-16 years I'm very happy having my eyes cut this way. Many of my friends are constantly putting reading glasses off and on and I'm not to that point ...........yet.

Denny

[RogerDat]

Heck my eyes have had different distance vision my whole life. Not as strong a difference as those that use contacts to have one far and one near but one eye has always been better at getting splinters out or setting small jumpers. The other at longer distances. There is a narrow band in the middle distance where I have to work a bit to focus on details.

Stigmatism is tougher choice, daughter has that and contacts won't work well for it as a rule. So the $850 has to be balanced against prescription lenses to correct for it.

There is a lens that is flexible enough to allow for both near and far vision. I think they run about a grand out of pocket since insurance considers them unnecessary because glasses will work to correct what the cheaper lenses don't. My wife opted for them. She figured a couple of decades of not needing to find or buy glasses was good and over that time frame it worked out to be a pretty cheap annual cost for the lenses.

I would ask about those flexing lenses and the stigmatism lens to see if possibly the more expensive $850 is for the lenses that flex or if those flexible lenses are available for the stigmatism. Price might not be much more and she ended up with full range of vision. And could drive at night again. Still doesn't like to but it's a preference rather than because she can't see because of cataracts.

She pointed out that hopefully this will be something she does once and lasts decades so decades of the best possible vision seems like it is worth $100 a year over 10 years.

[farmerjim]

20 years ago I had Lasic in my right eye only. I did fine with the right eye for distance and the left for reading. When it came time for cataract surgery last year, I got distance in the right and a little (-1.25) nearsighted in the left. Your brain picks the proper eye for your distance, and the vision with both still gives good depth perception. I am told that not everybody can do this. Get a distance
contact lens or if you are nearsighted just take the lens out of your non dominant eye and see how it goes. It is nice to not need glasses to read or for distance.

[higgins]

I opted for the lens that requires reading glasses. I assumed that the simpler the lens was that was implanted, the less chance there was for something not working out. Readers are cheap and available everywhere. I can drive, watch TV, and do most everything but close work without glasses if need be. I wear prescription progressives because I get them cheap through the safety eyewear program where I used to work.

I wear large lens plastic readers to shoot pistols and open-sight milsurp rifles to make the front sight crystal clear. I usually wear the progressives with aperture sight or scope sight rifles. It's worked out well for me, but then I'm not qualified to comment on any other type of lens.

[Hick]

I had both eyes done also. I went with distance vision for both-- although one of the lenses supposedly can adjust to middle distance. Bottom line is I can see things clearly from about 6 feet on out to farther than my guns can shoot. The only drawback is that the front sight on my rifles is a little blurry-- so I went to peep sights because looking through the hole sharpens the image a little. No issues at all with scopes. On some of my rifles I have gone to using a Lyman globe sight--which is really great. With a peep sight and a globe sight you are looking through two holes, and the eye naturally centers itself. I can see the targets crystal clear and sharp, and just center them in the sights. No problem. I really like having distance in both because I never need glasses for all the ordinary outdoor things-- driving, shopping, playing golf, shooting, or even for watching TV-- but need them for precise things like reading and working on the computer-- and of course when I'm at the reloading bench. Only wearing glasses for precise things is convenient-- and since both eyes are alike I just buy the cheap store glasses with whatever magnification I want for a particular job.

[Brokenbear]

Keep the thoughts coming guys ....I really appreciate everyone's comments ...still really having trouble getting my arms around one long one short visioned ...especially since I am a professional grip carver (BearPaw) and do a ton of close in work ...that I would be wearing eye protection anyway ...the other thing I am twisting in the wind on is the "Toric IOL" implant lens that corrects astigmatism ...yes $895/eye ..but my real hang up is the surgeon has to measure the eye exactly to determine how much/where the lens needs correction ...then he has to index the "notch" (read reference mark) on the lens to the correct spot on the eye ...then keep it in place as he sews it in place ...then hope it does not move any .....wonder if eyeballs have indexing notches on them??? ...So really wondering if any CB'ers have had the astigmatism lens implants ....again leaning towards the simple non astigmatism lens with less chance of failure to fire so to speak ...been wearing glasses for 65 years anyway!

Golly I wish I was just trying to talk me out of buying another gun!!!!!!!!! my life was much simpler with only that kind or cud to chew.

Bear

[too many things]

well just had that. here is questions for you. if you are right eye shooter{check and see which eye is the shooter eye} then go with a far sight implant to that eye.the other go with a near sight.
your brain will adjust to the difference and you dont have to wear glasses. I can now do without glasses to do do anything from a 300yd road sign to a phone book .
HERE is the last problem you will need sun glasses. in the sun or snow
dont do at 2weeks for both at least 1mo or more it will be better

[Bzcraig]

I'm having my cataracts done Oct/Nov too so I'll follow this thread. I'm leaning toward distance vision myself.

[jbutts6785]

I had mine done about 5 years ago. I didn't need correction for astigmatism, so I can't comment on that. I did go with good distant vision and reading glasses for close vision and am pleased with how that worked out. I really don't need the reading glasses all that much. Unless it is some strange font, or very fine print, my arms are long enough. It did help my shooting quite a bit.

[Bent Ramrod]

The surgeon has to measure your eyes for focus even with the single focus lenses. They put what looked like a decanter top on my eye and got a bunch of readings from it. Shouldn’t be too much difference from the universal focus lenses.

They wouldn’t let me pay the extra for the universal focus lenses because I had some retinal damage. I would have paid for it anyway, if I had the chance. I think it was around $1000 per eye seven years ago. Pretty trivial investment, considering that it’s amortized over the rest of your life.

So I took the distance vision option, both eyes. I’ve worn glasses all my life anyway, so I figured needing them only for reading was pretty trivial. I did find that this choice was a little more involved than having the reading glasses on the table, opening the book or firing up the tablet, putting them on and reading, then leaving them with the reading material on the table when done. I discovered that I also need reading glasses for such things as looking at my digital watch, setting the vernier scales on my sights, reading marks on lathe dials, and a lot of other formerly momentary stuff that now had to wait until I fished the glasses out and put them on. The watch situation was solved by joining the trendy new move back to analog watches with hands. The stuff not practical for an Opti-visor can be handled with a small magnifying glass attached to you with a lanyard of some kind. A monocle might be even more classy.

My doctor said that magnification, like an Opti-visor will be necessary for close-in work. No matter what focal length you pick, the ability to vary the thickness of the lens for extreme close ups will be gone forever. But I had an Opti-visor anyway. So no big problem.

You will likely be champing at the bit to get that second eye done in two weeks. The difference in color and clarity between my fixed eye and the one awaiting surgery, even with glasses, was so glaring that it was hard to see with both eyes. Check with your own doctor, but I recall that mine told me that things to avoid were boxing and Rugby football; shooting, with moderate recoil, didn’t have much potential for harm. I did hold off with big calibers for a couple weeks, though, just in case.

[owejia]

Had mine done about 15 years ago, got the far off and up close lens. Have lost some depth perception because of this. Really notice it when backing a stock trailer up to load cattle, always looks straight until I walk back and look, will always be angled to the loading door or ramp. I always used side view mirrors and guessed it was because of the difference looking at the right side and then the left side, never had this problem until after cataract surgery and lens implant. That being said would not change a thing if had to do it over. The lens implant is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Powder Burn]

Both eyes done with far vision lens back in Feb. Still need reading glasses to see clearly up close. Total damage was around $19,000. Medicare and insurance took care of it. Discovered I had diabetes in the process, so with meds and surgery I will be able to shoot my compound and leave the crossbow alone this year. Poor vision sort of snuck up on me. One of my three eye drops (post surgery), did not like me. Well worth the procedure.

[beezapilot]

I opted for distance vision, and they got it close, but not spot on so I'm back to bifocals. I chose for distance, with the reasoning that I wear safety glasses for most of the day and they make inexpensive pairs in gray, clear, and brown (my favorite) that have the diopters built in.