Cataract surgery lens implant problems...help!

I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in my
left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers), a
line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye is
getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses. The
difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also I
had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens now
which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was "don't
wear the glasses". He told me to return in 3 weeks and said goodbye. From
about 10" to 24" I can't see anything without the damn glasses! I was so
stunned by his cavaleer attitude I forgot to remind him of this little fact
(he's been my eye doctor for about 20 years duh!).

I starting to wonder if he knows what he's doing. I've only had routine
exams prescriptions until now so he's never been "tested". There are other
issues like the floater/debris field that moves back and forth, the tiny
specks that don't move, etc. Anyone have this done, or have any thoughts?

PS. I'm 46 yrs old

In article <Ctvrc.4$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
(Rodent) wrote:

> I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in my
> left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers), a
> line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye is
> getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
> still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses. The
> difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
> instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also I
> had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens now
> which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
> than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was "don't


Doesn't make sense to me. I keep hearing that glasses can't hurt you, so
if wearing them is better, why not wear them? When I had my first
cataract removed, I had them remove the lens in my glasses for that eye
and wore them until it was time to get a new lens. I usually wore
contacts then, so just didn't put a contact in that eye until I got new
contacts for that eye.

You will probably have difficulty with the different size of the images,
assuming that they fixed the cataract eye refraction and you are still
nearsighted in the other eye. This often causes people to see double. I
was very glad when I got my second eye done because this was also the case
for me.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS
(E-Mail Removed)

After my first cataract operation two years ago I removed that lens from my
glasses myself and wore them with little or no problem for over six weeks
until I got a new refraction filled. Like the orignal poster, I too had a
very strong correction in the remaining lens and about 20 - 40 in the
operated eye. When they sent me to the optometrist for the new refraction,
she added a "slab-off" correction so the two eyes would see the same. I
understand the slab-off is a prism or sub-lens that handles this problem -
in my case perfectly. I never could see the slab-off lens in the new
glasses and in fact don't know if it went into the corrected eye lens or the
old high correction lens. Two weeks ago I had the other eye operated on for
a cataract and the opthalmologist ensured not only that the old high
correction was removed the 2nd day, but that I had a "plain" plastic lens
inserted as a temporary measure so I wouldn't poke myself in the eye. The
optometrist made the plain lens in about 15 minutes for $30 dollars and put
it in. It will stay there for a couple more weeks until I get a new
refraction and have them sent off for filling.

Regards

"Dan Abel" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dabel-(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <Ctvrc.4$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> (Rodent) wrote:
>
> > I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in
my
> > left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers),
a
> > line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye
is
> > getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
> > still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses.
The
> > difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
> > instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also
I
> > had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens
now
> > which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
> > than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was
"don't
>
>
> Doesn't make sense to me. I keep hearing that glasses can't hurt you, so
> if wearing them is better, why not wear them? When I had my first
> cataract removed, I had them remove the lens in my glasses for that eye
> and wore them until it was time to get a new lens. I usually wore
> contacts then, so just didn't put a contact in that eye until I got new
> contacts for that eye.
>
> You will probably have difficulty with the different size of the images,
> assuming that they fixed the cataract eye refraction and you are still
> nearsighted in the other eye. This often causes people to see double. I
> was very glad when I got my second eye done because this was also the case
> for me.
>
> --
> Dan Abel
> Sonoma State University
> AIS
> (E-Mail Removed)

In article <Oayrc.2040$PU5.613@fed1read06>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>
>After my first cataract operation two years ago I removed that lens from my
>glasses myself and wore them with little or no problem for over six weeks
>until I got a new refraction filled. Like the orignal poster, I too had a
>very strong correction in the remaining lens and about 20 - 40 in the
>operated eye. When they sent me to the optometrist for the new refraction,
>she added a "slab-off" correction so the two eyes would see the same. I
>understand the slab-off is a prism or sub-lens that handles this problem -
>in my case perfectly. I never could see the slab-off lens in the new
>glasses and in fact don't know if it went into the corrected eye lens or the
>old high correction lens. Two weeks ago I had the other eye operated on for
>a cataract and the opthalmologist ensured not only that the old high
>correction was removed the 2nd day, but that I had a "plain" plastic lens
>inserted as a temporary measure so I wouldn't poke myself in the eye. The
>optometrist made the plain lens in about 15 minutes for $30 dollars and put
>it in. It will stay there for a couple more weeks until I get a new
>refraction and have them sent off for filling.
>
>Regards
>

Thanks for the reply. Nice to know there is a "fix". I mentioned that I had
read somewhere about a slab or something to my ophthalmologist and his response
was something like "no you don't want to get into that". Can't understand
why he is so bent on no glasses. I can't stand having eyes being so different.

Maybe I should ask for a monocle?

BTW did you have any "floaters" (cloudy or black debris) after surgery?

"Rodent" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Ctvrc.4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in my
> left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers), a
> line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye
is
> getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
> still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses. The
> difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
> instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also I
> had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens now
> which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
> than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was "don't
> wear the glasses". He told me to return in 3 weeks and said goodbye. From
> about 10" to 24" I can't see anything without the damn glasses! I was so
> stunned by his cavaleer attitude I forgot to remind him of this little
fact
> (he's been my eye doctor for about 20 years duh!).

Is the size difference only apparent with the glasses on? Is the watering,
discomfort etc worse with the glasses on? If so, then his advice on how to
resolve the size difference was right: don't wear the glasses.

Unfortunately, until your eye is healed it is not possible to get a reliable
refraction and a lens that will improve the vision in the left eye. All
post cataract patients who had significant refractive error pre surgery have
this problem and nothing can be done about it until 6 to 8 weeks after
surgery.

If you have taken the left lens out of your glasses and you feel more
comfortable with the glasses on, there is no harm in wearing them.

Dr Judy

>
> I starting to wonder if he knows what he's doing. I've only had routine
> exams prescriptions until now so he's never been "tested". There are other
> issues like the floater/debris field that moves back and forth, the tiny
> specks that don't move, etc. Anyone have this done, or have any thoughts?

Floaters, flecks, specs etc are not uncommon after surgery. Your doctor is
checking you and will be looking for serious post surgery effects.

>
> PS. I'm 46 yrs old
>

It is difficuilt to wear a pair of glasses with one eye plano and the other
eye wearing a strong minus lens. This is due to the difference in image size
and the prismatic effects as you move your gaze from side to side and up and
down. if your right va is 20/20 then without the spectacles you are
depending on the left eye to see. This reduces your va to 20/40 from 20/20.
Ask to be fitted with a contact lens in your right eye. That should solve
the problem.

Roland J. Izaac
--
Dan Abel <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dabel-(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <Ctvrc.4$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> (Rodent) wrote:
>
> > I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in
my
> > left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers),
a
> > line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye
is
> > getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
> > still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses.
The
> > difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
> > instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also
I
> > had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens
now
> > which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
> > than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was
"don't
>
>
> Doesn't make sense to me. I keep hearing that glasses can't hurt you, so
> if wearing them is better, why not wear them? When I had my first
> cataract removed, I had them remove the lens in my glasses for that eye
> and wore them until it was time to get a new lens. I usually wore
> contacts then, so just didn't put a contact in that eye until I got new
> contacts for that eye.
>
> You will probably have difficulty with the different size of the images,
> assuming that they fixed the cataract eye refraction and you are still
> nearsighted in the other eye. This often causes people to see double. I
> was very glad when I got my second eye done because this was also the case
> for me.
>
> --
> Dan Abel
> Sonoma State University
> AIS
> (E-Mail Removed)

1. Consult another ophthalmologist.
2. Suggest to both of them that you try wearing a contact lens in *one* eye
(probably the non-operated eye) to make the two eyes match. See how they
respond.

Rodent wrote:

> Maybe I should ask for a monocle?

Or a contact lens. Disposables are very comfortable.


>
>
> BTW did you have any "floaters" (cloudy or black debris) after surgery?

Yes. They are common, and your surgeon should have mentioned them as a
possibility.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Richard Schumacher
<no-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> 1. Consult another ophthalmologist.
> 2. Suggest to both of them that you try wearing a contact lens in *one* eye
> (probably the non-operated eye) to make the two eyes match. See how they
> respond.


My OMD was very good about this. He warned me about possible problems
some years before the surgery, when cataract was first found. He strongly
suggested that I try wearing contacts, so I would know what my options
were well before I needed to make decisions about how I wanted my vision
to be after the surgery. He suggested wearing them for a year, at which
time I would know how they worked, and I could decide at that time to stop
wearing them until I needed to. He also said that many people with my
eyesight (high myopia) decided to continue wearing contacts after the
year. I in fact did.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS
(E-Mail Removed)

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...
>
>On Fri, 21 May 2004 22:34:10 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) (Rodent) wrote:
>
>>I recently (2 weeks ago) had a cataract removed and a lens implanted in my
>>left eye. I was very nearsighted prior to surgery (don't have numbers), a
>>line below the big E was about it on eye chart. My vision in implant eye is
>>getting better (about 20/40 today I think) however since my right eye is
>>still very poor far vision it is very difficult to go without glasses. The
>>difference in acuity causes right eye to water,hurt etc. My eye doctor
>>instructed me to *not* wear my glasses even though I told him this. Also I
>>had to remove (L)lens from eyeglasses since eyeball has it's own lens now
>>which has resulted in (close) items in left eye looking about 25% bigger
>>than items in right eye. I again told him this and his response was "don't
>>wear the glasses". He told me to return in 3 weeks and said goodbye. From
>>about 10" to 24" I can't see anything without the damn glasses! I was so
>>stunned by his cavaleer attitude I forgot to remind him of this little fact
>>(he's been my eye doctor for about 20 years duh!).
>>
>>I starting to wonder if he knows what he's doing. I've only had routine
>>exams prescriptions until now so he's never been "tested". There are other
>>issues like the floater/debris field that moves back and forth, the tiny
>>specks that don't move, etc. Anyone have this done, or have any thoughts?
>>
>>PS. I'm 46 yrs old
>
>I hope that you have a cataract in the other eye that will require surgery in
>the relatively near future. If not, I would question the wisdom of using an
IOL
>power that would leave you with (considerably?) different Rxs in each eye. Was
>this discussed before the surgery?
>
>The surgeon is almost always performing this surgery on much older folks, who
>are probably retired, and not as active visually. Waiting three or four weeks
>for the eye to stabilize before prescribing corrective lenses is usually not
too
>much of a burden. Your situation is quite a bit different, working full time,
>driving a car every day, etc. I would expect the doc to Rx no more than one
week
>after the surgery, even if it's just a temporary lens.
>
>When you have the new Rx (for both eyes) post it here so we can give you a
>better idea on what to expect.
>
>Hope this helps
>
I do actually have a (very early) cataract in other eye. None of the
problems I'm having were revieved with me prior to surgery. I'm really
begining to wonder if my eye doc. is incompetent. He is really pushing
for no glasses! Even if I do get other eye done I don't know if I
knowingly would have agreed to giving up my close vision.