Wellness

[Moonchilde]

Something to keep in mind as far as having cataract surgery and the implantable lenses - 

If you have not needed glasses throughout much of your life, and pretty much only need reader-type glasses for those whose vision naturally deteriorates after age 40-50, then having cataract surgery to remove them, and intraocular lenses implanted, may indeed mean you will be finctional without glasses.

But if you have always worn glasses, starting in childhood, teens or 20s and are pretty nearsighted and/or have astigmatism, don't think that your whole issue will for sure be "cured" by cataract surgery and the right IOL.

I have worn glasses since childhood. With cataract surgery, for one eye I paid $1400 for the astigmatic lens, which I didn't need in the other eye. I couldn't afford the $2700 it was going to cost me for the Progressive lens in the other eye, so I went with the lens Medicare pays for. I still need glasses, Progressives, to function. I will have to pay the fortune they cost forever, because intraocular lenses do not work miracles on everyone.

The cost-to-patient for the specialized lenses varies by region, state and metropolitan area.  Generally cheaper in the Midwest, very expensive on the west coast. It's not like you want to go shopping for who has the cheapest :-(

Just things to keep in mind.

[violann]

@Moonchilde, I think your advice is both accurate and helpful, but in my specific case, my muscle surgery would have served me better if it had been done BEFORE my cataract surgery.

I wore glasss from the age of 9, and since my eye surgery use only low magnification OTC glasses.

If I'd known how to complain better, I would have had a corrective implant during my cataract sugery and  wouldn't be wearing glasses for anything.

[Moonchilde]

---

@violann wrote:

@Moonchilde, I think your advice is both accurate and helpful, but in my specific case, my muscle surgery would have served me better if it had been done BEFORE my cataract surgery.

I wore glasss from the age of 9, and since my eye surgery use only low magnification OTC glasses.

If I'd known how to complain better, I would have had a corrective implant during my cataract sugery and  wouldn't be wearing glasses for anything.

---

I'm not sure why you'd always been told your strabismus muscle surgery (what it sounds like you had based on your description) was impossible. It's usually visible to the naked eye and often causes double vision. I have worn glasses since the age of 6, am nearly your age, and my strabismus was seen as a child and I was recommended to have surgery then, but I didn't have it until I was 21. Very lucky that I never saw double, my correction was for cosmetic reasons.

[violann]

I had double vision for 30 years or more, but I think before that I was able to focus on a single image, but if I were tired or sick, I had double vision even before then.

My mother thought my eye was crossed when I was about 18 months old, but the ophthalmologist said it wasn't, then as an adult I went to the SAME ophthalmologist and he painstakingly designed my prisms until he retired.

In my own experience, it seemed to me that as long as my vision could be corrected with prisms other doctors didn't want to bother with the problem.

My crossed eye was certainly very obvious to me, but with thick prism trifocals it was probably not quite as obvious to others.

I've been married almost 40 years and DH didn't know I had constant double vision until I went to the pediatric eye surgeon. It was such a constant to me that it never occurred to me that no one else knew it.

The surgeon invited him into the examining room when she did the planning exam for my surgery, and when she used prisms to measure the correction, I started to cry. For those who live with it, double vision is a real curse.

[Moonchilde]

---

@violann wrote:

I had double vision for 30 years or more, but I think before that I was able to focus on a single image, but if I were tired or sick, I had double vision even before then.

My mother thought my eye was crossed when I was about 18 months old, but the ophthalmologist said it wasn't, then as an adult I went to the SAME ophthalmologist and he painstakingly designed my prisms until he retired.

In my own experience, it seemed to me that as long as my vision could be corrected with prisms other doctors didn't want to bother with the problem.

My crossed eye was certainly very obvious to me, but with thick prism trifocals it was probably not quite as obvious to others.

I've been married almost 40 years and DH didn't know I had constant double vision until I went to the pediatric eye surgeon. It was such a constant to me that it never occurred to me that no one else knew it.

The surgeon invited him into the examining room when she did the planning exam for my surgery, and when she used prisms to measure the correction, I started to cry. For those who live with it, double vision is a real curse.

---

I'm very sure it is, and very lucky my issue was only cosmetic. So happy for you that you have a fix!

[halfpint1]

I too would give anything if my crossed eye could have been fixed. In gym class I didn't want to take my glasses off.  I had it since I was a baby. My mom said I had operations but I don't remember any of it. I can't even see the big E. It has made me fearful of trying anything like driving,skating,bicycling swimming etc. and  I am introverted. I know I should be thankful I can see out of the other eye. I have a cataract in that eye but it was said I don't need an operation yet.

[violann]

@halfpint1 Do I recall correctly that you have NO vision in your crossed eye?

Has a consult with a pediatric ophthalmological surgeon ever been mentioned as a possibility for you?

[halfpint1]

violann-I have vision -not looking through the thing at the doctors--forgot what it is called. I close my good eye and and can't make out the whole shape or read what is on tv now.  I am 78 so too late.

[violann]

---

@halfpint1 wrote:

violann-I have vision -not looking through the thing at the doctors--forgot what it is called. I close my good eye and and can't make out the whole shape or read what is on tv now.  I am 78 so too late.

---

Of course that is TOTALLY up to you, but I was 68 when mine was done, a VERY easy surgery, but miracle results. If you are looking through both eyes together, do you have double vision?

[adoreqvc]

Eye glass cord holders would be best to use as each end attaches to your eyeglass arms, so they remain on your neck in front of you and therefore cannot fall into the toilet.