WWA Info Exchange

My right eye is about 30 days out of cataract surgery and lens implant. The difference is really great. I can see ticks on a hound dog from 100'. I am reading without my glasses of 30 years. I add that reading and computering are major activities.

BUT, (the everlasting "but") now that eye begins to to burn after a couple of hours reading or computering. Is this normal? Will it go away? Should I shoot myself?

Or maybe go back to glasses for reading and computering.

Comments welcomed. Comments with experience really welcomed!

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Jess
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Have your eye doctor check for "Dry Eye Syndrome", Jess. Since my cataract surgery, my eyes get cloudy at times, especially in the morning, and get itchy, scratchy often. The eye doctor put some sort of drops in my eyes, looked at them through his scope, an determined the tear ducts were working, but just not as efficiently as they should be.

My right eye tends to be drier than my left. I now use an over-the-counter eye drops: Systane Ultra High Performance Lubricant Eye Drops. Not too expensive, and it definitely helps.

Hope that helps.

Verna

Getting old sucks.

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Verna beat me to it Jess. Systane is the way to go. It's worse on Computers because we tend to blink much much less than normal.

Ray

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Thanks to both re: the eye drops. On my list for first thing tomorrow. And you are right, Yank.

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Jess
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I'm one week after sugery on my right eye, hope it's better by 30 days. Still a little pain in the eyelid but doc. says it is progressing well. I'll be glad when I regain my depth perception.

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Uncle Fixit

Got the Systane, and it helps. No doubt about it. Thanks to both.

Frank - I had both eyes done, two weeks apart. No pain to speak of with either one, and the seeing improvement was great right out of the box. There was a little confusion during the interim two weeks between eyes, because the old glasses didn't work with the new eye, but all came into focus after the second one was done. I am extremely pleased with the overall results, although one eye gets tired quicker now, but the Systane drops are helping thanks to the good folks on this forum. I see the eye doc next week for the final exam, but think everything is fine. Hope yours goes as well.

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Jess
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I need to get both of mine done this year.

My concern is what to do in the interum.

I am a heavy computer user and will need to be able to work in between eyes. I am thinking about going with the far-sighted option vs the near-sighted one. I currently I am near-sighted.

So it looks like I am going to have to do something with my glasses during the switch over. This could be a mess I guess I need to talk this over with the doctor and figure this out now.

John, my eyes had to "heal" for 6 weeks before the eye Dr. would prescribe new eyeglass lenses. I could see with my old prescription up close, but it sure was difficult to see distance clearly. It sure did try my patience!!

Yes, make sure to discuss with your Dr. I chose to not get the Lasik type of lenses ($800 for me out of pocket) simply because I was used to being near-sighted and I was still going to need to wear eye glasses. It wasn't an economic decision as much as simply a user decision. If I had to wear glasses, it might as well be what I was used to for over 40 years. You may decide differently.

Verna

The spectacle prescription has to stabilize after the operation. we can come up with a prescription but it would be a waste of the patient's money to dispense it.

Ray

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I aim to live for ever.... and it's taking me that long to get my workshop finished!

JohnT -

I use the computer a lot also, and between eyes, I used my old glasses with a patch over the new eye. Worked OK, but no depth perception. However, it was only two weeks between eyes.

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Jess
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You should have had my surgeon......one day one eye, the next day the other eye. Third day a check-up with my own eye Dr. Thank goodness I was on vacation!!!!

Verna

Thanks for the advice.

Yes they did offer some implants that would just about eliminate the need for glasses but it was going to be about $6K per eye. I don't think that I would get that much extra use out of my eyes so I am going to stick with the full-coverage implants. You'all brought up a good point. If I stuck with being near-sighted I could use my existing glasses while all this changing was going on.

Another thought struck me, reading in bed, if I had to wear reading glasses I would have problems wearing my CPAP and reading in bed. That is one of my favorite things to do.

Anyone had an option of having bifocals done with the surgery? An option they mentioned to my wife but it doesn't sound too good to me, not sure why.

Herbertoo, I'm not too sure about that idea, especially in my case. I'm on my 3rd prescription change since my cataract surgery 2 1/2 years ago. And, yes, I do wear no-line bi-focals (I can be vain if I want ).

But anyway, this year's prescription change was almost as drastic as when I got my first prescription change after the surgery. It was unexpected, especially to my eye Dr.

So, if some cataract surgeries are expected to reduce the need for bi-focals, then if you have bi-focal implants....what would that do on down the road. Seems like just having the "normal" implants would be the safest bet.

Just my 2 cents.

Verna

Hebertoo- I'll echo Verna. My doc sells glasses also, but he said we needed to wait at least a month after the last surgery for things to stabilize before doing the new prescription. I just did this after the one month exam, but have not yet received the new glasses.

My left eye has been great, but the right one got easily irritated after the surgery. The drops Verna and Turnpike suggested help a lot, and it seems to be improving. The Doc did not find anything wrong on the exam, but he did suggest holding a washcloth soaked in hot water on the eyes for a few moments in the morning. It helps also. Sunglasses are almost a necessity when driving at the moment, but the main thing is I can see like an eagle without glasses and even read without them if the print is not real small.

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I'm having the surgery done on my left eye on Aug. 2nd. Don't have much sight in my right eye and haven't for about 15 years (retinal detachment that wouldn't stay fixed) so no need for it there. Hope to be able to see a lot better. As it is now, I dare not drive at night or on the freeways, and in southern California that's a near-death sentence. But with my wife as driver, I'm managing.

Good luck, Bill. Night driving definitely improved after the surgery....but I still don't like those bluish headlights!!

Verna

Yes, good luck, Bill,

Based on my experience, it will be a big improvement. Let us know how it goes.

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Jess
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Had an appointment with my eye doc. Tuesday, scheduled to meet my eye surgeon next Wednesday (August 8Th) and get scheduled for surgery then.
My left eye is far worse than the right but Doc said that they would do both eyes anyway. Last October he got me to 20/30 with glasses and he cant even come close to that with lenses now.
I'm getting along OK now but, am having trouble with scroll sawing. After about 4 minutes my eyes start burning and watering to the point that I have to stop and rest them for a minute or two.
Still have mixed emotions about all of this but, I figure it is better than being almost blind.

Rog

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