Can We Talk Cataract Surgery?

[Moscyn]

I have done cataract surgery for both eyes already and despite a side effect of seeing glares, I am please with the results. Both of my eyes were very myopic and have macular degeneration (one of which underwent a major surgery to repair tear, internal bleeding and excessive floaters). so the cataract surgery meant I need not wear contact lenses and glasses anymore (now monovision and I try not to read too long). With contact lenses (even the disposable permeable ones), I avoid sleeping or napping with them. Now, I just nap or doze off anytime I want. When I wake up in the morning, I see clearly and that's so wonderful. Initially after the cataract surgery my eyes felt dry but soon I'm back to normal. But one should not rub their eyes after cataract surgery.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

I had it done on both eyes in 2 separate operations. Both had some complications. I was quite young to get cataracts but it was severely affecting my vision and was fairly gradual to be recognized. The first was done by the Navy in Bethesda and that one had a lot of pain in it and the eye needed stitches as I believe he botched the procedure. I waited on the second eye until I retired to Hungary and had it done here. The first eye has a US made lens and the second a Hungarian lens. Both are monovision and I see great far distance but cannot read or do anything within 3 feet without reading glasses. My second eye also had a partially detached retina so that had to be repaired first. In Hungary I paid cash for the surgeries and it came to about $900 total including everything. I am very happy with the outcome but my first eye needs laser cleaning as the lens is now clouded up with protein deposits. I was on high dose lipitor and cataracts are the most common side effect from using lipitor hence why I had cataracts at an early age. It was very interesting as I am a microbiologist and do a lot of work using a microscope and I kept complaining the lenses were dirty with large chunks of brown gunk inside them. It turns out that what I was seeing were actually my cataract deposits in the cornea. After the first surgery the gunk was gone from that eye. I was so certain the lenses needed cleaning. I also recall that when driving I kept seeing it raining in the distance especially when driving. Also, my vision was wonderful immediately after the surgery BUT I had hundreds of floaters including a few really big ones so now I see flocks of birds all the time when I look at the sky. I also have to be careful as I keep seeing flying insects but they are really only floaters. These are deposits in the vitreous humor and are impossible to remove. No one has devised a replacement fluid yet for vitreous humor and this dries up as you age and slowly detaches from the inside of the eye. Hopefully, someone is working on this. Oh, I also was awake for both surgeries and they both hurt like hell. The laser re-attachment also hurt terribly as I am completely resistant to local anesthetics.

 

[Moscyn]

Also, my vision was wonderful immediately after the surgery BUT I had hundreds of floaters including a few really big ones so now I see flocks of birds all the time when I look at the sky. I also have to be careful as I keep seeing flying insects but they are really only floaters. These are deposits in the vitreous humor and are impossible to remove. No one has devised a replacement fluid yet for vitreous humor and this dries up as you age and slowly detaches from the inside of the eye. Hopefully, someone is working on this.

The floaters can be removed - when I went for surgery for macular degeneration and repair retina tear in my right eye, the surgeon removed the floaters too. He said doing a surgery to solely remove floaters is not recommended because the procedure has high risks and may lead to retina detachment. Also, recovery is a long process and patient has to be on face down mode (i.e the head is always face down except when you need to put eye drip) for a number of weeks after surgery. I went through all that - now my right eye has no floaters but my left eye still have floaters - they are quite annoying.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

Floaters

I have more or less learned to live with them and expect the vitreous fluid to keep drying up which is what happens as we age and ultimately leads to macular degeneration. It seems to be hereditary as my mother has severe macular degeneration but is getting shots in the eye for it (at $2000 a pop). I read recently though that there has been significant progress using stem cells for macular repair. For me, I had the retina laser reattachment prior to the cataract surgery last (boy, that was painful!!!) so at least for my left eye I don't need surgery for that hopefully for a long time. I only have 1 really big floater in my left eye which wanders around as it seems to be free floating. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't but it doesn't follow my eye tracking as it moves independently. From this, I have concluded that my vitreous humor is nearly completely liquefied now. My doctor isn't all that concerned. The flock of bird issue is only a real problem outside. One thing I do notice is that my eyes are now extremely sensitive to sunlight and it takes me about 10 minutes to see again inside the house after working in the garden. Now, I wear sunglasses outside 100% of the time. My wife who doesn't have cataracts (yet) has huge floaters but in her case it was caused by hemmorhages on the retina. Interesting as she doesn't have high blood pressure and after a year they are still large so perhaps it is now just dead cells in the retina. I suppose it is time to go see our doctor again.