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Thanks, guys. I'm so scared right now. I'm young so if I pick the wrong lenses or something happens... ugh. It's just a lot to process. I'm grateful for your replies.
I can understand your being scared about this surgery especially as it's just been sprung on you and you are young. It might or might not help to tell you how successful cataract surgery is for the major majority of those who have it, as it's you and it's much easier listen to someone waxing poetic about the other guy.
That said, if you are having vision problems from the cataracts you will be amazed at how much better you see after the surgery. The surgery does go quickly, there is very little if any discomfort and no pain, and very little down time.
Regarding the type of intraocular lenses you get, that would be a matter best discussed with your eye doctor. They should offer you information and answer your questions about the types of lenses available, and they can discuss your best options with you, considering your lifestyle, your willingness to wear glasses for closeup work and your own preferences.
I don't know about insurance, I would assume in regards to paying for the surgery and the lenses they're similar to Medicare, which covers the cost of the surgery under the terms of its contract with the provider (80% of the approved amount including the cost of a monocular intraocular lens for Medicare), but they probably don't pay the extra costs for the lenses for astigmatism or the far/close vison lenses. That you can determine by talking with your insurance provider. I have heard a number of folks who've gotten the multiocular lenses for both distance and close vision have not been happy with them, mostly
because of glare. But I also know other folks who got these lenses and love them, love that they don't need glasses for anything. Your mileage may vary, so if you are interested in the multiocular lenses, the discussion with your doc might include success rates for his/her patients who have gotten these lenses, and improvements made in these lenses to avoid problems patients have had in the past with them.
All that said, I had cataract surgery two yrs ago and got an monocular IOP, so I see 20/20 for distance vision and need reading glasses for closeup work, reading or computer work. Fortunately the drug store cheapie read ingredients glasses work for me just fine for reading and other closeup work, as well as computer work. You can get those anywhere- any drug store, discount dollar store, Walmart, etc and you can get a prescription from your eye doctor for the strength you need. They're cheap, so you don't have to worry about losing them and you can keep several pairs around so you don't have to go looking for them when you need them.
Anyhow, best of luck, and before long you will realize that this is just a minor hurdle in your life, and what scares and overwhelms you right now will be behind you before you know it.
OP, complications are quite rare. You will undoubtedly be in good hands and have a very good outcome.
I was in your position about 7 months ago, and I started this thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/healt...gery-week.html . I'm posting it here not to hijack your thread, but to give you more reassurance. Posters in my thread certainly knew how scared I was, and I was really grateful for their stories and their kindness.
RE: glasses after surgery, I got the mono lenses as (1) the multifocal lenses weren't covered by insurance and would have cost a few thousand dollars out of pocket and (2) my surgeon doesn't generally recommend the multifocal lenses due to a few problems with them. Pre-surgery, I wore glasses for distance and even they could not help with one of my eyes as the cataract was so advanced; I didn't wear glasses for reading, which was unusual at my age (56), but was told I would likely need them post-surgery.
Well, post-surgery, I don't have to wear glasses for anything. I actually GOT glasses in a very very weak prescription simply because I thought they might be good to have when I am driving at night on unfamiliar roads, but I had to laugh when I got them as they made almost no difference. What I really enjoy is STILL not having to wear them for reading. I did increase the font on my Kindle by 1 setting, but I usually read at the next-to-smallest setting anyway, so I'm still reading very small print with no trouble. The ONLY thing that I have trouble reading is my iPhone in bed in the dark -- but I shouldn't be surfing the Internet in bed anyway (bad sleep hygiene ) so that's OK.
Best of luck to you -- and please keep us posted!
Karen, I remember how scared you were before you had your surgery, and thinking that you (like so many of us) would be amazed at how easy-peasy it went, and how much better you would see when the surgery was behind you. I'm so glad to see your posts here encouraging somebody else who's now in that boat!
And I'm happy to see that you are doing so well after the surgery.
Thank you for your extensive replies. It does help! Just a bit overwhelmed right now & my anxiety is raging. Hence coming online to talk to strangers.
I wanted to ask you both (and anyone else that has had cataracts), did they effect your eyes in many different ways? My main issue right now is that I see halos & starbursts around lights at night (and in the daytime too but it's less bothersome). The glare from headlights, brake lights & the sun is very hard on my eyes. Very uncomfortable. In addition to that though, I'm seeing mild after images much more easily than I used to. If it's dark & I turn on a light, it takes my eyes longer to adjust & I'll often have a negative afterimage. Or if I'm on the computer or watching TV & then I look to the wall, I'll see the light from them for about 1 second. It's nothing major but my eyes never used to do these things. I would assume it's cataract related (and I did have my eyes examined very recently) but it's scaring me because my vision is so different from just a few years ago. My eyes take awhile to adjust when going from light to dark or dark to light, plus after images & discomfort from glare.
Is that normal? And yes, I'll ask my doctor too when I see him next.
On my 2 cataract surgeries it took a month for the first eye to resolve the blurry vision and the halos around lights,the second eye was back to normal after 2 weeks, i am still very sensitive to bright lights so i wear sunglasses when going out during the daytime.
I got my eyes voluntarily lasered so I could stop wearing glasses.
I never hesitated for a second.
The risk was so, so worth it!
There is a difference between laser eye surgery and cataract surgery, the Lasik procedure adjusts the eye in some way as to make the wearing of glasses no longer necessarry while the cataract surgery replaces the entire lens with plastic ocular implants..
Thanks, guys. I'm so scared right now. I'm young so if I pick the wrong lenses or something happens... ugh. It's just a lot to process. I'm grateful for your replies.
Just want to assure you, it is very unlikely anything will go wrong. yes, you are very young. I just had a friend that had it done; she was in her 50s which is also young. I was older when I had mine done. Today it is justso easy. I had mine done and went out for breakfast right afterwards. I did have a mild complecation after my first one was done but it was fairly mild. Problems are rare and never really serious.
Thanks, nmnita! So you're ok now? Your friend is fine too? I'm glad!
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) so that's OK.
