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Yesterday I saw the eye surgeon and it's now going on three years and I'm still being told I have to wait to get cataract surgery. I am so frustrated with this.
My biggest problem is light sensitivity. It affects depth perception, especially at night. I have dimmer lights in the home, can't drive at night, can't drive into the setting sun or when rain is on the ground. More window coverings because the light coming in wakes me up from a sound sleep - My eyes hurt. Headaches in the sun with dark glasses. . . A persistent ache like a sunburn when I'm driving during the day. My life right now is run with this light sensitivity issue. It effects every aspect of my life.
So the surgeon says the cataract may not be causing all that light sensitivity. I get it. But those are my main issues. Lately I've also had a gray . . Not floaters but a see thru veil when I'm on the computer and I have to keep blinking to clear them and look away. The effect is like squinting and looking thru your eye lashes -- That is what I deal with all the time but I notice it more on light colored walls and the computer. If I stare I notice them more. Then it goes into eye strain. . . All this I know is from the cataracts.
So this is the third eye surgeon that said to wait, the cataracts I have are slow growing and instead of the 35% of one surgeon he said 2 out of 10. Still small. Three years of this waiting.
If anyone else has had something like this I'd love to hear from you. For those that don't, if you have light sensitivity before surgery and if surgery helped -- I'd love to compare notes. I'm wondering how much more I can take of this to where I can't leave the house until the sun is going down but be home before full dark. ..And only drive on lit streets. I feel like I'm boxed in.
OP: I was told I had cataracts forming over 20 yrs ago and I was Never anxious to do any surgery. I've kept my eyes in good shape with eye supports. And of course, sun glasses during bright and sun days. I was fine at night when I drove but pretty much stopped a lot of night driving some years back. Not much need for that in my life. No surgery and eyes are doing good at 80. Do you use any eye supports/vitamins? And I've been using Simalsian for dry eyes for years.
I have a small amt of floaters but much less than say 10+ yrs ago.
I have dry eye trouble and do use Refresh Tears twice a day, sometimes more often. While I agree with you surgery is always a last result. . . Everything I've heard about cataract surgery is so positive. 'I feel young' and 'Seeing colors' and 'My vision has never been this good'.
I did some research on eye health and have been eating the foods recommended - Omega3's, kale, and spinach. Eating healthy always has benefits. Part of the problem is living in South Texas with the bright blinding sun. I'm looking into the link you sent Jaminhealth - Thanks again ))
Op I had similar symptoms as you, light sensitivity, color fading, and cataracts. Ophthalmologist recommended lasik surgery with 'Toric Lenses" implanted. I went that direction and it's the best decision I ever made, no sunglasses needed, no night light or night driving problems, colors are very dramatic, focus is so sharp I can see pixels on the TV from 8-10 feet away.
I have dry eye trouble and do use Refresh Tears twice a day, sometimes more often. While I agree with you surgery is always a last result. . . Everything I've heard about cataract surgery is so positive. 'I feel young' and 'Seeing colors' and 'My vision has never been this good'.
I did some research on eye health and have been eating the foods recommended - Omega3's, kale, and spinach. Eating healthy always has benefits. Part of the problem is living in South Texas with the bright blinding sun. I'm looking into the link you sent Jaminhealth - Thanks again ))
Yes, we are told cataract surgeries are for the most part successful, BUT some are not. My next door neighbor had one eye done by a Kaiser MD about a year ago and she's a bag of stress as it was a failed one and now the other eye is failing her.
She claims to be stuck with Kaiser for now but will have to seek out other specialists...she keeps waiting for K to correct things and it's not happening. I have to back away or I'll go nuts. I surely don't want her to lose her sight.
Wear those protective glasses in the blinding sun.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 12-25-2018 at 03:03 PM..
Reason: off topic
Yesterday I saw the eye surgeon and it's now going on three years and I'm still being told I have to wait to get cataract surgery. I am so frustrated with this.
My biggest problem is light sensitivity. It affects depth perception, especially at night. I have dimmer lights in the home, can't drive at night, can't drive into the setting sun or when rain is on the ground. More window coverings because the light coming in wakes me up from a sound sleep - My eyes hurt. Headaches in the sun with dark glasses. . . A persistent ache like a sunburn when I'm driving during the day. My life right now is run with this light sensitivity issue. It effects every aspect of my life.
So the surgeon says the cataract may not be causing all that light sensitivity. I get it. But those are my main issues. Lately I've also had a gray . . Not floaters but a see thru veil when I'm on the computer and I have to keep blinking to clear them and look away. The effect is like squinting and looking thru your eye lashes -- That is what I deal with all the time but I notice it more on light colored walls and the computer. If I stare I notice them more. Then it goes into eye strain. . . All this I know is from the cataracts.
So this is the third eye surgeon that said to wait, the cataracts I have are slow growing and instead of the 35% of one surgeon he said 2 out of 10. Still small. Three years of this waiting.
If anyone else has had something like this I'd love to hear from you. For those that don't, if you have light sensitivity before surgery and if surgery helped -- I'd love to compare notes. I'm wondering how much more I can take of this to where I can't leave the house until the sun is going down but be home before full dark. ..And only drive on lit streets. I feel like I'm boxed in.
If your cataracts are small, they likely are not interfering with your vision significantly, you don't need cataract surgery and you might not even notice much difference in the results after the surgery. Believe me, if your surgeon thought you needed surgery he/she would not hesitiate to recommend it.
When cataracts get big enough to negatively affect vision, generally the person notices blurring of vision, inability to read street signs when driving, perhaps a distortion of colors, and sensitivity to glare, especially at night (causes the person to see big time halos around light sources which makes seeing at night (and driving at night) very difficult. But I don't think cataracts per se cause the extreme sensitivity to light you describe.
I had cataract surgery several years ago after I noted a significant change in my vision over a short period of time.I've always been very nearsighted, and just assumed at the time I needed new glasses, but they found significant cataracts. The effect these had on my vision were as described above, and while my eyes have always been sensitive to bright lights (I live in Florida and have blue eyes, so have always worn sunglasses and seldom go outside without them). I didn't notice any decrease at all to this light sensitivity after my cataract surgery, if anything I think it made me more sensitive since the slight brownish tinge of the cataracts before I had them removed and replaced by the clear IOL's might have mitigated the effects of the sun/bright lights some. And now that my visual world after cataract surgery is clear and colors bright and intense, I absolutely cannot spend any time at all in the sun without some sunglass protection, but that helps a great deal.
The only thing I can suggest at this point, is if you've had your eyes checked out for other conditions that might cause undue light sensitivity, just keep some good sunglasses on hand and wear them every time you go outside.
macular drusen is what I was told causing my glare issues, not the cataract, which I have two types of: one I was born with and another that progressed with age. Dry eyes are my issues, too. Suggested green vegetable on my menu. Huge issue with oncoming cars during the night time and am using those light screeners in car any time, sun is out while i drive. So, look into those drusen(s) which might be same for you as for me, causing troubles with light glare (either driving, being on phone, laptop, desktop). In my case my eyes troubles are all inherited from my parents.
My sensitivity to light increased after my cataract surgery last year. Not to the point that it's a problem, though. And my night vision, which had made me reluctant to drive after dark, is improved enough that I no longer worry about it.
You may have Fuch's Dystrophy. Ask your ophthalmologist about it, don't see any other kind of eye doc. I use night vision yellow glasses at night sometimes - cuts down on glare a lot.
Yes, we are told cataract surgeries are for the most part successful, BUT some are not. My next door neighbor had one eye done by a Kaiser MD about a year ago and she's a bag of stress as it was a failed one and now the other eye is failing her.
She claims to be stuck with Kaiser for now but will have to seek out other specialists...she keeps waiting for K to correct things and it's not happening. I have to back away or I'll go nuts. I surely don't want her to lose her sight.
Wear those protective glasses in the blinding sun.
In general the most frequent two cases of cataract surgery not going well is usually in people who either had refractive surgery in the past or are heavily nearsighted. It’s fairly rare that cataract surgery goes wrong in someone who is 20/20 or close to it who didn’t get refractive surgery at some point earlier in their life. Unfortunately we are likely to see the numbers go up though because fewer and fewer people are reaching cataract age at 20/20 vision or close to it. Prior to computers, smartphones etc it was virtually unheard of for any person to ever see their distance vision in the absence of disease worsen after age 30 and close to zero chance of a nearsighted person seeing their prescription markedly change after 30. That is now becoming highly common. It’s not at all unusual now for someone to be 20/20 til age 40-45 and then find themselves being -1.50 at age 60. As a result I expect complication numbers will rise over the next 1-2 decades unless perhaps the human eye evolves over time to resist age related changes caused by electronic device usage. That is certainly a possibility but it could take 100 years for that to occur
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