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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
Well, I must have been lucky because I was very nearsighted most of my life ( 20/600 in my right eye, 20/300 in the left), requiring corrective lenses. I wore hard contact lenses for about 12 yrs, glasses the rest of the time, no refractive surgery. So in my mid 60's, large cataracts in both eyes made me able to see only colors and general shapes in the right eye, a bit more detail in the left. The cataract surgery I had, with the implantation of monocular distance lenses in both eyes has left me with 20/20 vision in both eyes and the need for glasses only for reading and other close up work.
Well, I must have been lucky because I was very nearsighted most of my life ( 20/600 in my right eye, 20/300 in the left), requiring corrective lenses. I wore hard contact lenses for about 12 yrs, glasses the rest of the time, no refractive surgery. So in my mid 60's, large cataracts in both eyes made me able to see only colors and general shapes in the right eye, a bit more detail in the left. The cataract surgery I had, with the implantation of monocular distance lenses in both eyes has left me with 20/20 vision in both eyes and the need for glasses only for reading and other close up work.
20/600 and 300 is still in the safe range. That’s -3 and -6. Most cataract/LASIK procedures are likely to be successful up about the -6 threshold. Once you start going under that risk of not getting desired result rises significantly. It’s generally not expected that someone who is -10 and develops cataracts will get to 20/20 after the procedure. Many surgeons in that case will recommend inserting a lens that gets the patient to -2 and will wear corrective lenses. For someone who is -8, 10, or 12 their entire lives being -2 suddenly is still a miracle to them. Most nearsighted people fall between -1 and -3 and can’t comprehehnd what life is like for someone who is -10. They can’t shave, put on makeup, operate effectively in the shower, or after age 40 take their glasses off and see the computer screen 2 feet in front of them. I remember how thrilled my dad was at 48 when he got -2 lenses put in after cataract surgery after being -11 since age 10. It was like a person who was mildly nearsighteded waking up after lasik
Had mine done about a month or two apart, 11 years ago and have had only 1 problem.I did have to have a film removed after my first eye. There was almost nothing to it and am fine now. I am really bad about wearing sun glasses, so this doesn't help. Hubby, at 82 still hasn't had to have his done. They keep telling him he doesn't need them removed. He takes very good care of his eyes. If the doctor says you do not need them removed trust him or change doctors.
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