Avoiding Cataract Surgery and Getting New Eyeglasses

[Andrew Joiner]

I went in to get new glasses 15 months ago. I was told by an eye doctor (not a surgeon) that my vision couldn't be helped with new glasses and she stopped the exam half way through. They sell glasses there, but I was told not to bother getting new glasses as it would be a waste of money. I went back in and insisted on getting a copy of my prescription and got it. As I left I wondered if it was accurate since the exam stopped half way with the DR saying " you'll need surgery to drive" and "new glasses won't help" I got a pair of glasses made to the prescription online for $30 and they did improve my vision slightly.

Over the last year I did lots of research and talked to lots of friends about cataract surgery. Most friends that had the surgery are happy, but 2 had serious problems. I want to wait as long as I can to have surgery after hearing all their stories.
I did lots of vision tests with friends reading street signs. One thing I found is I could see as good or better than most people with my current glasses.

Recently I was in for an exam at an eye surgeon and got great news. Even though I qualify for cataract surgery my cataract is not worse and I can put off surgery.
The great news is my current glasses will allow me to pass my upcoming driver's license renewal. Better yet they can get me to 20/20 vision with new lenses!

Just wanting to encourage anyone here to get a second opinion if you've been told you "need" cataract surgery. New glasses may still help.

[John K Jordan]

My eye doctor (and eye surgeon) both have been "watching" my cataract progression for the last 20 years and both recommend to not get in a hurry but wait until it's really needed. Some progress very slowly, some faster. My Lovely Bride had to get the surgery long ago. I'm still fine both without glasses most of the time and with glasses for driving at night. (I have astigmatism and the wider pupil causes significant loss of acuity in low light.)

Like many potentially serious medical issues, it may be best to get a second opinion.

JKJ



I went in to get new glasses 15 months ago. I was told by an eye doctor (not a surgeon) that my vision couldn't be helped with new glasses and she stopped the exam half way through. They sell glasses there, but I was told not to bother getting new glasses as it would be a waste of money. I went back in and insisted on getting a copy of my prescription and got it. As I left I wondered if it was accurate since the exam stopped half way with the DR saying " you'll need surgery to drive" and "new glasses won't help" I got a pair of glasses made to the prescription online for $30 and they did improve my vision slightly.

Over the last year I did lots of research and talked to lots of friends about cataract surgery. Most friends that had the surgery are happy, but 2 had serious problems. I want to wait as long as I can to have surgery after hearing all their stories.
I did lots of vision tests with friends reading street signs. One thing I found is I could see as good or better than most people with my current glasses.

Recently I was in for an exam at an eye surgeon and got great news. Even though I qualify for cataract surgery my cataract is not worse and I can put off surgery.
The great news is my current glasses will allow me to pass my upcoming driver's license renewal. Better yet they can get me to 20/20 vision with new lenses!

Just wanting to encourage anyone here to get a second opinion if you've been told you "need" cataract surgery. New glasses may still help.

[roger wiegand]

I'm in the other camp -- the docs say my cataracts aren't bad enough to to justify surgery yet I clean my glasses 20 times a day in an effort to get rid of the smudge that isn't there. The cloudy spot drives me batwings. I keep hoping it will progress to the point where I can have something done about it.

[Mike Null]

I've had cataract surgery in the past year and it's nothing short of a miracle. Now, instead of using powerful trifocals, for most things I don't need glasses. I just ordered a light prescription reading glass for very fine print or low light situations but where there is good light I don't need glasses even for fine print.

I just passed my driver's test with no glasses. I'm 82.

[Jim Becker]

Everyone's situation is different and none of us can tell you what is the best solution for you. But we can suggest you get a second opinion from a qualified eye doctor relative to the current state of any cataracts you may have. "Where" they are can make a big difference, for example, on whether or not surgery is indicated sooner rather than later. Rate of growth projection and direction also matter. And AFAIK, the majority of folks who do have surgery these days have a successful experience and also much better vision afterward...often right up to 20/20. It's pretty darn routine now. My father had that experience and was able to stop even using glasses for quite awhile post-surgery and even then only for reading. I have some indication of cataracts coming into play in the future and like John, it's just being monitored at the present time. I would not hesitate about the surgery if it is indicated at some point. (I also did LASIK years ago and am glad I did, even with being marginal due to dry eye)

[Al Launier]

As others have stated it's a personal thing. If your cataract situation is causing you a loss in the quality of your life, then you should get a second opinion to get a current evaluation and an honest explanation of what you should expect in terms of vision correction: possible downsides, possible follow-up surgery, secondary cataracts, what lenses are available, i.e. singular or multi-focal, the need for reading glasses, and the need for daily maintenance. There is much to consider that an opthalmologist can provide.

Overall, cataract surgery is a very helpful solution for vision impairment. For many of us we need to help correct the effects of older age.

[Alan Rutherford]

If you want opinions on eye surgery, spend some time at your local gun club. Eyesight is pretty fundamental to marksmanship. 75% of the members will be over 65 and either contemplating eye surgery or already had it. I'm in the "contemplating" group and have talked to a lot of the others. Nearly everyone who had some kind of eye surgery was happy. The few exceptions involved misunderstandings about the process or what to expect from the results.

[Mike Cutler]

A lot of folks at work that are getting older, of which I have become one, have been getting the cataract surgery. Apparently they now correct your vision during the process and as it done during the surgery for cataracts, it is 100% covered by insurance. If you want corrective eye surgery alone, it isn't covered by our plan.
It's funny that guys that have worn glasses their entire lives are now not wearing them at all, and they're just happy as can be. The change in their demeanor is amazing.
Get the surgery when you are comfortable with having it done, and get the best Doc' available, even if you have to fly somewhere, and take a "vacation" with it.

[Wade Lippman]

I wear prescription ski goggles, so I have many conversations with people on the ski lift who used to need them but don't after cataract surgery. They all love it and say it restores their eyesight to what they had 30 years ago. My doctor says I am 5 years away, and I can't wait.

Now... it is possible that the people with bad results don't ski; but based on those I have spoken to, it is wonderful.

[Wade Lippman]

If you want opinions on eye surgery, spend some time at your local gun club. Eyesight is pretty fundamental to marksmanship. 75% of the members will be over 65 and either contemplating eye surgery or already had it. I'm in the "contemplating" group and have talked to a lot of the others. Nearly everyone who had some kind of eye surgery was happy. The few exceptions involved misunderstandings about the process or what to expect from the results.

At summer camps I was always the best shot by a considerable margin; while the other boys were getting 15/50, I was consistently getting 47/50. I attributed it to my 20/10 vision.
Fast forward 35 years when I went to Boy Scout camp with my son. I wore bifocals and couldn't focus on either the sights or the target. Took my 5 shots and couldn't believe I missed the target with all 5. Retrieved the target and found that I didn't see any hits because they were all in the black. I had the highest score of the thousands of targets that week.
So, I am not sure just how important eyesight is to shooting; as long as you know where the target is.

[andy bessette]

...I also did LASIK years ago and am glad I did...

I had LASIK eye surgery decades ago and wished I had not. It took care of my nearsightedness, but required that I use reading glasses, and most of my work is up close! Over time my vision has changed to where I can read pretty well without the reading glasses, but now my distance vision is becoming less sharp. I'm 75-years old.

[Andrew Joiner]

Thanks for the replies. It's a very personal decision.
I've worn glasses for 57 years since I was 10. I tried contacts when I was 30 and couldn't get use to them. I was a pro woodworker and the dust made contacts a bad choice. Then I dropped the vanity part and saw eyeglasses as a blessing. After all my eyeglasses had saved me from an eye injury a couple times. Now retired and my "all ways on" glasses protect me in the hobbies and sports I enjoy. Being able to see without eyeglasses isn't a benefit to me. So surgery is not as attractive to me.
I need to do more research, but deciding on permanently implanted lenses is not what I'm ready for. It's hard enough to get eyeglasses that work for all my needs. My main complaint is "dry eye" and my DR says surgery may not help that. My research and friends who've had surgery indicate if you have"dry eye"before it usually stays and can get worse.

My friend is an optician who qualifies for cataract surgery as well. We're of the same mindset, wait till you can't drive for surgery. We're going to try eyeglass lenses other than our current polycarbonate, probably cr-39 for better optical qualities. I currently have bifocals bumped up for arms length focus and computer use. I tried and returned progressive lenses 10 years ago. I hear the HD progressive are better, so I'll test them. In the last year my vision has blurred from 4' to 10' away. Hard to read labels over a store countertop.

I'm grateful my exam revealed I could be corrected to 20/20 with new glasses.

[Jim Becker]

I had LASIK eye surgery decades ago and wished I had not. It took care of my nearsightedness, but required that I use reading glasses, and most of my work is up close! Over time my vision has changed to where I can read pretty well without the reading glasses, but now my distance vision is becoming less sharp. I'm 75-years old.
I can very much relate, although I have no regrets at all. I was such a slave to my glasses that I couldn't even see the clock on my nightstand. On the day of my LASIK surgery (17 January 2003, 09:30) I went through the procedure and thought it took way too short of a time than I was expecting because the clock showed only ten minutes or so had passed since they started. Then...I realized that the clock was about 20 feet away on the wall. Yes, I have had to use reading glasses starting about 5-6 years after that and I also have the natural aging thing with my distance vision, but I remain happy that I generally have very good eyesight for my 62 years. I did get some clear and sunglasses for in the car for long trip driving a couple of years ago just to sharpen things up and they were inexpensive at Costco, but the next set will be either progressive or bi-focal with no correction at the bottom so I don't loose the clarity of the dashboard screens since my uncorrected vision is spot-on for that distance.

[Doug Garson]

It's a personal decision so only you can decide. I wore glasses from age 12 to about 8 years ago (I turn 70 in March) when I had cataract surgery and had multi focal interocular lenses installed. I was very short sighted with slight astigmatism. In fact my new lenses were the strongest available at the time (don't know if stronger lenses are available now. My surgeon is world class with over 20 years experience. I too tried contact lenses when I was younger with limited success, great for sports not so good for indoors in dry winter conditions. I could sky all day and not feel the lenses at all but 10 minutes in the bar afterwards and I had to pull them. Glasses were always a pain, sliding down my nose when I sweated, fogging up when I came in from the cold, no good when swimming especially snorkeling.
So for me it was definitely the right decision, only regret was that I couldn't have it done when I was 12.

[Andrew Joiner]

A question for those that had cataract surgery:
Did you have dry eye before surgery? Do you have it now? If you had it before surgery is it worse?
Thanks

[Doug Garson]

I occasionally suffer from dry eye, can't say I noticed any difference post surgery.

[Chris Parks]

I've had cataract surgery in the past year and it's nothing short of a miracle. Now, instead of using powerful trifocals, for most things I don't need glasses. I just ordered a light prescription reading glass for very fine print or low light situations but where there is good light I don't need glasses even for fine print.

I just passed my driver's test with no glasses. I'm 82.

I was nearly legally blind when it was detected that I had a cataract in the right eye and I had extremely limited sight since my childhood, the doctor said they could correct my vision when the cataract was done so I asked if he could do it that afternoon and he laughed. I have now had both done, need no glasses for reading or long vision and it is the single biggest lifestyle improvement I have experienced. I would do it again in a heartbeat if neeeded.

[Curt Harms]

SWMBO just had cataract surgery on one eye that has other issues including glaucoma. Her eyes are pretty deep set and she looked like she'd been in a fight after surgery but she has heeled nicely. The Dr. did a procedure for the glaucoma at the same time and her eye pressure dropped to about half of what it was. Her vision is now 20/40 which is better than it was but by how much I'm not sure. It took her a few days to adjust and probably needs prescription glasses. She has been using readers with meh results. I expect she'll have the other eye done in the future.

[Doug Garson]

Curt, I assume it was the glaucoma procedure that caused the "looked like she'd been in a fight" my cataract surgery was totally painless and I had no visible signs of trauma after the surgery.

[Andrew Joiner]

There's two methods of anesthesia for cataract surgery: topical anesthesia, achieved with eye drops, and injection anesthesia, where a needle delivers anesthetic to the tissue around the eye.
My understanding is the needle type can sometimes give a "black eye" look.

[Bernie Kopfer]

The most wonderful result from cataract surgery was the ability to drive at night and not being blinded by oncoming cars .
And not even to have to wear glasses when driving. Might even see better without them on. So now I have minimal correction except for close up which I need for shop work.
As an aside, be careful with progressive lens. You might be one of those for whom when using them there are no straight lines. Hell when trying to do woodworking. DAHIK. Yellow shooting glasses do wonders for nighttime driving, with or without cataracts.

[Joyce Knights]

I think it will be better if you will undergo surgery then getting a glasses all over again. My aunt has undergone eye surgery due to cataracts a couple of years ago and so far everything works fine. She had a clearer eye vision.

[Doug Garson]

One additional factor I took into consideration in my decision was the cost. Because of my strong prescription my glasses were expensive and as my cataracts got worse I needed to replace them more frequently. The cost of cataract surgery was a once and done expense. Expense was not the final decider but it was a factor in doing it sooner rather than later.

[Tim Janssen]

I had cataract surgery two years ago. Before the surgery I needed bifocal glasses. I now only need glasses for reading or close-up fine work. I was 87 at the time.
All the best to you. I'm sure you won't regret it.

Tim

[Brice Rogers]

Bernie, I identify with your comment of "no straight lines". I used to shoot pool as a hobby and was reasonably good at it. After I got progressive lenses, I found that I had become a horrible pool shooter. I found that if I took off my glasses and squinted, that I could shoot like I used to. I also found when freehand drawing to lines that were supposed to be parallel that they came out non-parallel.

But other than that, I like the progressives.

[Lee DeRaud]

As an aside, be careful with progressive lens. You might be one of those for whom when using them there are no straight lines. Hell when trying to do woodworking. DAHIK.Yeah. I've got an old pair that I keep in the car as "shopping glasses", basically emergency readers for places where I might need to read shelf tags or price stickers. Learned early on not to wear them when buying lumber: "Why are all these boards warped so badly?!?"

(That pair was originally quite expensive, but I only wore them a week or so before I gave up on them for everyday use. The main problem is that anything in the general direction of my feet blurs out completely, so going down the stairs at work had great potential for putting me into "Slinky mode".)

[John Goodin]

It seems many people put a natural trust in person's ability or competence when it is a professional field. I am coming to realize that despite all the years of school and training they vary in competence and bring many biases to the job. This is becoming particular evident in the medical field. I have experienced and known too many people who have had less than stellar medical care over the last few years. While the doctors were not guilty of malpractice many were not up to date on current research or not believers in newer and better treatments. One thing they all seemed to have in common was an absolute surety in their opinion or diagnoses. Medicine while a science, is not as black and white as many assume. If your doctor seems overconfident in an issue concerning your health it would be wise to advice from a second professional.

[glenn bradley]

I did lots of vision tests with friends reading street signs. One thing I found is I could see as good or better than most people with my current glasses.

This is a truly frightening thing when you realize it, isn't it? When I went through the time and creative Rx leading up to my cataract surgery, I was shocked to find out that my seriously degraded vision that I could barely get by with was actually better than most people on the road today.

I had to do some serious soul searching and beg belated forgiveness from all those drivers who I had told "stop texting and drive!" or "what a moron!" or "pay attention dummy!". I now know that they were not necessarily texting, unintelligent or inattentive.

The DMV allow people to drive with vision that should deny them permission to operate a machine that weighs a ton and a half, has 150 - 200 HP and can go 90 miles an hour. I now find myself being much more gracious toward those that can't park, must swing left to turn right, have no clue where the actual physical boundaries of their vehicle are and other such delights encountered on our shared roadways.

[Larry Frank]

I now find myself being much more gracious toward those that can't park, must swing left to turn right, have no clue where the actual physical boundaries of their vehicle are and other such delights encountered on our shared roadways.

I am not gracious to people who could injure me or kill me or others because they can not see. How can they drive if they do not know the boundaries of their vehicle. Will they be able to miss a person or child in a cross walk?

I must be missing something....

[Andrew Joiner]

This is a truly frightening thing when you realize it, isn't it? When I went through the time and creative Rx leading up to my cataract surgery, I was shocked to find out that my seriously degraded vision that I could barely get by with was actually better than most people on the road today.

Oddly, I wasn't frightened I was actually encouraged. I could put things in perspective. I needed to know what my friends consider as acceptable vision clarity. Some couldn't read distant signs like me with my current RX eyeglasses that I now know give me 20/40 (enough to pass DMV test).
3 friends don't do night driving. 1 of those probably has cataracts, but hasn't been to eye DR in years.
I'm just happy the DR says new eyeglasses can get me to 20/20. Sure one eye will have the cataract fuzz, but I'm OK with that.

[Andrew Joiner]

An Update:
I just got new progressives and bifocals in identical frames to test out. I can report the new digital free-form progressive lenses don't work for me. Just like the non digital free-form progressives I tried years ago. I'll return them for full credit.

The new bifocals do work slightly better than my old RX bifocals(also in identical frames) for the 5' to 10' range. However the reading and distance is not as sharp. My eye DR says the new bifocals and progressives are made properly to my new RX. However he said my new RX is only .25 diopters away from old bifocals and I may get used to my new ones. The DR said my new or old glasses will exceed the driver license requirements.

Here's what I've learned:

1- There's a big difference in cataract surgery "satisfaction rates" vs "success rates"

2- .25 diopters difference in lenses in an identical pair of frames may not improve your vision. .25 diopters is the smallest increase or decrease in an RX the eyeglass industry can accommodate. Your eye exam RX could vary that much from day to day. You could go from one eye Dr to another DR in one day and get an exam that varies .25 diopters. It's like a tolerance in measurement that is a part of the eye business.

3- Now I remember why for years I'd always try to get new eyeglasses made to my existing RX. Usually the frames broke but I could see fine out of a 5 year old RX. Often an old repaired frame with an older RX would give me clear vision. A few years ago my friend in optical business said "there's a new law that says you must get an eye exam every 2 years". I'd get glasses made to the new RX and often they were blurry compared to an old pair. I was told "Wear them and you'll adapt". Looking back at my old RXs in the file they usually only changed .25 diopters. If the tolerance is .25 diopters I was getting used to blurry vision and paying for new glasses I wasn't happy with.

I passed the driver license exam today at the DMV with my old eyeglasses.