Any ophthalmologists here? Optometrists? I had IOL implant done with catarct

[Eliot Rosewater]

surgery and made a horrible choice for the lens, because it was not explained properly to me I did not choose distance, I chose intermediate so now I still have to wear glasses or contacts when had I done DISTANCE I would not have to.

It is devastating.

Can LASIK be done on top of this to correct it? Does it depend at all on how much scarring was left over from my surgery?

Anyone who is not a gemologist or surgeon should not get anything but distance and I wish my doctors would have sat me down and said no, you dont want this, but they didnt. i.e. there is no reason on earth to not do distance unless you make your living looking at things 3 feet away...

Anyway, help.

[FreepFryer]

1. IOL lenses can indeed be replaced. Don't be despondent. Make an appointment w an optho.

Best wishes.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. They told me they cant redo the IOL, too much scarring

[FreepFryer]

6. Second opinion

[samnsara]

2. Just a patient here...but I didnt know there were options ( I have had both eyes done)..

.... before my surgery a friend of mine said she got lenses for 'close up' and she loved it. So I asked my Dr and she said they never recommend the lenses for closeness. She said 'Wouldnt you like to just hop out of bed and see clearly?' Well I only had reading glasses to start with. So my 'new lenses' basically cleared up all the fuzziness and gave me sharper vision but my readers went from 1 to 2.5

My far vision didn't change.

[DonaldsRump]

3. I was nearsighted to begin with and got the near IOLs

I am delighted. I could always see close up without glasses, and now I can see close up from a bit further away, again without glasses. I was horribly myopic for years, so I have had to wear distance-vision glasses .

Like I said, I am delighted. I have varifocal glasses (I've been wearing glasses for decades), and my total vision is much better than it used to be.

I couldn't stand the thought of wearing glasses just for reading. I prefer not to wear glasses for reading, etc. In fact, right now, I'm typing this on the laptop with no glasses. That was my personal preference, and I am very happy I went that way.

You should hopefully be able to change IOLs, but I think it needs to be done pretty quickly.

[Eliot Rosewater]

5. But you could have eliminated glasses entirely from your life and only use readers.

That is what contacts are doing for me and what would have been had I chosen the right lens IOL.

[DonaldsRump]

7. I don't want to wear readers! Readers are glasses too.

I've lived for decades reading close up without glasses, and I love it. Equally, I had been wearing distant vision glasses/contacts for decades.

The one option you have where you might not need to wear any glasses are the multi-focal IOLs. However, they're not guaranteed to make you glasses-free and you might suffer halos at night and glaring headlights when driving at night. Plus they are expensive.

I am very happy with my near vision IOLs.

[Eliot Rosewater]

8. I hate to keep on this, but you are saying you prefer wearing glasses for distance, as in

driving
watching tv
doing chores around the house

EVERYTHING other than reading?

The main reason I made this mistake is I assumed that my eyes were so bad that if I did distance I would still need glasses, that was not made clear to me.

With contacts I am good to go for distance but I hate the mess they involve including now with the virus, putting my fingers in my eyes.

Surely you can prefer what you want, but you prefer to have to buy and wear glasses just so you dont have to use readers?

with the way it is now I would have to constantly take my glasses OFF to read then put them back on, all day long...without contacts that is what I was living, made me crazy.

[DonaldsRump]

9. That's exactly what I'm saying

Different strokes for different folks. I have been able to read close up without glasses all my life, and I don't want to change that now.

I read for a living, so that's relevant too. I would be wearing reading glasses reading books, working on the computer etc. if I went with the distant IOLs.

I am very surprised your surgeon didn't discuss this in detail with you. I did a lot of research on multi-focal IOLs vs. near IOL vs. far IOLs (i didn't know there was an intermediate, but that seems to be the worst of both). My ophthalmic surgeon understood my concerns and agreed that near IOLs was best for me.

Contact your doctor IMMEDIATELY to see if they can redo this. I think they can, but it needs to be fairly recent in time to your original surgery.

[Eliot Rosewater]

10. The intermediate actually makes it so I can see near and intermediate, so if

you are a gemologist or surgeon, this is good, otherwise not at all.

That you dont mind buying, wearing, cleaning, finding, breaking prescription glasses when you dont have to, well like you said, different strokes.

They told me a month after the surgery when I called and complained that there was too much scarring to do it again, so my hope is Lasik is an option.

I told them anytime anyone who is not a gemologist or surgeon asks for anything but distance they must have an intervention and explain to them the odds are they will hate their choice.

Isnt wearing masks annoying with glasses? that alone makes me angry this happened, for now I use contacts but still...

THANKS for your interaction here, I am not upset with YOU and of course you know that, I am surprised at your preference but you have a different life situation than I do.

[DonaldsRump]

11. I'm neither

Am a lawyer, spending most of working time in front of a computer. I would be wearing reading glasses most of the time anyway while working. For me, given I love reading a book in bed without glasses/using a laptop close up etc, and the fact that I would need glasses of some sort anyway, I went with near IOLs.

I agonized over the decision for nearly two months, researching and discussing with my family, the doctor etc. I was going to go with the multifocal IOLs, but the downsides and the cost made me go with the near IOLs and multi-focal glasses.

Search in YouTube, Google, etc for "lasik after cataract surgery" and you will find tons of stuff, if they can't redo the lens implants.

[matt819]

12. When I had my cataract surgery...

The doctor offered to put on 20/20 lenses. No glasses after 40 years. Yay, right.

I chose something like 20/40 or so because I couldn’t get my Ganda around the idea of not wearing glasses. It’s who I am.

Sounds goofy, I guess, but I’m happy with the decision.

[Eliot Rosewater]

13. Wait, what? You got the IOL implants, but you passed on 20/20? Do you need

glasses now for distance?

[matt819]

14. Yes.

I have progressive lenses for my glasses.

[elleng]

15. Sorry you're going through this.

I've had cataract surgery, 2 eyes, 1 year apart. My doc's office provided lots of written info about lens choices, and I decided for DISTANCE (which is why I first went, halos around oncoming headlights were unpleasant to say the least.)

I don't mind using reading glasses, I have a prescription pair, AND an over-the-counter pair from CVS (which I keep in my purse.)

[MOMFUDSKI]

16. I had

lenses that allow me to see far, near and mid. Paid $7000. Was nearsighted all my life and wore contacts for 44 years. My eye doc told me the brand I wound up with is now considered the cadillac of lenses. I am super happy and only wear readers while reading a book for a long period of time as the letters get a bit bigger and darker and why not be comfortable? Best of luck to you. Had this done 15 months ago.