Seniors
Related: About this forumAfter cataract surgery do you go back to being able
to read small-print books, if you werent able to before even with glasses?
still_one
(96,523 posts)cataract, that blur will be gone
if you needed correction before the cataract, the lens they replace it with will most likely contain an appropriate correction
marybourg
(13,181 posts)small for comfortable reading.
still_one
(96,523 posts)to reading glasses whenever you want to read, you might consider for bifocalsg
marybourg
(13,181 posts)not helping with small print paperbacks. And I dont want to go to the optical shop now. Maybe I can get drug store readers. I hadnt thought of that. Thanx!
overleft
(393 posts)Before surgery on my right eye, it was as though I was trying to look through wax paper. After surgery, I can now read most small print without reading glasses. On very small print and dimly printed things I use a pair of mild magnification reading glasses from CVS. I hope this helps.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)kept, thinking I might want to re-read them if I were ever stuck at home for months at a time. Now that the day has actually come, I cant read them! Im going to need the surgery, but I dont meet the standard yet.
raccoon
(31,454 posts)But I dont need it right now.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)There msy ne others, but that's thr one I didn't meet; I can be corrected to 20/40.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)arent cutting it, and I dont want to go to doctor yet.
3Hotdogs
(13,394 posts)You would need reading specs for close up stuff.
Medicare pays for that.
The second one is a flexible lens. It allows for more range without putting on close range specs. It costs a couple-a $k and medicare doesn't pay for that one.
The people on my local website who bought the flex lenses say it isn't worth it.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)3Hotdogs
(13,394 posts)They may have improved since then.
RamblingRose
(1,096 posts)Panoptix lenses and totally regret my decision.
My distance vision is half as good as it was with my contacts and lights cause a halo effect which is just as bad as the cataracts. The doctor said their is a 'minor laser procedure' that can be done to fix the halos but how much do I want them to keep doing laser surgery on my eyes.
Ritabert
(744 posts)If I get the operation I'm having my distance vision corrected and wear readers if needed like I've done forever. I have serious reservations about any "bifocal" implant. And whatever you do don't get the implant that splits the difference between distance and near vision. For anybody who used to have clear distance vision pre-cataract it's a disaster.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)ShazzieB
(18,641 posts)I'm hoping to have cataract surgery in the near future, and I have the same plan. I don't mind wearing readers at all, and if I can drive without glasses, I'll be able to use store bought sunglasses for the first time in decades. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Champion Jack
(5,378 posts)because of the coverage They said I could have distance or reading. Since I was already used to readers I picked distance. I also got vastly improved night vision. Only Downside, incredibly dry eyes which eventually went away...
KPN
(16,101 posts)chose the distant sight lens. I love being able to see clearly without needing glasses or contacts for everything but fine print reading and other close up things. I just use cheap readers that I get at Big Lots for $6 a pair and have about 10 pairs of them so they are always readily handy when needed in my vehicle, in the garage, at my desk, by the bedside, in the kitchen, etc.
All I need when Im outside is sunglasses. Never needed readers before the surgery but I would have it no other way.
unc70
(6,325 posts)That was how I had my contact lenses configured before the surgery. I can see everything from about 4 inches on out. I can function in almost any situation with this combo. I do have a pair of glasses which make each eye equivalent with graduated focus from near to far. I mostly use them for driving at night, particularly in rain.
Also have a pair of safety glasses which are low power readers.
Jirel
(2,259 posts)There are bifocal-type artificial lenses that would help. However, they are disfavored for many patients, in part because eyes do keep changing.
Fundamentally, your near vs far vision is controlled by the little eye muscles that move the lens focus. They get crappy as you get older, which is why you can both be nearsighted and have trouble with near vision for reading. Ergo, bifocals.
When I had mine done in my 40s (medication side effect caused cataract - boo!), my surgeon said no to the bifocal type lens. A few years down the road he was proven right. I had 20/20 on my distance vision, and my near vision didnt suck too badly. But now, I use a slight distance correction on that eye with a bifocal.
Jirel
(2,259 posts)I talked my dad (in his 80s) into seeing my surgeon when his mild cataracts suddenly got troublesome. He did the bilateral surgery about 2 weeks apart. He was convinced by my explanation that having artificial lenses rules, to be able to go without glasses for distance.
He sailed through and was amazed. As soon as his 2nd eye got unpatched, he called me, somewhat embarrassed, because he had really not had a clue how bad his near vision was, and needed urgent help to get readers for now at the drug store. He couldnt even read the tags when he went looking!
So expect youll need bifocals right away. Get the progressives. Make sure to be a demanding customer. Go to a GOOD optometrist, not just any, especially the default that works with a store. Your prescription will matter, even if its a hair off. I worked with 2, and the reason I now love the 2nd is that she gets it that sometimes you have to tweak things to make it just right.
Any decent optician will remake lenses if they arent right within 30 days. Give yourself just 1 week to decide if the lenses are right, and dont be shy about having lenses redone if you arent feeling right after 1 week. My surgical eye is a difficult RX to begin with, and I needed the bifocal portion adjusted waaaaay down lower than the standard placement for the near vision area. Post surgery, your eyes will not be the same as before, for where that change needs to hit.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)for surgery, and can read online fine, but going back to small-print paperbacks after many years, no good. Ordered readers from Amazon. Had Rx.
gibraltar72
(7,629 posts)had both eyes done couple weeks apart. I was shocked I don't need glasses for long range. But need readers for tablet or books. I'm 100% ok with that. I've got readers from dollar tree everywhere I might have to read or do something at less than arms length. Of course I see colors now. I had forgotten how vivid they are supposed to be.
elleng
(136,043 posts)I've never returned to years before daughter's birth (NOT her fault!) when I realized I needed reading glasses.
Get info from cataract doc about variety of new lenses possible.
I had cataract surgery to remove HALOs I saw from opposite direction, when driving at night, and they are gone; do use glasses for reading.
marybourg
(13,181 posts)that Ive read, but decided long ago to keep for just such a forced confinement as this. Now that the occasion has actually arisen, I find I cant read most that Ive looked at.
I dont meet the standard for surgery yet, and I wear progressives which are fine for everything but driving, and I read on Kindle fine, but trying to read these small-print paperback books has been impossible.
I would ordinarily go back to the optometrist for help, but dont want to get so face-to-face right now. I just ordered some drugstore readers in my current add-on (2.5) . If thats not good enough Ill try stronger. Thanx
question everything
(48,797 posts)Needed glasses, later contact lenses, since high school.
But I really liked to read with the naked eye. Could read tiny prints - washing instructions are the worse, especially on a black tag..
When I had my surgery I just wanted to replace the lens, no change of prescription, to continue with my glasses, though the prescription did get smaller.
But... I lost my ability to read tiny prints. I have to use a magnifying glass. I was, still am, unhappy and wrote a letter to the surgeon about that. And... all of a sudden I have astigmatism, did not have one before.
In hindsight I would have waited. The doctor said that I "could" have a surgery. Spouse had some five years earlier and, as an amateur astronomer could not stop praising the step so I decided to do to..
Oh, and readers do not help
trof
(54,273 posts)The surgery just makes things brighter.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,727 posts)In first grade I couldn't quite see the blackboard in school, despite being in the front row. Got my first glasses around then. The glasses got progressively thicker and thicker as my vision got worse. When I was 16 I got contact lenses, the hard ones, and that stopped the deterioration of my vision cold. Nice.
Eventually I got soft contacts, which were wonderful for the comfort. After the age of 40 I needed reading glasses. Sigh. I also like to embroider, and I'd typically do that either in the morning before putting in the contacts, or at night after taking them out, because my near vision -- and by near I mean 12 inches or less from my eyes -- was excellent.
Around the age of 50 an eye doctor commented that I was showing the beginnings of cataracts, which distressed me quite a bit, but they simply didn't progress for quite a while. Then, about 13 years later my current eye doctor said, "It's time for cataract surgery." Oh, crap. I'd experienced changes in my vision but didn't realize it was from the sudden growth of cataracts. And at 63, I was a bit on the young side for the surgery.
I called up a friend of mine who was already 80 years old, and she said, "Get the surgery immediately! Trust me on this!"
Every time I went to one of the several appointments leading up to the surgery, every time they looked at my paperwork or at my eyes, they'd sort of gasp. I finally asked, "How bad are they?" The person said, "Well, there are four kinds of cataracts. You have three of them. And they are numbered from 0, none at all, to 4, where you're pretty much blind. You are a 3 in one eye and a 3 plus in the other." Wow. It's a wonder I wasn't walking into walls.
Also, at every appointment, I was at least 10 years younger than any other patient in the room.
So I got the surgery. The eyes were done about two weeks apart, although I recovered so quickly the second one could have been done two days after the first. My distance vision is phenomenal. I feel as if I can read small signs on distant hills. In reality, I test very close to 20-20 in each eye, which I never have done before, not with glasses, not with contact lenses.
I made the choice for good distance vision and I'm happy to use reading glasses for reading or reading this computer screen, or doing my embroidery. I actually need a slightly different correction for each. Michael's is the place for reading glasses. They are incredibly inexpensive there, often only three or four dollars. When I first started needing reading glasses, I'd buy more expensive ones, and learned they wore out or I'd sit on a pair or lose them, and so buying the least expensive ones you can is best.
I tell people that cataracts are the best things that ever happened to my eyes. And even though I was always grateful I was at least born in a century where good eyeglasses were available to me, and later on contact lenses, I see so very much better than ever before. I'll add that the way my vision had gone south right before the surgery, I understand why there was a common acceptance that old people went blind. That doesn't need to happen any more. We are very fortunate to live now.
To answer your question in the OP, if you couldn't read small-print books without glasses before, you probably will need reading glasses for them after cataract surgery. Alternatively, you can opt for lenses (the ones that will be implanted at the time of the surgery) that will let you do that, see up close, and then you'll need some kind of glasses for distance viewing, such as driving your car. Do spend time discussing this with your eye doctor, because it is an important decision. For me, going with good distance vision and using reading glasses was a no-brainer. Your decision could easily be different.
The other thing I'll add is that cataract surgery is by far the most common surgery out there, and is almost invariably a stunning success.
demigoddess
(6,675 posts)And I can see clear across the street quite well and my surgeries were done years ago. I had the cataracts at a really young age 47 and 50 or so. Haven't had any problems since just need new reading glasses every so often.