Cataract Surgery on October 3, 2011

[LindaR]

I will be having cataract surgery on Monday, October 3, 2011...for one eye. Then two weeks later I will be having the other cataract removed. It will be great to be able to see clearly once again!

[Invicta]

I hope it all goes well. My wife had hers done some years ago and she can see clearly now.

Someonw who sometimes attends our church had lost the sight of one eye and the other was causing him a problem. I suggested he should see a doctor as it could be glaucoma an d he could loose the sight of the other eye. My mother had glaucoma and lost the sight of one eye before seeing the Dr. he said he didn't like doctors and had not seen one for years. I suggested he went to Specsavers to have an eye test, but he said he didn't like opticians either. Anyway after weks of nagging him, he said he had been to the Dr, who sent him to specsavers, and there was nothing wrong with his good eye but he had a cataract on the dead one, nd was to have an operation in our local heaalth centre. I have not seen him since, as for a few weeks he has been away looking after someones dogs.

[LindaR]

I have glaucoma also....and I have kept my eye pressures down with drops.

[JerryNumbers]

Here is the topic on it. I only had to have one eye done.

After surgery I'm nearside in my right eye, far-sided in my left eye, the one I had surgery on. Just got my glasses about 1 & 1/2 week ago.

Mine went quite well. They all told me I would be aware of everything, but I wasn't, until they woke me up. Mine was a bit cloudy when I went back for my 2nd check up one month out. Yet the next time all was well.

Almost instantly I could see much better. The only thing is it gets old putting drops in your eyes, for a good spell I had to use 3 different type of drops, them dropped to one, now I'm drop free!

Pray all goes well. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them. My brother-in-law had recently gone though this & he told me what to expect.

[LindaR]

I have cataracts in both eyes. They were slow in getting to the point of having them removed...I had them for 16 years. Medicare kept changing the rules, so I wasn't sure how much they would pay. The reason they don't remove both cataracts at the same time is because Medicare won't pay. My optomitrest said all that the cataract surgery would do for me is to improve my visual acuity. The surgery will not improve my vision...which is awful. I will definitely have to wear glasses afterwards.

I appreciate all the imput you folks are posting here and I covet your prayers.

Jerry, did your glasses prescription change alot after the surgery?

[JerryNumbers]

The reason they do not do both eyes at the same time is in case there's a major problem. Its much safer to do one now, them wait to see how its doing, before doing the other one.

I think that the surgery will improve your vision, it improved my vision in my left eye very much. Before surgery colors were so dingy looking in my left eye compared to my right eye that had no cataract, now they're right pretty.

I believe SS will pay for your 1st pair of glasses, of course that will be very plain pair of glasses. But if your willing to pay extra you can get any option you desire. My brother-in-law got one free pair.

The VA does as SS, anyone getting cataract surgery get one free pair of glasses.

[LindaR]

The reason they do not do both eyes at the same time is in case there's a major problem. Its much safer to do one now, them wait to see how its doing, before doing the other one.

I think that the surgery will improve your vision, it improved my vision in my left eye very much. Before surgery colors were so dingy looking in my left eye compared to my right eye that had no cataract, now they're right pretty.

I believe SS will pay for your 1st pair of glasses, of course that will be very plain pair of glasses. But if your willing to pay extra you can get any option you desire. My brother-in-law got one free pair.

The VA does as SS, anyone getting cataract surgery get one free pair of glasses.

Do you mean Medicare instead of SS?

Medicare will pay for only one pair of glasses after cataract surgery...at least that is what I was told by the eye clinic that does the surgery. I have been wearing "no line progressive" lenses for at least 16 years and I like them. I haven't had a new pair of glasses since 2001....doctor didn't want to give me a script for a new pair of glasses until after my cataracts were removed. I am willing to keep my frames (which are in great shape) and j just get the lenses. I'm not wanting fancy "designer" glasses...just like my "progressive" lenses and would be willing to "bite the bullet" on the progressives. I will check into the free pair, but not holding my breath on that one.

I have amblyopia (lazy eye) in my left eye and I am basically legally blind in that eye without correction. If my vision improves in my left eye, that would be wonderful. My right eye is just about 20/20 with correction. I'm probably going to have one strange glasses prescription after this surgery!

[JerryNumbers]

Yes, Medicare, I said SS! Sorry. If you want the no line bifocals I do believe if you will pay the difference you can get them. Ask them when that time comes.

With the VA we get the cheapest that's offered, but you can add to that if you willing to pay the difference. My new cheap frames from the VA looks quite good, as good as the last pair I got that cost $200.00 +!

[swathdiver]

We'll keep you in our prayers.

[John81]

Praying...

[1John2:15-17]

Praying!

[HappyChristian]

Praying, Linda.

[Invicta]

I have cataracts in both eyes. They were slow in getting to the point of having them removed...I had them for 16 years. Medicare kept changing the rules, so I wasn't sure how much they would pay. The reason they don't remove both cataracts at the same time is because Medicare won't pay. My optomitrest said all that the cataract surgery would do for me is to improve my visual acuity. The surgery will not improve my vision...which is awful. I will definitely have to wear glasses afterwards.

I appreciate all the imput you folks are posting here and I covet your prayers.

Jerry, did your glasses prescription change alot after the surgery?

The reason they gave my wife for not doing both eyes is thet there is a 1 in 2000 chance of it going wrong and you losing the sight and they would not risk you losing sight in both eyes.They always only do one eye at a time. We have free health care so paying for it is not a problem. If finance was involved, I am sure it would be more cost effective to do both eyes at the same time while you are there.

Before my wife's operation, they asked her if she wanted to be long sighted or short sighted, she chose long sighted and then regretted it as she had never had to wear glasses for reading before.

Just before my wife had hers done, there was a shortage of facilities for cataracts, so they were sending patients to France to have them done there. My wife was looking forward to that, but they built a new opthalmic centre in Canterbury and she had them done there. Since then they have built a new minor injuries unit attached to our local GPs's medical centre and they do cataracts there. I think they do them Saturday mornings, It is only about a mile from here,.

We do not get the free glasses here but they are not too expensive if you go to somewhere like specsavers. All their frmaes include single vision lenses and they sometimes give free variafocals with frames over a certain amount, depends on the offer at the time. Edited September 21, 2011 by Invicta

[JerryNumbers]

My eye sight in my left eye changed 100%. Everything was dingy looking before surgery. I could tell 100% difference the moment I walked out of the hospital.

I see real good close up with my left eye, yet my right eye is just the opposite, up close everything with it is blurred.

I expected m left eye to be 100% different, I expected to see real good in a distance, fuzzy close up. I asked about this, from what I understand of what they told me much depends on ones eye, more so than the lens they put in.

Plus since I got new glasses one year before finding out I had this cataract, about 6 months into my new glasses my eyes started hurting quite a bit, feeling as if maybe sand was in them after I would read for a few minutes. Since surgery I have not had that feeling.

I ask my doctor when I got glasses last time, are they any sign of cataracts in my eyes, he looked and said know, yet one year later ia cataract was restricting my vision in my let eye.

The reason I asked is I have had two different eye injuries, once getting powder cement blown into both of them, ^ it was about 6 to 9 weeks before my sight came back, that left my eye with many scratches on it, & my doctor at that time told me I might get cataracts early, that was in mid 70's.

Them in about 91 I got a nail stuck in my right eye just to the left of my pupil, had to have surgery, but I lost no sight, actually my vision was better after about 7 week in that eye, than my left eye. My local eye doctor that fitted me for new glasses told me my right eye was now better than it was one year before at my last eye examination. And since them it has always been my best eye.

[Nathaniel]

I will pray for you.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Nathaniel