Unbelievable!
A few months ago I was diagnosed with cataracts. At 51-yrs-old, I am young to have them, but apparently early cataracts are not uncommon in people with severe nearsightedness. (Yes, critics of my work are right; I am extremely myopic.)
Today marks the three-week anniversary of the surgery that replaced the lens in my right eye and the one-week anniversary of the replacement of the lens in my left eye. If there is a medical procedure that deserves the description of miraculous, cataract surgery may be it. I was in the operating room for about 15 minutes each time and left the surgery center an hour or so later able to see better than I can ever remember. (I can’t count the number of times in the last three weeks that I found myself suddenly exclaiming: “Unbelievable!”)
To be sure, there is occasional blurriness and there was a rosy hue for a few days—very disconcerting for a glass-half-empty kind of guy—but the overall change in vision is remarkable. Others have told me of the old days when cataract surgery meant a long hospital stay and sandbags anchoring patient’s heads. No more.
The only down side is that I was planning to lobby for the big screen TV on the grounds that I couldn’t see the little box with the pitch count when I watched Indians games on the tube. I don’t have that excuse anymore.
I have a friend who is an Opthalmologist. When I shared with him a similar story of my father’s experience with the surgery, he smiled and said, “Yep, nothing like making the blind see.”
Thanks for the note, Paul. I had the cataract on my right eye removed this past Monday, and one of the immediate benefits is indeed my being able to read the stats during a baseball game.
Congratulations on your recovery. I had the left eye done over a year ago.
My advice: Get the big TV anyway. Life is short.
I didn’t know that myopia gave you a higher risk of cataracts. I thought if you had blue eyes, you were more susceptible. So I thought I was home-free until my dad (brown eyed) got them.
I “took care” of my mom when she had hers done recently. It involved driving her to and from the procedure and making up a couple of dishes for her to heat up. She shooed me back home after her next-day check by the oph.
Not to be a killjoy, but your eyesight will seem to have improved until your eyes heal. The clarity remains, but the blurriness will return when your eyes heal up.
Get the big TV.
Get the big TV. You’ll really enjoy the Yankees. ;)
Now Jean, how scientific is that? My right eye was done two or three years ago. Seeing better than ever. According to my oph the vision will be as good unless “other” problems occur within the eye.
Now if they had such a thing for hearing.
What?
Regarding after-effects, the following is from The Mayo Clinic web site (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cataract-surgery/EY00014)
“The second cataract
You may have heard of a second cataract, or aftercataract. This condition occurs when the back of the lens capsule — the part of the lens that wasn’t removed during surgery and that now supports the lens implant — becomes cloudy and impairs your vision. Another term for this condition is posterior capsule opacification (PCO). PCO can develop months or years after cataract surgery. It happens about 25 percent of the time. The gradual clouding is the result of cell growth on the back of the capsule.
Treatment for PCO is simple and quick. It involves a technique called YAG laser capsulotomy, in which a laser beam is used to make a small opening in the clouded capsule to let light pass through.”