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Ok it is that time when I need my right eye cataract surgery. The left if ok. My concern is I want distance vision only single mono implant. That would even my eyes for driving and riding my bike. I ride my road bike lots of miles 7-10k a year, more than my car. My concern is how it will affect my close vision for reading music. I am by guitar standards a decent sight reader and sight read daily. Right now, I can easily read most music with no glasses at all or a pair of cheap readers sometimes.
I am assuming after this type of cataract surgery I am going to need a serious set of readers. I am interested in any of the forum folks who have gone down this road before.
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02-21-2024 05:24 PM
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Had both eyes done 2 years ago.
I asked for music stand with no glasses.
Bifocals for everything else just like before.
Glad I had it done. Now my focus is fixed so that took a little getting used to.
You will see some interesting colors until your brain adjusts.
Get the other done as soon as you can.
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I haven't gone down this road, but do have 2 eyes with different correction and rarely play with glasses. I do have a pair that correct me for music stand distance but they in fact invert my 2 eyes for looking closer by (have to use my right instead of my left for that, which is a bit awkward for looking at my fretting hand). I also have a pair of multifocals which cost me way too much money for how useful they are to me. I simply can't play with them; they're probably not strong enough to be able to have my fretboard in focus but in practise I can't even get the right zone over the area I want to look at. I may end up getting a pair of glasses like a long-ago friend used for orchestra: bi-focals with 4 different zones.
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
I used to wear my distance-corrected glasses all day, also around the house, and have a fitting set of simple low-profile readers in front of them, that I could hook at different heights or put on top if unneeded. That worked just fine but for some reason I stopped doing this (maybe it looked a bit too funky
)
You OTOH I suppose mostly use your left eye for everything nowadays? In that case there might not be much change for your playing, esp. if you don't wear correction allowing your right eye to see sharp.
One thing to consider is that we spend a lot more time changing accomodation (focussing) for the near distances than for the further away distances because depth of field increases with distance. The implications of this on your choice of the implant focal distance are best discussed with your ophtalmologist or optometrist; I don't think that choice will change much for the kind of correction you'll need during playing. If you do decide to get multifocals, I'd advise to sit down with your optician or whomever determines the correction you need and show him/her the distances you need to look at and where in your personal space they are. In hope that your glassed can be specced in a way that minimises the head movements you'll need to make!
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It depends on your eyes. I have had senile presbyopia for years. I had cataract surgery done about 18 months ago, and I can deal with reading music without glasses, but it can be tiring, depending on the size of the notation and the amount of light available. Everyone's eyes are a little different, and you might be able to read music fine, or maybe not, it's something you need to discuss with your ophthalmologist. Tell her/him what your desires are, and ask for a recommendation. I have a pair of prescription glasses that are almost plain for distance vision, with progressive to near vision. I often just use reading glasses, or even nothing at all. But I'm not you, and I have no idea what your vision is like now. I would guess, and it's only a guess, that if you can read music now, you probably can after the surgery, but your vision will be much, much clearer. I really had no idea how much my cataracts, which were barely bad enough to need surgery, affected my vision by obstructing the light and skewing the color, until after I had the surgery. It's probably the most common surgery done in the US now, and has the best overall outcome. My recommendation is that if your cataracts are bad enough to barely justify surgery, get it.
I have read that the multifocal lenses can have problems with glare from lights, especially at night, so even though I could have afforded multifocal lenses, I opted for the monofocals, and I'm not unhappy with that choice. I do have a friend who went with the multifocal lenses and loves them, so maybe they're not so bad. My sample size is precisely one, so don't rely on my experience.
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I've had both eyes done. I got great vision for distance, a bit better than 20-20.
But, I can't read without glasses.
My solution has been progressive bifocals. Some people say they can't adjust to them, but for me there was no adjustment at all. I can see at every distance and I almost never even think about it. The only situation where I do think about it is if I'm trying to something like read a bulletin board, where something is at eye level. Then, I'm aware of having to tilt my head back. It's a move you see old guys (like me) make.
I never think about it when I'm reading music. Be aware though that different brands of progressives have different contours. You may want one with a fairly wide mid-distance profile.
Another thing, I read in different situations and I can't always control the distance from my eyes to the paper. No worries with progressives.
That said, the surgery was easy and worked great. No longer seeing the world through a dingy, yellowed window make colors vibrant again.
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Do you currently wear corrective lenses for distance vision? If so, would you happen to know approximately what strength they are?
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For reading of any kind, it's worth being aware of the effects of astigmatism, which can get more pronounced with age--at least, it has with me. For my cataract procedure, I settled on the distance-vision implants (mostly for driving and general navigation), but as sharp as my distance vision became, the implant lenses couldn't correct for the astigmatism that had been progressing over the decades and that drugstore readers don't fix. So my trifocals (old-fashioned D-segmented in the the biggest round frames I could find) not only give me reading and close-up acuity but correct the astigmatism that can make reading--including chart-reading--challenging. And since I spend so much time reading, I have single-purpose glasses set for computer-screen and book-reading distances. It reduces the head-craning to zero for those tasks.
I had the good fortune to work with a very experienced optometrist that I'd known for decades and who understood exactly what my work habits were.
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Good luck, deacon Mark.
I'm scheduled for cataract surgery next month. Left eye. Right eye has a cataract too but it's not to the point where surgery is needed.
My left eye is "lazy", so I will still need eyeglasses after the surgery.
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Had both eyes done in 2015. Went from blind as the proverbial bat to a little better than 20-20 in both eyes. Used to have great close up vision which would rival a microscope but that just reversed itself with the surgery - I can now see distance no problem but need my glasses for reading. I have close up in my bifocal and clear glass in the rest but found that I needed readers for theater productions depending on how I'm set up in relation to the music stand, so I take a couple different pair to work and use whichever works best. I got a break on my surgery in that the office was trying out a new laser and the company told the doctor that, if I would OK letting their sales rep observe the procedure, I could have the surgery for pretty much free - I think the total for both eyes was about $200.
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Someone else mentioned "progressive bifocals" ... what's the difference? Just terminology, no? Originally Posted by sgosnell
Most lens brands I've researched offer 3 different versions that differ in the width of the "near" zone and thus also of the entire region with varying focal distance. Different brands probably differ in the exact parameters; I wanted real glass and photochromic functionality so that fixed the brand choice at my optician. I went with the mid tier because the widest, supposedly most versatile lenses would have really gotten more expensive than I wanted to spend on my first set. In the end maybe I should have and now get more use out of these glasses. I dislike driving with them because of the distortion, and can only really walk with them on "civilised" side-walks and the like. I knew about the head craning (backwards) for computer work, but never realised you get the opposite and even more annoying effect while hiking in places where you need to watch your footing!
My optician does work with a return warranty for people who can't get used to this kind of lens but as they are in my former Dutch home village I couldn't really benefit from that. Check with your optician if they have something similar in case you do opt for multifocals.
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I had both eyes done approximately six months apart. ( sixty something years old ).Distance corrected close to 20/20. There's about a 30 day adjustment time after each surgery for each eye to settle in, and there may be some lens adjustments early on but after that, the scripts won''t vary much.
Still eventually needed bifocals for reading, but did go with no-line ( 'progressive' ? ) lenses.
Bottom line -
I passed my drivers test without the eyeglass requirement - - first time since the '60's.
And never saw the colors of nature on a sunny day like I do now !
And a fwiw, here's a suggestion for reading, manuscripts etc - - buy 5000K bulbs like these. I used to pay twice this price for one bulb ! Will never hopefully be without them. Screw in, use the same lamp base and last at least a year + each.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Ele...CA-4/304116331
Hope you all enjoy your cataract surgeries as much as I've enjoyed mine ! Best money I've ever spent and number two isn't real close.
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I know that many find progressive multifocals OK, but when I first needed trifocals and my optometrist recommended progressives, I hated them the second I put them on--the hourglass shape of the correction field meant that everything outside it was uncorrected, and there was also a swimming effect when I turned my head. (My peripheral vision is very good, and I was perceiving the differences between corrected and uncorrected portions of the lens.) On top of that, the reading section was the narrowest part of the lens, and I do an enormous amount of reading. Fortunately, my optometrist said if I didn't like them, he'd switch me back to conventional multifocals at no charge. I took that offer the next day.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and maybe progressives are better designed these days, but I'm so used to conventional trifocals and special-purpose single-visions that I don't see any point in rather expensive experimentation. (Monopolization in the optical industry has resulted in enormous price increases--just the lenses for my trifocals retail at more than $600.)
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[QUOTE=Bflat;1318781]Do you currently wear corrective lenses for distance vision? If so, would you happen to know approximately what strength they are?[/QUOTE
My situation a bit different. I had LASIK 23 years ago. My myopia was extreme
-12 and -13 in right and left eyes. I could only be corrected in hard lenses. After LASIK I passed driving test no glasses the next day. Since then I can still drive without glasses but my right eye regressed to about -1.5. My left is fine is see 20/25 with it.
Now the cataract is causing right to be worse. I also have a macular pucker in my right eye. It is not uncommon a wrinkle, unless it severely interferes with vision they don’t do anything. My is stable I notice it slightly.
Because of this I am limited in kind of lens implant. I can only a single focus I believe. The laser surgery cost more not covered by insurance same way the traditional surgery. Since outcomes are same I am going with standard less money hopefully mostly covered.
I just want clear distance vision. Then I am hoping readers will allow good sight for reading music and repairing guitars in shop.
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Good luck too, let me see how it goes! Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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I've heard this kind of report from others. My experience was opposite. From the moment I put them on, it was perfect. I have never heard an explanation of who benefits and who doesn't. You'd think there'd be some way to predict it. Originally Posted by RLetson
I have gone with the widest contour for the skinny part of the hourglass. Different products have different contours.
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Mark--My wife was also terribly near-sighted (20/900) and had Lasik surgery that gave her excellent distance vision, though she did need drugstore readers for close-up work. (She was well into presbyopia age at the time.) When it came time for cataract surgery a couple years back, she got standard distance implants and sees fine--though she still needs drugstore readers, but not trifocals, since there's no astygmatism. (FWIW, we're both 79 and still engaged in reading-intensive work.)
I would think that regular implant lenses will work out fine for you--and readers and computer glasses are pretty reasonable solutions to old-person eye issues. (I'm looking at the screen right now with my pricey computer pair--pricey because I need my asygmatism-correcting prescription.)
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In the past, I went from reading glasses, to bifocals, to trifocals, then to bifocals with progressive correction. Those were the best I ever wore, but they're no longer offered by any company I've been able to find. The first progressives I tried were terrible, and I couldn't live with the distortion in the sides. I was a helicopter pilot, and the first time I wore those I put the helicopter in what I thought was a 3-foot hover, and then discovered that I was looking down at the hangar roofs. I ripped them off, made the flight, then took them back to the optometrist, and got something different. I couldn't even walk straight, because the world looked tilted. The later progressive lenses worked fine, because the distorted area no longer existed. Modern progressive lenses are far better than the ones first available.
Mark, you might be fine with both far and near vision after the surgery, but the replacement lens can only focus at one length, and the odds are that you will need reading glasses to focus at near distances. A natural lens can focus at all distances, but a plastic one can't.
RJVB, I don't think glass lenses are a good choice. Once upon a time, more than 20 years ago, they were, but these days they're just obsolete, and too heavy while giving inferior performance compared to newer plastic compositions. I don't even buy sunglasses with glass lenses any more. I still have a pair of Serengeti sunglasses, but they're rather heavy, and cheaper plastic lenses work better, at least the ones I've tried. I always have sunglasses available, whether in my car or not.
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My optician doesn't agree with that, and I don't feel like testing. My correction is slight enough that the extra weight is no problem and that the "extra-thin" plastic lenses could well be too thin. I still have a pair of glass lenses from '99 that are still perfect - no scratches or other damage and perfectly clear. I only changed them because my correction had changed ever so slightly and I felt a bit bad for never buying anything when I came in for a check-up or getting some new nose pads installed. And they did fall off my nose a few times, on a marble floor that would probably have caused scratches in plastic lenses. Originally Posted by sgosnell
Interesting. I did notice that my usual glasses haven't gotten cheaper but also that there are now more brands than when 30-40 years ago. I can't recall if my progressives are Hoyas but my other lenses are, and they're under 100€ a piece with all bells and whistles. Of course those are monofocals with just a tiny bit of cylinder in them. Originally Posted by RLetson
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I guess those who saw your now-deleted post now have a hunch of what "music to your eyes" looks like
Last edited by RJVB; 03-19-2024 at 11:25 AM.
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Sorry about that, guys!
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
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Here's a link to a discussion difference in cataract replacement "multifocal" lenses versus "extended depth of field" replacement lenses;
Vivity Lens Review | The Complete Patient Guide
According to several ophthalmologists I saw before my last surgery, the most relevant difference was the amount of light transmitted at various focus zones varies between the far, mid and near zones of the multifocals, with some fall off of light as it passes through each zone. The extended depth of field is not a multifocal and does not have this falloff at different focus points and produces crisper black/white contrast and color correctness.
For my first cataract I had the medicare covered monofical. Great 20/20 result at distance, 'okay' (in very good light, with good size type font) at laptop distance, and definitely requiring readers at small fonts or "book/magazine in hand" distance. Difficult at best, if at all, reading labels on cans or packages on the shelf at the market. Wasn't a problem; easy fix with a new progressive lens prescription for my eyeglass frame for that eye, and I kept using the same lens and old prescription for the non surgially corrected eye....so everything balanced nicely.
Four years went by and the other eye developed cataract vision problems. Several eye surgeons advised either go with another monofocal and use progressives or readers, or go with an extended depth of field lens which would give good distance and intermediate/monitor vision and "useful" nearer vision based on available light, size of print, etc. They all were concerned I might have some intolerance to difference in contrast, crispness , etc. if I had a multiocal going with the monofocal in the earlier operated eye and thought the would not be that much of an issue with the extended depth of field lens, since light transmission at all focal lengths would be the same through each lens/left and right eye. Prices were about the same for each type lens.
I did that, paying extra (the part Medicare won't pay for above the standard coverage monofocal ens)for a "Vivity" brand extended depth of field lens. I was a little anxious, but couldn't be more satisfied than I am with the result.
I can read labels on shelved soup or vegetable cans while walking on the supermarket aisles, as well as the nutritional labels on them. I keep readers around the house and garage shop for less bright light, smaller fonts, less print contrast, etc. but only need the +1.25 lowest power level of the "drugstore readers" variety. Additionally, the newest lens also was able to correct for my (slight) astigmatism. The various preop eye measurements were varied and extensive, but the time investment, as well as the extra out of pocket uncharge for the non medicare covered portion of the lens cost were worth it. And given the costs of what would have been necessary for post op new progressive lenses for my glasses frame, and the extra cost of the prescription progressive sunglasses I would have needed, not really that much of an expense. (Especially considering that over the decades I've never gone more than a couple of years before wear and tear on the frames, lens scratches, failing temple hinges, etc. would lead to new frame an lens costs.
I did find eye surgeon and lens measurement fitting costs done preopertively to be quoted about the same at several practices, but the hospital/surgical center charges for the cataract replacement Vivity lens varied quit a bit, so making those inquiries helped, and the eye surgeons I saw had clinical privileges at multiple locations, so they could do the procedure at the hospital or surgery centers offering the more economical price on the lens. Also, I don't worry about losing an expensive pair of prescription sunglasses, as has happened to me once previously. If I should ever happen to lose my non prescription sunglasses, it would be relatively inexpensive to replace them.
I like to hike, bike, read music on stand in good light, look through polarized sunglasses for trout in a stream, watch a baseball soaring out over the field at the local high school or college games, and the crispness and unencumbered views are very nice indeed. I know this is overly long, but wanted to share my experience in case it is of some help to you. I have several friends who went with the multifocal lenses and each experienced what their surgeons said was the trade off with such lenses - that is, a little less distance acuity for a little more nearer vision, and a greater risk of some glare/flare, and they are 'OKAY' but not thrilled with their results and all rely regularly on readers for the most part.
My distant vision is the same for both eyes, but sharper -or rather a bit crisper, with the extended focus, and the mid and near black/white crispness, etc. has been excellent. I did have flares and glares, especially with car lights, street lights, etc for several months, just as I did with my monofocal implant of a few years ago. But, that settled in after a few months, and there's no difference in either eye now and no distracting visual effects with nighttime driving, etc. Sorry to be so wordy but thought you might find the tale useful. Hiking in the rain or snow without glasses, not dealing with fogged lenses, etc. has been a joyful gift, that's for sure!
Lastly, I don't have stock in any lens company or make a living selling medical supplies, lol. Good luck with your process.
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