Cataract Surgery

[Margret]

I looked on Lowe's website, that is the home improvement store closest to me and they have safety goggles in stock at a very reasonable price. I can't tell from the picture if they are vented but they are anti-fog which I think means they are vented.

They should have a bunch of little holes on the sides to let air through. You'll be able to tell when you see them.

 

[susanm9006]

I have talked to a few people who have had it done. They have told me that they weren't aware of anything from the time they went to sleep and the time they woke up. No pain after but some itchiness. I am going to be given a plastic shield with holes in it so air can still circulate around the eye. I have to wear that constantly until the next morning when I go back so the doctor can take a quick lock. After that I just wear it while I am asleep and if I think I need it to keep my hand away from my eye for a week. I go back after a week and he will probably tell me I don't have to do that anymore. There are several different eyedrops and I start using one a few days before. The only thing he told me was no heavy lifting the first week to avoid strain. Also no driving until I get the okay when I go back the morning after.

I cheated on the driving and drove myself to the morning after appointment. I knew I could see perfectly fine to drive so it seemed silly.

 

[denice]

I cheated on the driving and drove myself to the morning after appointment. I knew I could see perfectly fine to drive so it seemed silly.

Other people have told me they thought it was silly as well. I think it is a precaution thing, there are probably people whose vision in the eye that was worked on is still really blurry and they shouldn't be driving.

 

[denice]

My eyedrops are being delivered Thursday, I am to start one of them next Saturday. They had called Wednesday for insurance information but my insurance isn't that great good thing I have money built up in my HSA account. They spent two days getting the best price they could and called the ophthalmologist to switch one of them and they are still $151. They are giving my a free pair of sunglasses. I know that isn't much but I don't have any. I was going to buy a pair before I get this done.

 

[Margret]

denice , have you heard of GoodRX? I have GoodRX Gold, but there's also a free one. You can use GoodRX to search for the best price on a drug, and you can use it as a sort of discount card for drugs. I pay $10/month for Gold, and that includes family members, even pets. Not all pharmacies accept it, but when they do the discount is huge, and GoodRX will help you find a pharmacy that accepts it.

My Medicare supplemental insurance includes Part D, drug benefits, and I have never made use of it - it's cheaper to put my prescriptions on GoodRX. I pay more for my supplements than I do for my prescriptions, including diabetes meds. Now, it doesn't cover everything - only prescriptions, and not all of them. And it can be hard finding a pet pharmacy that accepts it. But it's definitely worth looking into.

Regarding driving after the surgery, I had conscious sedation for my surgery, and driving after that is a definite no-no. Also, the surgeon may not know in advance what drugs he'll need to use during surgery. I had told my surgeon well in advance that lidocaine doesn't work for me. And the day of my surgery, every member of the medical team who needed to do something asked me whether I was allergic to lidocaine. I always answered "No, but it doesn't work on me." Then just before surgery they smeared a lidocaine gel on my eye. They gave it a few minutes to take effect, and then the surgeon touched my eye lightly with a cotton swab. I jerked. "Oh! She felt that!" Darn right I felt it, what part of "it doesn't work on me" did he not understand?! (Answer: Apparently the part where I knew what I was talking about.) So he added something extra (I don't know what) to my IV. I was definitely not okay to drive afterward.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Unless I missed it, no one on here talks about staging and ranking of their cataracts - which the internet discusses a lot - and/or whether they got 'standard' Medicare paid for surgery, or the more expensive laser surgery and how it was determined which was OK/needed. There is also a 'variety' of laser surgeries available, dependent on what one wants in terms of outcomes. The other thing I haven't seen here (again unless I missed it) is using contacts after lens replacement - such as to correct the need for reading glasses. I am getting the impression that not too many people really know their cataract status nor what their options are before they simply proceed.

 

[Margret]

Unless I missed it, no one on here talks about staging and ranking of their cataracts - which the internet discusses a lot - and/or whether they got 'standard' Medicare paid for surgery, or the more expensive laser surgery and how it was determined which was OK/needed. There is also a 'variety' of laser surgeries available, dependent on what one wants in terms of outcomes. The other thing I haven't seen here (again unless I missed it) is using contacts after lens replacement - such as to correct the need for reading glasses. I am getting the impression that not too many people really know their cataract status nor what their options are before they simply proceed.

I don't know what "staging" and "ranking" mean in this context. I do know that my cataracts were extremely small - I probably could have waited another ten years to have them removed if not for their location. One was right smack in the center of my pupil. Therefore, that one had to come out, and it made sense to get the other within a month, since it was going to have to come out eventually anyway.

I was only 60 at the time, so not on Medicare yet. My surgery was fully covered by my medical insurance. I did not opt for the kind of lenses that give you 20/20 vision at all distances; that wasn't covered and I would have had to pay for it myself. I selected lenses that are set for close up vision, so I can read without glasses. I still require glasses for driving, and for reading really small text and doing delicate craftwork - I have progressive trifocals. And I never even considered contacts; I tried them when I was a teenager and couldn't tolerate them. I have no idea whether contacts are even safe to use after cataract surgery.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Margret - thanks. Your answer is in alignment with what I have seen so far. I guess I want to know more than most feel/need to know. i did well with contacts, monovision ones to be specific, so a rendition of that would be far superior to me than dealing with glasses - for either reading or distance. I cannot tolerate glasses, similarly to you not being able to handle contacts.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Margret - I do have one other question for you since you were so kind to respond. Did you get a written report on your cataract exam assessment that outlined your condition/situation/options? Or was it all done verbally?

 

[fionasmom]

I asked my eye surgeon about monovision cataract lenses and he said that was not what is done or what it is called. However, the same effect is possible with multi-focal lenses. In fact, they are better than monovision ever was as I do not have the sensation of one eye having less vision in order for the close up reading to be clear. Multi-focal are the ones that you pay the difference on.

I should also disclose that I did absolutely no research. My eye doctor who does not do cataract surgery told me that when I needed it that it would be possible to get lens implants that would entirely correct my vision. So when I went to UCLA to see the surgeon I basically sat down in the chair and told him that was what I wanted if it were possible. He said it was and that was the end of our discussion.

 

[NY cat man]

I will be finding out if I have cataracts, or how bad, a week from Monday, as I have my first eye exam since 2016 scheduled for then. Yay.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I asked my eye surgeon about monovision cataract lenses and he said that was not what is done or what it is called. However, the same effect is possible with multi-focal lenses. In fact, they are better than monovision ever was as I do not have the sensation of one eye having less vision in order for the close up reading to be clear. Multi-focal are the ones that you pay the difference on.

I should also disclose that I did absolutely no research. My eye doctor who does not do cataract surgery told me that when I needed it that it would be possible to get lens implants that would entirely correct my vision. So when I went to UCLA to see the surgeon I basically sat down in the chair and told him that was what I wanted if it were possible. He said it was and that was the end of our discussion.

Everybody seems to have different terminology for the same thing. No, 'monovision' is not used in the cataract replacement lens world, but the same thing can essentially be accomplished. I was told the best results would be to have the dominate eye done for distance first, and the other eye done for close up secondarily. My worst eye is not my dominate eye. The doc said it can be done in reverse but can impact results.

So, I was considering doing both eyes for distance, and looking into a 'monovision' contact to correct one eye for close up afterward - just as I did when i wore monovision contacts, which worked well for me when i wore contacts.

Everyone seems to make this more simplistic than me.

 

[fionasmom]

I see your point and it makes sense to me. If your doctor says it would work, it is probably the best solution.

 

[denice]

I didn't even know there was a dominate eye until I had the full initial workup at the surgeon's office for this. My dominate eye is my worst eye, the only one that really needs surgery now. I am only a little nearsighted. I used to only wear glasses to drive and I could pass the test for my license without glasses so I didn't have the restriction but I still wore them to drive. I wear glasses more now since my left eye has gotten bad with this. I am not doing anything with corrective intraocular lenses so I should just go back to where things were before this except that colors will be right again.

 

[NY cat man]

I am one of those 'lucky' souls who basically have use of only one eye; fortunately my left, or dominate has the least bad vision. My right eye is, for all intents, useless, as I have amblyopia, or 'lazy eye' syndrome. Had it been caught early on, they would have used a patch on my left eye to strengthen the right, but it was too late for that, as I was in my teens when the eye doctor finally found it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I see your point and it makes sense to me. If your doctor says it would work, it is probably the best solution.

Using a contact after cataract surgery is one of my unanswered questions. The ophthalmology group wouldn't answer any questions over the phone, and my optometrist never bothered to get back to me - after numerous calls to her office. So, looking for another ophthalmologist that will hopefully be more helpful and transparent. I just can't believe that I asked for an exam results report and found there isn't one, and the only way to get answers is to make another in person appointment. Why is writing up an exam report for the patient on the status of their eyes such a foreign idea?

Everyone else seems to glide right through this, process. So, I either want more information than most, or I ended up with one of the worst ophthalmologists to deal with.

 

[denice]

Everyone else seems to glide right through this, process. So, I either want more information than most, or I ended up with one of the worst ophthalmologists to deal with.

I think that the ophthalmologist group that you are dealing with isn't very good as far as people skills go. The optometrist probably won't answer because they aren't surgeons, they may know but it is outside of their scope of practice. My first appointment with the ophthalmologist took two hours. I didn't see the surgeon until last, a technician and optometrist did the workup. I was told before the appointment to make a list of questions and take it with me. He was very nice, didn't make me feel like I was stupid or that he was in a hurry. They also had me watch a video alone during the process, I think that it was part of the informed consent but it was very informative.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I think that the ophthalmologist group that you are dealing with isn't very good as far as people skills go. The optometrist probably won't answer because they aren't surgeons, they may know but it is outside of their scope of practice. My first appointment with the ophthalmologist took two hours. I didn't see the surgeon until last, a technician and optometrist did the workup. I was told before the appointment to make a list of questions and take it with me. He was very nice, didn't make me feel like I was stupid or that he was in a hurry. They also had me watch a video alone during the process, I think that it was part of the informed consent but it was very informative.

Short of not being advised to have a list of questions ready, my appt. sounds like a mirror of yours, video included. It was long but still a bit of a whirlwind. All of what was discussed verbally, I presumed would be included in some kind of written assessment/recommendation, but that didn't happen, and what they did give me is really the quantitative results of the exam - not layperson friendly at all. That is when I called to ask questions, and was told I needed to make another appt. to have those questions answered.

The optometrist is a long standing doctor of mine, she referred me to this ophthalmology group, and also received a report from them on the results. When she didn't return my calls, I asked for a copy of the report she received, and that was never sent to me either. There is no excuse for not returning my call if for no other reason than to say she wasn't comfortable trying to answer my questions.

No body even knows what my questions were, as I was never given a chance to list them for either group. The whole ordeal has me wondering if something is amiss. Now, I not only have to find another ophthalmologist, I've written off my optometrist too.

 

[susanm9006]

I do have to say that the cataract surgery and work up to it is very assembly line. They do so many that it’s no big deal to them and they forget it is to us.

 

[NY cat man]

I do have to say that the cataract surgery and work up to it is very assembly line. They do so many that it’s no big deal to them and they forget it is to us.

That seems to be the general trend in all fields of medicine these days. Gotta make those dollars to cover the malpractice insurance premiums.