I saw a new ophthalmologist today. I have a cataract in my left eye that causes problems with glare. Bright sunlight and driving at night has become a problem. The Dr also stated I have an astigmatism as well. He went over my options and costs. $72,000.00 is a bit steep. If I opt for only distance lens, it will cost $6000.00. I was told once I get the distance lens, I'll need readers for my near sight. I'm seeing another Dr for a 2nd opinion. I guess I can deal with sunglasses during the day and little to no night driving. Am I being cheap or is $72,000 steep?

I had my left eye PanOptix Pro removed and replaced with a monofocal lens set to distance yesterday.The surgeon placed an air bubble to hold the lense in place as it was moving forward the capsular bag. Or at least that is what i understoodm My vision is a good in that eye (somewhat blurry) but intermediate and near are terrible I can't see anything well in those ranges. I thought I would at least see dashboard and perhaps even PC distance reasonably well. Could this improve with the air bubble dissipating over the next few days?

Or can one not see anything within 3m or so clearly at all with monofocal set to distance?

I'm super unhappy with the outcome, doctor was gaslighting and giving wildly different recommendations from one visit to the next and argued my final choice "was a mistake" day of surgery, but she was willing to cancel altogether and reschedule as I'm being prepped for it.

I wanted either both set for far or both near (have Eyehance edof). I explained to her that very clear and sharp vision was the most important thing to mean no matter what, even if I wore glasses.

Now here we are with one eye set to ntermediate and one to distance with about a one diopter difference and I am miserable. Just got my glasses in today and it's making me feel like I'm carsick and if I turn my head a smidge I can no longer read and the peripheral vision is awful. Exactly where I didn't want to be. I would have much rather had a simple prescription where the whole lens fixed my vision. Now I'm stuck in some progressive lens that I hate and my right eye is still a little blurry regardless. (I'm a couple months out on the last surgery).

Does anyone have experience with having a lens replaced and how did insurance handle it if at all? Would I be on the hook for the entire amount or does it depend on how they code it? How do they determine when it's "medically necessary". It's technically 20/20 as I can read an eye chart, but it's not in real life because I still can't make out the details on a bird 40-yards out. (Photographer). I'm just so heartbroken over the outcome and wished I would have pushed, but she had great reviews and she was the "expert".

I do have some of stigmatism and I had the limbic cuts done on my worst eye (right, intermediate). I'm wondering if I can have that one redone for distance to match the other.

From what I understand, the LAL is a monofocal that is adjusted to whatever depth you want, right? I think I am a little confused because after paying $5000 for a multifocal which was followed up by an LAL for $6000 due to the halos and starburst. The multifocal should not have been implanted in me because I had Lasik. I have been stuck wearing these UV protection glasses for a month and they want two more weeks before adjustment. I asked the doctor why we didn’t use a monofocal and he didn’t answer other than we can adjust this how we want it. Why didn’t we make the decision of what we wanted before the implant? I’m afraid the answer is because the doctor makes more money with an LAL where insurance pays for the basic monofocal. Is that true? Is there an advantage of the LAL over the monofocal?

I’m scheduled for PanOptix Pro. I’m 54 and read that younger patients tend to have larger pupils that might negatively affect outcomes. I called and asked if my pupils were measured during first visit (under multiple light conditions) to see if I might be more at risk. She (scheduler) said their clinic (Clarus in WA State) doesn’t require those types of eye measurements to qualify for premium lenses. She also said she has never heard of pupil size being a problem.

Am I being too influenced by the negative stories on social media, especially here on Reddit? I did read that PanOptix Pro is one of the lenses that is not pupil size dependent so if you have a large pupil, you might even be better off going with PanOptix Pro.

This is hard. It feels almost impossible for the average person like myself to make a well informed and responsible decision.

I'm going through some pretty significant medical trauma involving sudden and severe eye floaters, vitrectomy, and the prospect of early cataracts. I've had perfect vision my whole life and no one can explain why my vitreous degenerated so badly overnight. I've not had a PVD. Anyway, I've had a limited vitrectomy in one eye to address the floaters and need my other eye treated to regain my quality of life. I am so sad and scared about needing early cataract surgery. Especially because I have zero presbyopia and vision is better than 20/15. It's just the severe floaters, which are unlivable. I spiral from one anxiety to the next and currently my fear is zonular weakness following vitrectomy and the associated risk of late dislocation. I didn't even know this was a possibility. And now I'm realizing it's something that can occur years or even decades down the line? How do people (especially young people....I'm mid 30s) manage the existential stress related to their vision?

My sister had cataract surgeries more than a year ago. She recently had floaters in one of her eyes that bother her. What are the treatment options for her? I don't remember if she has glaucoma in that eye.

I had cataract surgery about a year and a half ago. When the doctor operated on my right eye, he asked whether I wanted to see better at a distance or close-up. I told him I had never really been able to see far away, so I thought that would be nice. What I did not understand was that I would lose my close-up vision. I do a lot of crocheting and reading, so this has been very difficult for me.

I also have astigmatism, so I did not mind the idea of wearing glasses again. But after the surgery, I was very upset with the results. When I went back to see him, he said he could “fix” it by making my left eye see close-up. At the time, I knew nothing about monovision.

Long story short, I now have monovision and I am very unhappy with it. He prescribed glasses with a slab-off prism, but when I wear them, I lose my balance. If I do not wear the glasses, nothing looks clear, so I end up taking them off just to walk around safely. It has been extremely frustrating.

What would you do in my situation? Would you have surgery to reverse one eye so that you could only see close-up and then wear glasses for distance vision? or would you go ahead and have one eye reversed so you see distance but can’t see close-up?

I ended up in a cataract surgeon’s office because my strabismus surgeon said I needed to take care of any cataracts first. So he set me up inthe same hospital system as him, but the initial appt is 4 months out and the next strabismus appt is 5 months out. The timing didn’t look good to not have a delay. So off I go to try to find a cataract doc in my hometown.

During my appt today, I felt rushed and dismissed. I mentioned that I have spent my lifetime focusing super close and that my goal is acuity. So I felt I needed to stay near sighted at about -2.5. He said he doesn’t like to do worse than -2. I also said that I didn’t feel like I could handle reading in my lap since I spent a lifetime reading much closer. He replied “yes you will. That where things will be in focus”. It was as if I was taking to a wall!

So I’ve spent money on the strabismus doc only to have to go back in early October to another appt. It’s as if the first one didn’t count. Now I’m out the money for this appt. Excuse I feel like it need to try to find another doc for my cataracts.

I feel despondent. I’m just spinning my wheels. Don’t even get me started on the insurance stuff I’m dealing with for my osteoporosis diagnosis a coupe of weeks ago!

There’s nothing to say really. I just needed to vent into the internet void. Sigh…

Hey everyone! I’m a 41 year old woman who had cataract surgery on my left eye on Thursday. The cataract surgery went well, super fast! Unfortunately because I was so nervous they put me under and I don’t remember the surgery at all. But I was in and out in 20 minutes. I woke up to the nurse explaining the dos and dont following surgery. I’ve followed all of the instructions but I have mistakenly bent over multiple times because I drop everything. One thing I noticed is Im struggling with seeing the lens in the lower left corner of my eye. When I look straight it’s like ALWAYS there, like an eye booger in the lower left corner. Did I mess up and do this by accidentally forgetting to squat? Is this normal? I also notice that it’s almost like I’m seeing through it like I’m under water. I know I’m only 4 days post op, but I’m nervous being so young that I’ve made a mistake and I’ve messed up my vision. I got the IOL Multi Focal Lens. I understand that I will see halos, I have seen it when out driving and the lights have a bunch of rings around them. What I’m seeing is a weird dark line. It was not cheap so again I’m stressed. Please give me advice or guidance. Thank you!

I wanted to share my experience with YAG Laser Capsulotomy, which I had last Friday.

My Background & Visual Goals

To understand the results, you need to know where I started. I originally had my Vivity IOLs implanted because of significant night vision loss, primarily in my right eye. I also deal with extreme astigmatism, which meant my eyes could only ever be partially corrected.

Knowing I’d need glasses for distance anyway, I chose a bilateral intermediate target of -1.25D. Post-IOL implantation (with glasses), my vision was excellent:

• 20/20 in both eyes (closer to 20/15 in bright light).
• Great near vision down to 16" in office lighting.

While some might think it’s expensive to get presbyopia-correcting lenses just to still wear glasses, the quality of life improvement was worth it. Last Friday, I went in for YAG to treat PCO (1.5 range) and a Posterior Capsule Striae (wrinkling) in my right eye, mainly to stabilize the capsule in preparation for PRK.

The Procedure

The doctor noted I would likely notice the improvement most in my left eye. The procedure itself was incredibly easy: numbing drops, dilation, and waiting.

• The Setup: I sat at a machine no bigger than a standard diagnostic tool. The doctor used a small optical cup with gel to hold the eye open.
• The Challenge: Staring at the green light was the hardest part. My eye dominance kept trying to flip to the eye with the "light show," so I eventually just stared roughly where I thought the light was.
• The Sensation: Every time the laser fired, I felt a loud click and a sharp sensation like an electric jolt in the back of my eye—almost like someone tapping on the eyeball. My doctor said it’s quite unusual for patients to actually "feel" the pulses like that. It wasn't painful so much as unexpected.

Recovery & Observations

It took about 8 hours for the dilation to wear off.

• The First Night: I saw rotating streaks around all lights (like looking through a pond), most noticeable in the right eye. By the next morning, this had completely faded.
• The Focal Shift: This was the biggest surprise. My focal point moved significantly. While I previously had good near vision at 16" (with distance glasses on), that point has now shifted out to 24". My vision without glasses shifted similarly.

My "Myopia & Halo" Hypothesis

This shift seems to prove my theory: Vivity halos are primarily the result of slight myopia. By shifting my range further out, the halos almost entirely vanished. However, there are some temporary trade-offs with the post-op drops (Prednisolone Acetate 1% suspension):

• Visuals: The drops increase overall cloudiness and starbursts. Since it's a suspension, it's essentially like putting milky liquid in your eye, which adds a layer of light scatter. Almost like looking through dirty glasses for an hour.
• The Taste (Dysgeusia): As a supertaster, the side effects are wild. Every time I use the drops, I get 1 to 2 hours of an intense metallic taste. It’s like sucking on an old penny; it even masked the flavor of strawberries. I’ve tried punctal occlusion (blocking the tear duct) and tilting my head, but it still finds its way to my taste buds. Pro-tip: Do not take these right before a meal unless you want everything to taste bitter.

Medication issues aside, I suspect my shift is on the high end and might settle a bit over the next week. I’ll confirm the final numbers at my 4-week follow-up. The good news is that I am now much closer to my target. I was not aware that such a shift could occur prior the procedure. The consent form was much more focused on "we used to have to stick a needle in the eye to clear it up, but now we have this great procedure... some people may experience side effects."

However, this is a warning for those who hit their "plano" (0.0) goal: My lens shifted back far enough to significantly change my prescription. If you landed at a perfect zero, a YAG could potentially push you into hyperopia (farsightedness). This is apparently not uncommon though shifts can be in either direction.

This shift just reinforced my opinion that those seeking a "glasses-free" life should be prepared to sit down for a laser tune-up post-op. In my case, I already planned for PRK to remove residual astigmatism, which will further improve the depth of focus on the Vivity. The last thing you want is to be happy with your vision and suddenly lose the near vision you paid for just to clear up some PCO.

Has anyone else with Vivity or other EDOF lenses noticed a prescription change or a loss of "near" after YAG?

A friend said she heard healing process from multifocal is longer than if mono put in..is this true? I will of course ask my optho but wondering if others have experience.

I have J&J Eyhance distance toric monofocal IOL’s put in both eyes in July on 2025. I had my prescription read in October 2025. I was 20/20 vision with mild astigmatism. Like 0.25 to 0.5.

Starting in April 2026 it feels like I can see distance slightly more clearly without my glasses than with them. Is that possible? Am I imagining things?

Docs say I have a small cataract not ready for surgery. In February, my vision with glasses was normal 20/20. By April - it was 20/100 in right eye. Refraction showed that my right eye went from -6 to -3.5 diopters - my nearsightedness was getting "better", in the sense distance was better but near vision worse. More often, it's a "myopic" shift (or "second sight) in which close vision improves with cataract. And - even with the best refraction, they can only correct it to 20/50 - very blurry even with correction. So basically, within 2 months my right eye can't see very well at all.

Docs say retina, macula, cornea ok so it must be lens, even tho cataract is small. They said it's not what they see, but what I see that matters.

Wondering if anyone has had this very rapid (within 2 months) "opposite" change in nearsightedness (eg close worse) that remains blurry with best correction with a very small cataract?

I am reading similar questions but hope someone can clarify options for my senior mother.

Referred to private clinic a while ago, doc says she needs surgery and tries to sell her paid ones but of course offers OHIP option. The paid ones show several options with better benefits for each, of course into the 1000s per eye.

My question is she needs both distance and reading glasses. Doing OHIP covered patient has choice to correct one? Like she won't need glasses for driving after surgery, correct? Google/AI's answer is "Standard monofocal intraocular lens" is included.

The doc is one of those very quick barely answering questions one. I understand I can try to take her to better doc or even public clinic but I hope to get the above answer.

Thanks

My cataract surgery was 8 months ago. It did not give me clear vision. Glasses were prescribed but they only improve vision by about 40%. Beyond approx 3 metres the fuzziness starts and distance vision is quite blurred. I do have some macular degeneration too, but it has not changed since the operation. Before the operation I had glasses and could see perfectly. I’d like to know why I can’t now. And can anything, perhaps laser, be done to get me clear vision. I have a feeling as though my head is made of wood, also a feeling of heat around my eyes, and headaches from time to time. I am nearly 80. Have been told that it’s too risky to do anything as my original surgery has healed. It is horrible living in this blurry world.

I have astigmatism and I have an op due for cataracts in a 4 weeks, I get to see a consultant but not the surgeon in 2 days and I need to understand my options. I only get 30 mins which feels rushed. Please help me with your experience questions I should ask and questions you would ask if you got to do it again. I dont think there are lens options on NHS but can I choose lon or short sight or could I have one long one short option?

It seems the default is for long sight but in the modern world we rely on close vision for phones/screens What are the pros and cons please

Today is exactly 2 months from my first eye surgery and 2 weeks less for my second eye. I had Eyhance toric set to distance in both eyes.

I was sitting outside for a soccer game and realized my distance vision has gotten slightly better. So I was paying more attention to it throughout the day. All the little things that were not quite right, usually at a very far distance, seemed better.

So it’s true that you can still have some changes even 2 months out!