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I left a message for Dr. Lazzara last week, because I was confused about why he thought we should correct my distance rather than near vision. He called me back an hour ago, and explained: while subjectively "near-sightedness" and "far-sightedness" are two different things, physically what I have is hyperopia, severe enough to cause problems with seeing things at any distance. Plus astigmatism.
It would be physically possible to over-correct [sic] that, and then I might not need glasses for near vision, but they don't generally do that, and he thinks it's a bad idea because I'd still have the astigmatism.
So, the plan for the cataract surgery is to (we hope) leave me needing glasses for near vision, and I might or might not also need them for distance (because of the astigmatism) but not as strong a prescription as I have now. Last week he said I might need only drugstore reading glasses post-surgery; this afternoon he said I might still want progressive lenses. But that's all secondary; we're fixing the cataracts because they are an additional vision problem, one not correctable with eyeglasses.
Also, I have apparently decided not to get the toric lens (to fix astigmatism) in my right eye, but I'm going to hold off on telling Dr. Lazzara, because they need that decision a week before surgery for the right eye, so around March 5th.
(This post is mostly so if I go "wait a minute" three days from now, I can look it up.)
It would be physically possible to over-correct [sic] that, and then I might not need glasses for near vision, but they don't generally do that, and he thinks it's a bad idea because I'd still have the astigmatism.
So, the plan for the cataract surgery is to (we hope) leave me needing glasses for near vision, and I might or might not also need them for distance (because of the astigmatism) but not as strong a prescription as I have now. Last week he said I might need only drugstore reading glasses post-surgery; this afternoon he said I might still want progressive lenses. But that's all secondary; we're fixing the cataracts because they are an additional vision problem, one not correctable with eyeglasses.
Also, I have apparently decided not to get the toric lens (to fix astigmatism) in my right eye, but I'm going to hold off on telling Dr. Lazzara, because they need that decision a week before surgery for the right eye, so around March 5th.
(This post is mostly so if I go "wait a minute" three days from now, I can look it up.)
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Please feel free to ignore this if not actually potentially helpful.
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Thank you
The argument for the toric lens seems pretty straightforward. The main argument against, in my specific case, is that I also have Fuchs dystrophy, and if/when that worsens, the treatment would be a corneal transplant. At which point I'd need glasses to correct the effective astigmatism in that eye, or a significantly more complicated procedure in which they gave me a new replacement lens at the same time, which my eye doctor dislikes because of the complexity.
The thing is, he couldn't give me any kind of estimate for when, if ever, I am likely to ever need the corneal transplant, which makes this something of a coin-flip.
Also, there's some astigmatism in my left eye as well, but not bad enough to justify a toric lens (the Fuchs is an issue in both eyes, but worse in the right); I should probably look for more information on whether I would need glasses for the milder astigmatism in the left eye, if we corrected the right-eye astigmatism.
As far as I can tell, the toric lens won't affect how well or quickly I heal after surgery; does that match what you know?
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Re: Thank you
I can comment that I was offered the toric lenses for both eyes, and took them. My left eye corrected significant short sight, my right eye significant astigmatism. Any replacement lens would have been the same procedure. The toric causes flare round light sources, but I reckoned this was unlikely to bother me because I had always had it due to the astigmatism. I was right - it was there, didn't bother me, and has more-or-less gone away in the six years since as I adapted.
Needing bright lights because I have poor sight in dim lights has been more of a problem - but irritating rather than disabling.
In decent light I can read 5 point text. I also now have proper 3D vision. Overall I reckon I am better off having had the op. But it was a pretty marginal decision and I think if I had the future operation to consider as well that might have tipped me against the lens replacements.
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Re: Thank you
This surgery is voluntary, in that we went from "you have cataracts and will need surgery one of these years" to my being told in November that I should have it done within the next twelve months (i.e. by autumn 2019). That I'll probably come out of it with better vision in terms of what glasses I need is a bonus.
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Re: Thank you