Maybe. They were able to get me to 20/30, which I lived with for about 10 months. Thing blurry at distance, tough ot read street signs, that kind of thing.
Went back to glasses, with a not-very-strong prescription, it's better.
I did, but the doctor let me know up front that it wasn't exact. The lenses aren't custom, so they are able to get you "pretty close" from your personal data.
Sometimes "pretty close" is dead on. For me, it was much better, but not quite sharp.
I have another story about that procedure, but I kinda ramble, so I'll spoiler it for people who don't care. Apologies if I've told this before.
Spoiler:
As those of you who've met me IRL know, I'm blind in one eye. Thus, my cataract surgery was only on the other one, of course.
The artificial lens looks like the hurricane symbol on a weather map--a circle with two little arms. Those arms are what anchor it in place in your eye.
However, it's dropped in sort of furled up to allow the to be incision smaller. Then, it pops open.
During the procedure, you're not out (so you can focus on the light mentioned earlier). A very light anesthetic--so mild, in fact, I asked them afterward if they even turned it on.
Anyway, we get to the magic moment, and I hear the doctor say, in a slightly exasperated tone, "not this patient." From the reaction of him and the staff, it was clear that something went wrong.
A few minutes later, they finished up and wheeled me out. At the follow-up the next day, I asked him what was going on there.
It turns out artificial lenses can be brittle when cold. In addition to having the first snow of that season overnight, I was one of the first patients, so the room was cool. One of the little arms broke off.
Not something common, but also not so rare they didn't know what to do. He just had to go in there, fish out the parts from try #1, and drop a new one in there. (It may have taken three tries, can't remember for sure).
Another odd thing about that visit was, after checking things out, he said "we're going to do an adjustment." I figured that meant another surgery, but no; he gave me some numbing drops, and by hand made a little nick in the cornea to change it's shape ever so slightly. While vision was good going in, it was a really noticeable difference with just that little poke.
Last edited by golddog; 05-22-2024 at 03:55 PM.
Reason: slight rewording
I did, but the doctor let me know up front that it wasn't exact. The lenses aren't custom, so they are able to get you "pretty close" from your personal data.
Sometimes "pretty close" is dead on. For me, it was much better, but not quite sharp.
I have another story about that procedure, but I kinda ramble, so I'll spoiler it for people who don't care. Apologies if I've told this before.
Spoiler:
As those of you who've met me IRL know, I'm blind in one eye. Thus, my cataract surgery was only on the other one, of course.
The artificial lens looks like the hurricane symbol on a weather map--a circle with two little arms. Those arms are what anchor it in place in your eye.
However, it's dropped in sort of furled up to allow the to be incision smaller. Then, it pops open.
During the procedure, you're not out (so you can focus on the light mentioned earlier). A very light anesthetic--so mild, in fact, I asked them afterward if they even turned it on.
Anyway, we get to the magic moment, and I hear the doctor say, in a slightly exasperated tone, "not this patient." From the reaction of him and the staff, it was clear that something went wrong.
A few minutes later, they finished up and wheeled me out. At the follow-up the next day, I asked him what was going on there.
It turns out artificial lenses can be brittle when cold. In addition to having the first snow of that season overnight, I was one of the first patients, so the room was cool. One of the little arms broke off.
Not something common, but also not so rare they didn't know what to do. He just had to go in there, fish out the parts from try #1, and drop a new one in there. (It may have taken three tries, can't remember for sure).
Another odd thing about that visit was, after checking things out, he said "we're going to do an adjustment." I figured that meant another surgery, but no; he gave me some numbing drops, and by hand made a little nick in the cornea to change it's shape ever so slightly. While vision was good going in, it was a really noticeable difference with just that little poke.
Sounds like quite a stressful experience. I’ve been considering looking into the lens replacement just to try to lose the glasses.
No mark, not stressful at all. It certainly could've been, had they not known what to do.
I'm assuming non-cataract lens replacement is quite similar; take out the biological one and drop in the synthetic.
It really is an assembly line. Check in, get taken back, interviewed to verify procedure and eye (even with me, when it's obvious). First room, make the incision and take out the old. Second room, drop in the new. Then, off to recovery. If not for getting sideways, I bet I would've have been there but an hour or so. I think it was more like 1:15, 1:30 even with that.
In fact, the next person in line came out to recovery before they even had me unhooked from the machines and IVs. I assume this was due to them being ready to go while I was going through the retries.
But, I guess I would ask penetrating questions of the type, "does this really get me to perfect, or is it just likely to be better, with a possibility of perfect?"
golddog - have a friend with a similar sight situation as you...i promise the following to be true to the best of my remembery
Spoiler:
her left eye is bionic
blind after parasites essentially plucked it from the socket like elle driver
half her sight was gone along with ten percent of her senses
so she wears a prosthetic inspired by lady bugs and northern lights
Spoiler:
she charges it by staring into some sort of uv flashlight and this is the result
Are you saying that she has vision through that replacement? If so, that's pretty cool.
I've asked offhandedly a few times if there's any chance that we'll be able to reverse my injury someday through advances in medicine. Haven't gotten any positive feedback, and have also not gotten a, "hey, you should think about this bionic thing."
I bet! That's a cool effect. Too bad it couldn't be LED or something--red for Halloween, green when she's envious, etc.
Some vision person once asked if I wanted to look into either a scleral shell or a colored contact lens. Not sure how to describe my injury, but its obvious, even behind my glasses.
Anyway, I told them no, this is me. If somebody else can't take it, they need to work on it, not me.
Not sure if that's a good approach, but it's what I'm doing.
John, honestly, your life sounds wonderful...even with the no driving lol.
Dom,
The no driving sucks, but I'm lucky to have people who help me out. I might even get to play golf a few more times this summer. It also helps that I don't need to work all summer.
Find what you love to do and it isn't work. Isn't that the old saying? That's kinda what I did. My "work" was being a commodities and options trader. I loved it and still do it despite being "retired". It's simple but it isn't by any means easy.
But it really doesn't accomplish anything other than put money in my pocket and occupy my time. It provides no service or product and doesn't effect anyone other than me. Back in the early days when I was in the pits we would say funtioning as market makers we provided liquidity to the market which actually was something the markets needed but that has been moot for decades now.
The bulk of my working life provided absolutely nothing to society and I am fine with that