80 year old eyes.

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Yah-Tah-Hey

Yah-Tah-Hey

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May 26, 2014
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Columbus,Nebraska
Entropy finally forced me to have cataract surgery.In at 6:10 AM and home by nine. The IV they use is wonderful. Just about the same as having a colonoscopy.You know something is happening but don't give a rat's hiney. Just a bright light. Probably have the other eye done in the spring. We are fortunate to have an opthamologist in this city of 22,000.Another one coming this summer.Big business in the Midwest where there is such a large graying population
 
Glad it worked out well. But you need to adjust your prescription--you posted under the PCMO section!

I suspect I have another 10, maybe 20 years before I have mine out. Just had a slight one diagnosed in my left eye; my father had his done around age 55. We both live life indoors so it's not from sun exposure.

I keep toying with LASIK but I think ultimately I'll put that off as long as possible. Just hit the point where I "need" to wear glasses all the time, but I can do quite a bit w/o--just not as well.
 
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Entropy finally forced me to have cataract surgery.In at 6:10 AM and home by nine. The IV they use is wonderful. Just about the same as having a colonoscopy.You know something is happening but don't give a rat's hiney. Just a bright light. Probably have the other eye done in the spring. We are fortunate to have an opthamologist in this city of 22,000.Another one coming this summer.Big business in the Midwest where there is such a large graying population

Good job. As soon as your comfortable, do the other one. I had mine done in 2014. Left one in late Jan., right one done 2 weeks later in Feb. My eyesight was really bad before the cataracts. I was just barely able to get a drivers license. Now, my left eye is 20/15 and my right eye is 20/20. It's 3 years now this week and I've finally gotten used to seeing everything. I need +2.00 readers now and that's it. $10 off the rack at WM, or $1 at DG.

BTW:I'll be 80 this May...
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: veryHeavy
Avoid sunlight. UV radiation is what causes cataracts to form.

Without sunlight, humans (and other animals) would have had rather little use for eyes in the first place.
 
There was an advertisement on TV for a local place that does the surgery. It had a woman who said,"While I was in his office, those nice people, somebody painted all the lines back on the roads."
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: veryHeavy
Avoid sunlight. UV radiation is what causes cataracts to form.

Without sunlight, humans (and other animals) would have had rather little use for eyes in the first place.


Doesn't explain how me or my dad have cataracts. We're office workers. We're not even weekend warriors.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Good that your procedure went well.

I never knew BITOG had members this old.

Whatcha mean "old." Age 80 is the new 60! I hope!
I've got 8 years to see if I can make it.
 
At 70 after new implants, my eyes were better than they have ever been. What can happen''' happened to me twice. My left lens clouded last year and now my right one. Its merely a matter of using a laser on it and it won't occur again. Will have the right eye done tomorrow!
 
Been there done that this year at age.... 53. They gave me IV of Versed and Fentanyl. Versed is an amnesiac. I remember the anasthesiologist telling me I might feel a slight burning sensation in my arm veins for a second as it headed north and next thing I remember is I'm in a wheel chair sitting in recovery. They ask me how I'm feeling I say fine then couple minutes later get all light headed and have to puke into a barf bag. Same result after my vitrectomy in Nov, there was Fentanyl in the anasthesia and sure as [censored] I end up puking in a bag again after recovery.

For the cataract deal they give you what's called "waking sedation" because they need to have you obey certain things they tell you to do while they're doing your eye. But you remember none of it due to the Versed, it basically stops your brain from recording anything in memory for however long they have the dose worked out.

I got an Alcon acrylic IOL (intra ocular lens). You were probably given a lens card with the particulars of your IOL on it.

They use phaco-emulsification (focused ultra sound) to break down the natural lens for removal. The IOL is all rolled up like a burrito when they insert it through an approximately 2mm slit in the eye and then unroll it into place where it goes (in what is known as the Capsular Bag in the frontal part of the eye). Then they're out and you're done, no sutures needed because the eye just sort of auto-seals the tiny 2mm incisions. I was back to work two days after the procedure.

Sounds like a [censored] but it's actually a cake walk of a procedure from a patient point of view. The improvement in visual acuity can be remarkable.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Doesn't explain how me or my dad have cataracts. We're office workers. We're not even weekend warriors.

Unfortunately the fluorescent bulbs in offices emit UV radiation too (newer ones, not so much, but in the past it was unregulated). My mom had the cataract surgery, with new lenses implanted, and now she doesn't even need glasses.
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger

For the cataract deal they give you what's called "waking sedation" because they need to have you obey certain things they tell you to do while they're doing your eye. But you remember none of it due to the Versed,

Actually I remember some of the operation. I was aware that they were slicing my eyeball and then there was only light hitting the retina..no image. Weird. Same with the second eye.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Doesn't explain how me or my dad have cataracts. We're office workers. We're not even weekend warriors.

I was being a smart guy.
wink.gif
UV certainly speeds them up, but we weren't meant to live so long in the first place.
 
Congrats, I know a few people who consider their cataract surgery life changing, giving them back years of enjoyment.

I'm interested in your experiences down the track, as there was a doctor a hundred years ago who reckoned that most of our visual accomodation was due to the comparatively massive muscles changing the shape of the eyeball, and less due to the tiny muscles pulling the lenses.

An ex Aus rifle shooter was telling me that he "imagines" that his focus is changing post synthetic lens, and was told it was imagination...was stoked when I advised him of Bate's conclusions (he measured accomodation on patient with no lens)
 
I'm going to have to have the YAG laser done on my eye with the IOL in it once the silicone oil from the vitrectomy is removed and after the eye is stable from that. The capsular bag that the lens sits in is what gets clouded and as mentioned further up in this thread it only happens once and the YAG laser which I believe may be an infrared type cleans it up with little to no drama. Apparently the silicone oil is already causing some clouding at the periphery of the capsular bag. Not sure if that's from the moly, boron, zinc, or phos in the add pack or if they bought it from Kendall, maybe the titanium . . .
 
Got the basic lense. Options ran from about $1500 to $2600 out of pocket. All options use laser machine which I understand cost about half a mill to purchase. Plain old plain lense seems to working for me .Wheel you in, shine a bright light in your eye and the next thing you know, the nurse is offering you orange juice and a cracker.
 
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