Cataract surgery writeup
Dec. 13th, 2025 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaI don't email much with my mother, but not too long after I had cataract surgery, I heard she was nervous about having hers, so I wrote it up for her. Maybe this will be useful for someone else too.
It makes sense to be worried about any surgery, but this one is well-understood, superficial in the body, and the surgeons are well-practiced.
Modern technology is amazing. They use ultrasound to remove the lens, and then insert the new lens and it unfolds in there. They place the incision so that it is naturally held closed by the anatomy of the eye, so there aren't any stitches.
At the first appointment, they measured my eyes with a lot of high tech machines. They told me to put eye drops in my eyes 4x a day for a month beforehand, and I complied, which helped with the measurements.
A friend recommended preservative-free saline eye drops in little individual containers, and they came in handy when the eye was uncomfortable. The brand I got is Refresh Plus.
I struggled to decide what distance of vision to optimize for, and chose -.75 diopters (computer distance), a little better corrected than the surgeon's recommendation of -1. She said it's only approximate, and I also discovered that their machines use a different scale than regular glasses, so -.75 is closer to 20/20 than I expected. I ended up with great distance vision, good-enough intermediate vision to see the computer, and have had to get used to not being able to read my phone at night without reading glasses. I can still read it in better light during the day though. So I'm not wearing glasses at all for the most part, which is a lovely change after nearly 50 years of needing them all the time. I was seeing a lot of halos at night, and that's improved too.
You could consider getting near vision in one eye and far vision in the other, depending on what your doctors recommend. I didn't do that since I recently had surgery for the eyes to work together, but I have a friend who chose that and is happy with it.
The surgery itself is barely more fuss than going to the dentist. One doesn't even have to change into a medical gown. I had to fast for 8 hours beforehand, which wasn't that hard because my surgeries were early in the morning. They put drops in the eye to dilate and numb it, and put an IV in my arm. I asked for minimal sedation, so they gave me half the usual amount of Versed, and I was awake for the surgery.
On the operating table, they put a cloth cover over my face and opened a hole for the eye. There were bright lights and I could hear the surgeon and nurses chatting, and then after 15 minutes it was all done. They had me transfer to a wheelchair. I sat in a little curtained cubicle for 15 minutes and drank some apple juice, and then they wheeled me out to my friend's car, and that was it.
I had a metal mesh cover with silicone edges taped over the eye, so I could see out, but it was protected. I could take that off the next morning, which was a relief. I took some Tylenol, but didn't have much pain. It takes a while for the eye to stop being dilated.
They recommend not lifting much weight "anything that would make you hold your breath" for a week. I had followup appointments the next day and a week later. I took the day of surgery and the next day off work, and it was a little uncomfortable to look at a computer all day the third day, but not too bad.
To prepare for the time between the two surgeries, I ordered glasses from Zenni Optical with the unoperated eye's prescription and no correction for the other eye so I could still see the computer screen and in the distance with both eyes. My glasses were rimless, so I couldn't just pop out one of the lenses.
I hope your surgeries go well and that you're happy with the correction you choose.
It makes sense to be worried about any surgery, but this one is well-understood, superficial in the body, and the surgeons are well-practiced.
Modern technology is amazing. They use ultrasound to remove the lens, and then insert the new lens and it unfolds in there. They place the incision so that it is naturally held closed by the anatomy of the eye, so there aren't any stitches.
At the first appointment, they measured my eyes with a lot of high tech machines. They told me to put eye drops in my eyes 4x a day for a month beforehand, and I complied, which helped with the measurements.
A friend recommended preservative-free saline eye drops in little individual containers, and they came in handy when the eye was uncomfortable. The brand I got is Refresh Plus.
I struggled to decide what distance of vision to optimize for, and chose -.75 diopters (computer distance), a little better corrected than the surgeon's recommendation of -1. She said it's only approximate, and I also discovered that their machines use a different scale than regular glasses, so -.75 is closer to 20/20 than I expected. I ended up with great distance vision, good-enough intermediate vision to see the computer, and have had to get used to not being able to read my phone at night without reading glasses. I can still read it in better light during the day though. So I'm not wearing glasses at all for the most part, which is a lovely change after nearly 50 years of needing them all the time. I was seeing a lot of halos at night, and that's improved too.
You could consider getting near vision in one eye and far vision in the other, depending on what your doctors recommend. I didn't do that since I recently had surgery for the eyes to work together, but I have a friend who chose that and is happy with it.
The surgery itself is barely more fuss than going to the dentist. One doesn't even have to change into a medical gown. I had to fast for 8 hours beforehand, which wasn't that hard because my surgeries were early in the morning. They put drops in the eye to dilate and numb it, and put an IV in my arm. I asked for minimal sedation, so they gave me half the usual amount of Versed, and I was awake for the surgery.
On the operating table, they put a cloth cover over my face and opened a hole for the eye. There were bright lights and I could hear the surgeon and nurses chatting, and then after 15 minutes it was all done. They had me transfer to a wheelchair. I sat in a little curtained cubicle for 15 minutes and drank some apple juice, and then they wheeled me out to my friend's car, and that was it.
I had a metal mesh cover with silicone edges taped over the eye, so I could see out, but it was protected. I could take that off the next morning, which was a relief. I took some Tylenol, but didn't have much pain. It takes a while for the eye to stop being dilated.
They recommend not lifting much weight "anything that would make you hold your breath" for a week. I had followup appointments the next day and a week later. I took the day of surgery and the next day off work, and it was a little uncomfortable to look at a computer all day the third day, but not too bad.
To prepare for the time between the two surgeries, I ordered glasses from Zenni Optical with the unoperated eye's prescription and no correction for the other eye so I could still see the computer screen and in the distance with both eyes. My glasses were rimless, so I couldn't just pop out one of the lenses.
I hope your surgeries go well and that you're happy with the correction you choose.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-14 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-15 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-14 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-15 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-14 08:14 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing this! My mom had cataract surgery a few years ago and I did NOT want to know any details, but my recent eye exam revealed I have cataracts now (though they're not currently interfering with my vision) so this information has suddenly become relevant to my interests. The procedure doesn't sound nearly as intimidating as I imagined.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-15 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-15 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-15 02:12 am (UTC)What a thorough and reassuring
Date: 2025-12-17 05:12 pm (UTC)summary. Nobody in my family has cataracts, but MyGuy is definitely on course for them. This made me breathe easier.
This is such a wonderful technique! When we finally get access to it, modern medicine can be fabulous.