It seems a number of us may be in need of cataract surgery, or will be, in the near or longer term future. I just came across the following article on a newer kind of replacement lens that has a higher success rate than previous methods.
Neil A
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Neil…Thanks, but that ship has already sailed. I had conventional surgery last February. My vision has stayed about the same; however, the halos and double vision are gone. These were my main reasons for having the surgery. I couldn’t drive or ride a bike safely. I still wear the same glasses and an optivisor that I used before the surgery…Rob
If you need cataract surgery, I recommend joining the Facebook “Cataract Surgery Support Group”. There is a lot of good information available there.
You can also search in the group for the adjustable lenses. Some people in the group received them.
My surgery date is coming up shortly. Choosing the new focal distance is a tough decision. A lot of previously near-sighted people (like me) have had good success with a near/intermediate mini mono vision that is using the standard single focus lens.
For those farsighted folks at least, the focal length should not be a tough decision. I guess they all prefer to stay farsighted.
As far as the type of lens goes, I learned there is a quality and contrast loss with the multi focal lenses, so that might not be good for us jewelry makers. Also, the majority of people in the group who were unhappy with their surgery had those “premium” lenses. I did not read up on the adjustable lenses.
Just an FYI about many standard cataract lenses: A GG friend of mine was shocked to find out that replacement lenses she got severely limited her ability to see many florescent colors under different UV lights (which is often used as a diagnostic test for gemstone ID). Turns out they commonly come with a UV filter in the lens that we don’t have in our eyes. I’m not sure why they thought this was a good idea…
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I have noticed that annealing colors look different since I had the surgery. I anneal in the dark, so it isn’t ambient light other than the glowing hot metal…Rob
Cataracts make everything brownish. Removing them returns true colors - ain’t it wonderful?
Judy
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wait to have cataract surgery until you are having problems with your vision. night vision and halos will be affected… if you are nearsighted… negative diopters, you will lose the natural magnification close up by taking your glasses off to read…I am a negative 5 roughly, which gives me 5X magnification with glasses off… when I was younger, I was off by -10 diopters and could do close up work without my glasses and without the need for magnifying lenses…if you are farsighted (+ spherical diopters or 20/20 far, then having cataract surgery won’t affect anything, as your near vision is already corrected…but you might still need reading and’or magnifying glasses for close up… best ask your ophthalmologist about it Steve Hata MD
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correction: your near vision will be affected and you will need reading glasses. steve hata