Multifocal lens replacement surgery question

August 2, 2021 9:22 AM

After a lifetime of wearing glasses, I'm thinking about getting lens replacement surgery, and I have a few questions...

I've read the previous AskMes on this, but they're all at least ten years old, and so things in the world of lens replacement surgery have probably moved on from there.

I've been short-sighted and worn glasses my whole life, around -6.50 in one eye and -6.25 in the other, with a 1.5 magnification for reading on my varifocal lenses. I have the beginnings of a cataract, and so I know there'll be surgery at some point in the future. But at the moment I have the time and the money to get lens replacement surgery in the near future, for vision correction.

As I do office work, I have to read a lot and so rather than fixed, distance lenses and reading glasses, I'm leaning towards multifocal lenses, the trifocal ones with close, intermediate and distance correction. If you've had these (or the multifocal that are just close/distance), are you happy with them? Is there any part of your vision that's not clear enough?

I'm fearful of the actual surgery itself. I want to be twilighted the f**k out as far as possible. Will they also allow me to plug my ears so I can't hear what they're saying, or do I need to hear them to follow directions?

How long did you have to wait after having one eye done before they would do the other one?

Are you glad you got it done? Any regrets? Any advice or suggestions?

posted by essexjan to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

It would be good if you could try multifocal contact lenses first, to see if they even work for you. Supposedly your brain figures out how to draw information from the part of the lens that works for each distance. In actuality, with the contact lenses, my brain never figured it out, so it was just like wearing lenses that were a diopter weaker than I needed. It was good to be able to just throw out the super-annoying useless lenses, instead of being stuck with the results of surgery.
posted by metonym at 9:58 AM on August 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Agree with metonym. I am fairly happy with my multifocal (toric) lenses, but I'm at 20/30 for distance in them despite adjustments. Before I started surgery, I'd want to have some confidence I could be happy with the results.
posted by praemunire at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks. Yes, I've used multifocal contacts in the past. But I have some corneal scarring on the surface of the eye from past GP lens over-wearing some years ago, so contacts aren't an option for me any more as they're not comfortable to wear for more than a few hours, and soft lenses don't give me the clarify of vision I require. My ophthalmologist thinks I'm a suitable candidate for lens replacement though.

Specifically, I'm looking for advice from people who've had intraocular lens replacement, with particular reference to multifocal lenses, rather than suggestions on other, less invasive, ways to correct vision.
posted by essexjan at 11:52 AM on August 2, 2021

Best answer: I had cataract surgery last year and chose the multifocal lens. I have been very happy with them. Once in a while, I have trouble focusing on close objects, but I close my eyes and in a short while I can re-focus more clearly.

As I recall, it was about 3 weeks between eyes. I was pretty high during the surgery. I did have to follow a few directions during the surgery as far as looking in various directions.

I have had glasses and later contacts since the fourth grade and now I don't need any corrective lenses at all. In my experience, it was well worth it to get the multifocal lenses.
posted by statusquoante at 12:47 PM on August 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I had intraocular lens replacement about 3 years ago (not multifocal though) and my only regret was not doing it sooner!

The surgery itself was a piece of cake (no pain/discomfort, fast, given relaxing drugs) the only annoying part was waiting like 2-3 weeks in between eyes.

I will say that I suspect the surgery weakened my levator muscles in my eyelids (a possible side effect of the procedure, no idea how common BUT it could also have happened due to me rubbing eyes from severe environmental allergies, there's no way to prove what caused it) which resulted in moderate ptosis/drooping of lids. If you care about vision over cosmetic/aesthetic concerns, this will not be an issue for you. I need an upper bleph to correct it.
posted by CancerSucks at 7:48 PM on August 2, 2021

Best answer: My severe myopia with astigmatism was totally restored to normal vision by the cataract lens replacement and surgery (the surgeon fixed the astigmatism, which was one eye only, with a small cut in the cornea), though it's only long-distance not multi-focus and I need reading glasses for close work. I decided against multi-focus to avoid compromising the best long distance vision possible.

So I got many many pairs of reading glasses from the dollar store and stash a pair anywhere and everywhere I might need them, and also carry a pair with lanyard in my pocket for when I'm out and about. It's a fine solution to the problem: my vision is better than 20:20 for anything distant and any time I need to see close up there's a pair of specs ready to pick up and use. The dollar store specs are not high quality but the optics are good enough and they're comfortable enough, and there's no need to stress about sitting on them.

There was no discomfort or pain at any stage, though going on a backpacking trip in the month between one eye being fixed and the other was interesting because judging distance is tricky when only one eye needs assistance from a lens. My myopic specs had one lens removed and I used two hiking poles to find out where steps were.
posted by anadem at 9:20 PM on August 2, 2021