OT: Laser eye surgery - wow!

[JML755]

Almost 2 years ago, I had cataract surgery on both eyes. They put ocular implants in and my vision became 20-20. Before the surgery, I had terrible eyesight and needed glasses for distance. After the surgery, I needed reading glasses and to work on a computer. Not a huge drawback but found that I could no longer just pull my glasses off to read fine print or work on stuff that required close inspection. I got a magnifier headset and a bunch of different magnifying glasses to handle those situations and everything was fine.... until a few months ago. My vision started to get worse to the point I couldn't read road signs well. Right eye was the worst but left eye was also problematic. I kept going to the store, trying different strength reading glasses and nothing seemed to help. Typing on a computer was the worst. Everything was blurry as heck. Figured I had some kind of disease.

Went to the eye surgeon Tuesday afternoon. Could barely read the eye chart with ANY setting they used on the machine. He mentioned I might need laser surgery. What?! I thought. He took one look at my eyes and said "oh yeah, you need laser". J said, ok, when? He said "tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4:00 pm". I said "whoa, I need to check with my wife if she can get off work". He said "no need, it will only take a few minutes and you can drive right home. We'll do the left eye Thursday at 8:00 AM. I'd do both at the same time but insurance sometimes balks at that, so we do them on separate days." He walked out, saying "see you tomorrow".

Needless to say I was a little taken aback at how fast it all happened.

Went in Wednesday afternoon, spent about 15 minutes with the nurse, checking eye pressure and dilating my eye. Waited about 10 minutes for my eye to dilate and they called me into a room. Doctor told me to put my head on the chinrest of the laser machine, (it was nothing fancy to look at), started firing away with the laser for about 30 seconds and said "have a nice afternoon, you should like the results". I walked out and WOW, everything was clear as day, not blurry anymore. No discomfort whatsoever during the procedure. Yesterday morning, had the left eye done. Same result: restored my 20/20 vision. I looked on Youtube and found a video on the procedure: "yag laser capsulotomy". Watching it blew me away, how simple it looked. Just like playing a video game or shooting ducks at a carnival. Turns out a good number of people have this problem after cataract surgery and it's very simple to fix.

If anyone is worried about it after cataract surgery, don't be. I asked the doc if I would need this again and he said "nope". Hope he's right.

Any of you guys had this done?

 

[Tramway Guy]

I'm contemplating it. My cataracts are borderline right now, just waiting till they get bad enough to need it.
I had LASIK 11 years ago, and am generally pleased with the results. I'm not worried if and when.

 

[RayP(MI)]

Glad for your great results. Thanks for the report.

 

[Old weldor]

I had the same thing. What happens is the fluid in the sac the implant floats on becomes cloudy. The laser clears it up.

 

[T in NE]

If the smell of burning flesh bothers you, you may
have an issue with lasik. They had to pump air in to
my uncle and coat the inside of the mask with vap-o-
rub to mask the smell.

My dad had cataract surgery 6 years ago. It was
scary going anywhere with him. He was legally blind
in his right eye. Burned for 2 weeks after surgery.
"Well dad, how long has it been since you could see
anything in that eye? It's been that long since
light got into it"
"I guess so"

 

[farmboy48]

JML, thanks for posting this, I had cataract surgery last Feb with , same results as you. Doc told me then I would probably need laser in July or August to clear up the cloudiness- blurry vision. I can notice it starting lately. You answered some of my questions, just wonder now, is this covered by Medicare or insurance?

Thanks,
Dick ND

 

[CaseChev]

I think we're mixing apples....oranges.....and eyeballs here. Yes, they are all round, but
very different. LASIK laser surgery to reshape an eye's cornea to fix refractive errors is
totally different than laser treatment to correct side effects of cataract surgery. LASIK
uses a laser instead of a scalpel to reshape the cornea to correct
nearsightedness....farsightedness etc. Laser treatment after cataract surgery is completely
different. Laser treatment after cataracts is a simple procedure to blast "floaters" or
leftover debris from the cataract surgery. Blasting floaters and debris is much simpler
than using a laser as a scalpel. Ask me how I know......I recently had cataract surgery and
I am now experiencing the floaters and cloudiness and will have to have the laser blaster
treatment to clear it up.

 

[wfw]

Thanks for your post on this, my wife needs this after eye surgery. She had an appointment but cancelled it.
I got her to read this so she would have an idea about it. She said to tell you Thank You. Her left eye is
fine but the right is cloudy. Maybe now she will have the surgery.

 

[JML755]

(quoted from post at 09:43:35 06/04/16) JML, thanks for posting this, I had cataract surgery last Feb with , same results as you. Doc told me then I would probably need laser in July or August to clear up the cloudiness- blurry vision. I can notice it starting lately. You answered some of my questions, just wonder now, is this covered by Medicare or insurance?

Thanks,
Dick ND

I've got a Medicare BC/BS Advantage plan (Signature, I think). It's the second from the highest priced plan. Doc said insurance "should" cover it. Not sure about the deductible, though. I need to look it up in the inch-thick book they sent me with all that kind of information. I'll repost once I find out the cost. Can't imagine it's cheap, but I don't expect it to be like getting a flu shot. :lol: People complain about the high cost of medical care but I remember my grandfather at 91 years of age in 1971 unable to see because of cataracts. Back then, there was no remedy. I'm very thankful for all the advancements in medicine.

 

[Gene Davis (Ga.)]

I had cataracts removed from both eyes and my vision was great afterwards. A couple of years afterwards things
began to look sparkly like the cataracts did at the beginning. My eye doctor examined me and said that a thin
membrane had formed over the lens implant and it would need removing by laser surgery. He said it was not unusual
for that to happen. I returned to his office the next week and they dilated my eyes then had me put my chin in a
chin rest and a few clicks from his laser and the cloudiness went away, no pain whatever. I have United Health Care
Insurance and my deductible was $50.00 I carried a driver with me, but the doctor said it was fine to drive if I
could see after he finished. I drove us home.

 

[RedGreenGuy]

Had my LASIK 15 yrs ago. Last 2yrs night vision has been terrible. Vision just going to pot. Left
cataract removed last week. Vision already improving. Rt eye will be done the 8th. Will be great see
20/20 again.

 

[T in NE]

Laser eye surgery is pretty affordable compared to
most medical procedures.

Government has regulated the life out of it, either.

Coincidence?