Lens Replacement for Treatment of Cataracts

Like millions of other people, I have suffered from near-sightedness for most of my life.  I started wearing glasses for the first time when I was about 14 years old.  After I reached my twenties, I decided to try contact lens.  Soft contact lenses had recently been introduced and since I hated wearing glasses so much, I was all for trying something new.

Unfortunately, I must be one of those people that just can’t tolerate contacts very well.  First, I always had difficulty putting them in and taking them out.  It made me a nervous wreck dealing with this task.  The contacts I wore were extended wear which meant that I could keep them in for about a week before I had to take them out for cleaning.

Not only did I have problems taking the contacts in and out, but I also had a couple of eye infections as a result of wearing them.  Probably for leaving them in too long I guess.  In any case, my eye doctor told me to leave them out for a few weeks to let my eyes rest and clear up before wearing them again.  I ended up going back to my glasses for several years before trying contacts again in my early thirties.  Once again, I did not tolerate them very well and just did not have the patience for putting them in and taking them out.  I decided to go back to glasses and deal with the fact that I was not a good candidate for contacts.

As I got older, I noticed that my vision was not what it used to be.  In fact, it seemed like every time I went to the eye doctor, my vision had gotten worse and I had to get stronger and stronger glasses.  I feared that before long I would have to be wearing glasses with lens so thick that it looked like I was seeing through the ends of coke bottles.  You know what I mean.

Then by the time I was in my late forties, my doctor told me that I was beginning to develop Cataracts on both eyes.  He said I was not yet to the point of having to do anything about them, but they would only get worse as I aged and sooner or later I would have to have surgery.

Well I started reading up on my options.  I remembered how when my Grandmother had Cataract surgery in the early seventies, she was basically blind after the surgery without having to wear these really thick glasses.  I did not look forward to a similar fate.

Fortunately, technology has come a long way since the seventies in regards to the treatment of Cataracts.  My eye doctor explained to me how they can replace the lens of your eye with an artificial lens and potentially return you to 20/20 vision.  I was very excited about the possibility of not having to wear glasses any more, but of course there is risk in having any kind of surgery and there were no guarantees.

In late 2007, I went to an eye doctor that specialized in lens replacement surgery for the treatment of Cataracts.  After an initial consultation and a very thorough eye exam, my first surgery was scheduled.  They rarely do surgery on both eyes at the same time.  I guess this is partly from a risk standpoint.  The plan was to do one eye and then do the other eye two weeks later.

I remember on the morning of the first surgery being very nervous.  My nervousness was soon put to rest by the wonderful people that prepared me for the surgery.  It was almost like an assembly line in efficiency.  When I was brought back from the waiting room, I was escorted to a large room just outside of the operating room.  There were six of us all lined up waiting for surgery that morning.  They had six of these Lazy boy type reclining chairs lined up in a row that they put us in.  One of the nurses came by to each of us to make sure we were comfortable and to take our blood pressure.  They also gave us a little pill to relax us.  I noticed that a couple of the patients had IV’s of some type.

When my turn came, my nurse helped me out of the recliner and walked with me into the operating room.  I climbed up onto the table by myself and they started placing paper sheets around the eye that was having the surgery.  I remember feeling very calm about the whole thing, but I was going to be wide awake during the entire procedure.

Then when the doctor walked in I was completely calm in one sense, but also excited at the possibility of having good sight without wearing glasses.  I remember the entire procedure.  There was no pain or discomfort whatsoever.  There were a couple times when I felt a slight pressure on my eye when the incision was made and again when the new lens was being inserted into place, but they said that was normal.  The doctor talked to me throughout the entire procedure and described what she was doing at each point.  It was not an unpleasant procedure at all.  The entire surgical procedure took less than fifteen minutes and I was on my way.

For the next two weeks between surgeries, I had several types of eye drops and ointments that I had to apply to my eye.  These were to prevent infections and to help my eye heal as quickly as possible.  Two weeks later I had the other eye done and repeated the same process.  The difference in my vision was almost immediate.  As soon as each eye was done, my vision was back to normal within 24 hours or so.  The final outcome was that I ended up with 20/20 distance vision.  I had never been able to see this well in my entire life.  It was amazing all the things I had missed out on.  Colors were much more vivid after the surgery.

In the few years since my eye surgery, I have been back for touch up laser surgery on one eye and am about to have laser surgery on the other eye soon.  The doctor told me that touch up laser surgery may be required within a year or two of the lens replacement surgery and that this was entirely normal.  Once this was done, my vision would not change any more for the rest of my life.  Even though the procedure was fairly expensive, I can tell you now that this was one of the best investments that I have ever made in my life.  I was also fortunate to have good insurance that paid for a large portion of the procedure.  I would highly recommend this procedure for anyone with Cataracts.  I cannot begin to tell you how this procedure has improved the quality of my life in the last few years.  Good vision is something you should be thankful for every day.  Never take it for granted.

Addendum:  If you're a candidate for Cataract surgery and/or want to learn more, I highly endorse Dr. Cathy Schanzer of Southern Eye Associates of Memphis, Tennessee.  Website:  http://www.southerneyememphis.com/