Cataracts and possible focus problems

[Pfreddee]

I was looking through some old snaps today, and almost all of them looked to be out of focus. I don't remember this being the case when I looked at them right after I got them back from the processor... Now, I have a cataract in my right (dominant) eye, and it looks as if I'm seeing out-of-focus because of this. I think the thing causes problems other than viewing photos, such as reading, but over time I've learned to ignore it. Until now. I was wondering if any other older members who have cataracts have seen something like this as they age.

Cataract surgery isn't an option right now, because my ophthalmologist doesn't think I need it right now, and they use needles to anaesthetize the eye before they remove the cataract.😱 I had my left eye done in Illinois, where they used drops to numb my eye. NO NEEDLES. Thank you.

Just curious.

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Mr_Toad]

Needles?! In your EYEBALL? 😕 What do they say to people when they do that to them? "Now try not to move your eyeball, this will sting just a little."

YOW!

I don't have cataracts...but at 55, I definitely have trouble focusing, at least with the itty-bitty viewfinders that accompany 35mm size cameras. At least with Large Format, I had a glass screen, a loupe, a dark cloth and a lot of time.

Anyway....I pretty much have to have some form of device in the viewfinder to help me focus.

Do rangefinder patches help for you? ...or perhaps the automated quick-focus magnified image that is in some digital cameras, like the X100. I read some digitals have an electronic focus indicator of some type.

Robt.

 

[colyn]

I had a cataract removed from my right eye awhile back and the Dr used drops instead of a needle. It has greatly improved my vision and has allowed me to get a new eyeglasses prescription which also helped with my left eye which is cataract free.

Any Dr who says you don't need surgery isn't worth his/her salt...

Get a new Dr and get the cataract removed...

 

[astro8]

I don't have cataracts but have a pterygium in both eyes. Similiar types of symptoms - blurring, obscurity double and treble images. It was caused by years of uv exposure from our Australian sun...working outdoors with no sunglasses.🙁

The right eye is most affected, so much so that I have become a left eyed shooter. I should get surgery before the left eye becomes as bad as the right, which is inevitable. I'm just worried because I've seen people after they've had the surgery, their eye looked like a ball of mince meat for a month.

I'm afraid Stephen, we'll just have to suck it up 'til we man up and get it 'fixed'...needles or no needles.

 

[Morry Katz]

My advice...get an up to date doctor. I just had cataracts removed from both eyes, about 3 weeks apart. No needles. No pain. No fuss. No after effects. The prep time was about 1 hour, the surgery about 15 minutes! My distance vision is now 20-20 without glasses! But I have a pair of reading glasses. That's OK. By the way, I'm 79 and shoot with a Leica M4 and Rollei SL 66.

 

[kuzano]

Have you investigated Canada?

Have you investigated Canada?

About ten years ago, I took a friend up to Vancouver British Columbia for laser surgery to correct vision on both eyes. It was a two hour procedure. I dropped her off and picked her up two hours later. Her vision was a little scratchy for about a day. We drove home the second day. She has never had a problem since and her vision was corrected.

When she researched the procedure and the doctor, she found out they had been doing this procedure in Canada at least a decade longer than it was approved in the US. It cost her as much to do both eyes as one eye here in the US.

The state of medical procedures in other countries exceeds what's available in the US in many areas of care.

Now, I don't know about the anasthesia process, and how this might apply to cataracts. I do know my mother had cataract surgery in her early 70's and never needed correction in either eye for the rest of her life.

 

[astro8]

I just did a couple minutes of googling. Looks like I'm the one that will be getting the needles and my eyeball will be getting a skin graft...the donor is my eyelid.😱 😱

Cataract surgery sounds like a walk in the park.

 

[craygc]

Not that anyone ever cares too much about this but I had my right dominant eye done a few years back and the surgeon suggested that I do my own research to determine what type of interocular implant I wanted. Seemed a strange suggestion at the time but after a few hours of research a day for 2 weeks I became extremely opinionated. Especially when it was becoming obvious that US surgeons tend to push products they make more money on - ie. the newer multifocal IOL types. My conclusion was that mono focal set to infinity was the best option out there - 4 years later I'll still swear by my decision and will have the 2nd eye done similarly once work backs off a little. Attached is an interesting set of graphs I pulled together during this research, stretched to line up the axes, but clearly indicating the MTF resolving power of the monofocal IOL (upper chart) as almost double that of multifocal IOLs (lower chart)... (had to throw in a comparable Leica lens just for comparison 😀 )

 

[kbg32]

I had cataract surgery, both eyes, almost a year ago. I now have 20/20 vision for the first time in my life. I was highly myopic before. They used needles, they used drops. I also was slightly anesthetized. Never knew what was going on. I highly recommend the surgery. It will only get worse. That is a fact.