Cataracts surgery

I can't bear having anyone touch around my eyes- but I have had both treated, and couldn't be happier. Drops completely remove all feeling, and a white cloth is placed over your face. I was aware only of shadows and a bright light above the cloth, and the procedure took a short time - about ten or fifteen minutes for each eye. I had no sensation of touching, or any discomfort at all. It was less hassle than having my teeth cleaned by the hygienist!

I had my second eye done a couple of weeks ago and don't remember having my eyes pinned down in either op. I was asked to keep my eyes open, still and try not to blink but that was the only restriction.

The op's well worth the discomfort...

I can't believe anyone could possibly be more squeamish about eyes than me. When told by the optician I would need cataracts seen to, I was all fear and trepidation. I hope I can reassure you that anticipation of mine was far worse than the procedure, which was very brief, seemed like minutes. Lying flat on back a mask like thing over the head with eye opening and directed to stare at a very bright light, all over very quickly, you won't feel anything. Beforehand all the medics who assess the patients and put anaethesising drops in eye were very reassuring and sympathetic. All in all I was at the clinic a couple of hours, much of it taken up in the preliminaries. In the aftermath you will have a plastic shield placed over the affected eye for 24 hours and given eyedrops to be used for 2 weeks and told not to drive for a while. Eye was a little sore, but nothing severe. Good luck.

I was very anxious like you . As said its less hassle than having your teeth polished at the dentist . Absolutely no pain and no discomfort whatsoever. One tip , take sunglasses to wear going home as your eyes will be sensitive to bright light . Use your drops regularly. The first morning I woke up I thought my walls had been repainted, everything looked fresh and bright . Best wishes

I have had both eyes done. It was a bit of a palaver and involved lots of waiting around but the actual procedure is very straight forward and painless.

The after care is a bit complicated but if you just follow the clear instructions you should be fine. You will probably be surprised at the improvement in your sight so it is well worth it.

My advice is go for it. All the best.

TerriBull has said what I was going to say in a much better way.
It was very straightforward but I was also very anxious.
Toetoe is also right about everything being brighter the next day. I only had one eye done but the difference in the colour of the sky and trees outside was amazing.
I had bought in enough food supplies etc as I knew I was not going to be able to drive for a while and I made the most of self enforced resting 🤣

Forgot to say, best wishes tanith 💕

Your eye will be anaesthetised before the start. You feel and see absolutely nothing. Including, your lid being opened.

If you want to see how gentle and painless the lid speculum is is, you can watch here. I promise it's nothing to dread.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG8FPIj2iU0

My dread fantasy was that my eye would see a gloved hand holding a scalpel coming towards it, that doesnt happen either. I just saw a bright light then nothing.

Don't forget sunglasses for the journey home. Preferbly a style that goes round the side of your eyes.

I had several different drops to put in my eyes on a timed daily program lasting weeks, and found it useful to make a chart for the bathroom wall so I could tick them off and keep track of where I was up to.

I had both mine done quite a while back now but I remember it being so much better than I thought it was going to be - and it didn't take too long.

Thankyou so much everyone for putting my mend at rest. For those who've had both done how long between the surgerys?.

I find it better to search on Google rather than mumsnet
e.g. google "mumsnet cataract"

It was a couple of months for me I think, had my first ones done 2nd January last and can't remember, exactly when I had the 2nd eye done, it was in the Spring though.

I had my first eye done 4 weeks ago, have my check up next week and I’m told the second op will be booked then. Like others I was extremely anxious (so much so that I’ve been putting it off since before the pandemic when I was first referred). It really was as miraculous as others have said. I was in and out of the clinic in 50 minutes from start to finish.

I forgot to take sunglasses and would echo what others have said, the light is astonishingly bright afterwards. I remarked to my husband that I felt as if someone had turned a light on, I had no idea the world was that colour! I still can’t get over the difference between my treated eye and the other one - the world before was in sepia, and the world afterwards is bright white and filled with colour. You will not regret it!

you're very lucky to have them done in a matter of weeks,my OH has been waiting 40 weeks to have his second one done, we've both had one eye done and it was painless, I wouldn't be afraid to have my other one done

Another happy patient here. I was nervous for the first eye but it really was absolutely pain free. I am claustrophobic so was more worried about the cloth on my face but they are well prepared for that and have a device which holds it away . The difference in my sight immediately was amazing. Absolutely no pain. I had the second eye done 6 weeks later and actually enjoyed it - it was so interesting. Again no pain or problems and my sight is brilliant without any type of glasses. As Nightowl says the difference in colours is amazing.

I know I’m lucky pably but I was told my eyes are now so imbalanced they can’t leave the second one very long. I’m extremely short sighted and have been since childhood, though no longer in one eye.

I wonder if it also depends where the procedure is done - I have a friend who was referred to the local NHS hospital and has been waiting more than a year for the second eye to be done. I was referred to a private hospital under the NHS and they seem to be much quicker. I suppose they are driven to do as many as possible as a guaranteed income stream. It seems unfair but privatisation is the way of things now I’m afraid.

tanith

Thankyou so much everyone for putting my mend at rest. For those who've had both done how long between the surgerys?.

I had mine done at a private hospital on the NHS. It was a year between surgeries but that was possibly because I had to wait for free transport to be available. This was where I happen to live so it may be different elsewhere.

I think my referral is to a private NHS affiliated clinic hence the 4wk wait it feels rather hypocritical to be 'going private' but the optician said im very close to the dvla criteria for a driving ban which would be really difficult transport wise. So I put my doubts aside.

Yes mine was, SpaMedica. I think the NHS have outsourced these procedures.

Same TerriBull

My cataracts were very bad apparently. They just weren’t picked up on visits to the opticians. Eventually I was told they were seriously bad. Didn’t wait long for treatment at a major London teaching hospital. On the day all the surgeons refused to operate as they felt it was too complicated. Their supervisor told them off and checked my eyes. He told them to deal with it. After about six hours waiting and worrying, I was in a terrible state. The operation lasted over an hour and went wrong. A senior consultant was called and insisted that I have an injection in the centre of the eye because they were out of time and I had no anaesthetic left. The reason I am telling you this miserable story is that about 4 months later I was in the local supermarket and my husband asked me the price of something. I picked it up and read all the ingredients and the price. He said, you didn’t look for your glasses in your handbag. I didn’t need to. Now I can read the smallest text. My expensive reading glasses are redundant. I had something like 24 eye drops a day and wasn’t allowed to cook in case I splashed my eye with oil I guess. Wasn’t allowed to shower or wash my hair for a long time. It was probably unusual but I will never ever regret going ahead with it. A year later I was offered the other eye and yet again, all the surgeons refused. One wonderful lady stepped in and did it in 15 minutes. That’s for long distance and TV. I now have 20/20 vision and permission to drive. No more glasses. I didn’t write this to be alarmist. Just want everyone to see like me.

With my hospital trust I was told the waiting time would be 3 years. I therefore used my private medical insurance with Benenden which is only around £18 per month. My right eye was done 4 months ago, the left eye was done one month ago.
I was nervous and had no need to be, from start to finish was about 2 hours with checks and then the anaesthetist freezing my eye. This was done with eye drops. The actual procedure itself was only ten minutes. I felt nothing. Saw occasional shadows.

As others have said, the change next morning after removing my eye patch was unbelievable. The second eye surgery went equally smoothly. My distance vision is 20/20. I still need reading glassses although can manage better without them than previously.
Absolutely no hesitation is saying you wont regret it.

I'm due for cataract removal soon and have an appointment soon for a pre test. I'm really scared and keep thinking I won't be able to go through with it. I'm also worried about how my eyesight will be after surgery. I'm worried my eyesight will be worse. I'm going through a lot of other health issues atm so it feels overwhelming that this has happened at this time .

I hope you are OK and your surgery is successful. x

Tanith - I had both mine done on the same day. I think you live quite near me and will probably be treated by the same health authority - maybe even the same surgeon!

I can hand on heart say that it was totally painless and totally nontraumatic in any way whatsoever. Really .... just nothing.

You cannot see what is happening because of the bright lights; you cannot feel what is happening because of the local anaesthetic which was installed by means of a tiny seed like thing dropped under your eyelid beforehand.

Afterwards I had two lots of drops to go in several times a day for a couple of weeks. One of these stung a bit, but honestly it was no big deal at all.

Good luck with it all - just look forward to seeing more clearly.