Cataracts

Friends have been told that the surgery will take place when the cataracts are "ripe" whatever that means. It would be the decision of the ophthalmic surgeon I would have thought, rather than your optician.

I think if you are worried see your GP and get a referral.

I was told by an optician about eight years ago that I had the start of cataracts. They did not bother me until recently so I asked to see the optician early. He confirmed that the cataract in my right eye had grown and to come back in one year's time.

I am having trouble seeing distance and see double sometimes. I wonder if I was not referred because I have stopped driving. I suspect that the NHS is trying to save money by not doing the operations unless it is absolutely necessary.

My last eye test (last month) revealed the beginnings of cataracts on both eyes. I was told not to worry, that there's absolutely no problem as yet and it could be years before I need surgery. Upsetting though.
I'm surprised you weren't told when they were first noticed. But at least you know now and can go back to the optician if you think there is any change. Hopefully you won't need surgery for years.

lucky I had cataracts in both eyes, the optician had seem them a few years before he mentioned them to me but once they were at the "right" stage he referred me to Eye hospital and they sorted my right eye at 52 and said the left was ok for the time being. It's almost 9 years since first eye and still not had left done.
My first indication that things had deteriorated was night driving especially if it was wet as the lights just defracted and made it impossible to see enough, I seemingly terrified my DD who then insisted on doing any driving in bad light, also reading bus numbers and menus in coffee shops etc. But I think the left eye is imminent and expect at next eye check that he will refer me again.

Sorry should have said Menus mounted up on wall behind counter so couldn't focus as vision appeared double, I'm short sighted too.

My optician says the time to do cataracts is when they begin to interfere with your normal life, 'ripe'cataracts is a very old fashioned concept dating to before modern cataract surgery methods.

I had mine done in my early 60s and as I have always been shortssighted and they can put prescription lens in, so that for the first time in 50 years I was able to walk around and cross roads without my glasses on. I now only need glasses for distance seeing (driving,television, reading 'specials' menus onthe walls of cafes).

Cataract surgery was the best thing that ever happened to me, (well nearly).

I had the right eye done last year. It was diagnosed in 2014 before and I was told it wouldn't need to be done for a year, but it got worse quickly and I had it done last September. The left eye is also slowly deteriorating, but I now have yearly checks and so far it is ok

I suspect that my difficulty with night driving and with reading music might be due to the cataracts. I have gradually had more difficulty with these things even when I have a new prescription in my glasses.

I specifically asked the optician about driving when he told me I had one growing, he said you can still drive until you get to the top two rows of the eye chart!

I'm surprised she is leaving it for 2 years.

DH had trouble with night driving, the optician referred him to the NHS clinic. He was seen at an evening clinic because they were trying to clear the backlog of patients.
No-one could be more nervous about anyone touching his eyes than DH but he had both eyes operated on (with a few months in between) and wondered afterwards why he had been so nervous.

DH had ops on both eyes a couple of years ago.Optician did say they had grown ( before the ops) but that NHS would not do them until they had got much much worse, and by that time he wouldn't be able to drive.He was already having difficulties with driving, so had them done privately, and was glad to have had them done, hardly needs glasses at all now. I have cataracts in both eyes but they are tiny at the moment.

midgey my optician told me when I can no longer read the first 6 rows I should stop driving!

As soon as my cataracts were spotted i was referred to opthalmology dept and a few weeks later the first one was done. The consultant said the second was just starting to show but that the discrepancy between the eyes might be troublesome so he'd do the second one a few months later.
I had prescription lenses fitted - effectively built-in contact lenses. So after 50 years of short-sightedness I no longer needed distance lenses. I do need simple reading specs and currently have about 25 pairs of over-counter ones in all sorts of colours.
The whole process was quick painless and virtually stress-free!

I have had cataracts for many years but optician says they are not bad enough to be operated on yet. I cannot drive at night on busy roads as the lights of approaching traffic makes me blind. If I am on my ipad too long in the evening, then look out of the window with my right eye closed, I only see a dark patch with my left eye but with my right I can see the tree about 20 metres down the garden!

A cataract is never not bad enough to operate on. Some people who are so short sighted that they can not have the usual laser surgery to remedy it are having what is essentially cataract surgery, taking the existent lens out an replacing it with a prescription lens without any sign of a cataract.

Starbird couold you be a victim of post code surgery? Some NHS trusts are insisting on making patients wait until they are nearly blind before they will operate on cataracts.

When I had my last eye test the optician said I had the beginnings of cataracts. He said They had been there at the previous test but nothing had really changed so he would just keep an eye on them.