Difference in vision from cataract surgery

No, but I was with my sister when she had one eye done although both needed treatment. She had a very complex problem but the delight and awe she expressed just hours after the op still stays with me. The brain is very good at compensating, I'm sure you will be fine

Hi there truman , I am in the same position but a little further down the line ! I had my left cataract done 4 years ago , also VERY short sighted . I have perfect vision in my left eye now and have always used a contact lens for the right which only has a small cataract. I now suddenly have become intolerant to my contact lens . I can’t wear specs with one clear lens as the discrepancy between my eyes just gives me double vision . So I have one eye good and one -10 eye! I’m struggling I have to say and considering wearing an eye patch which would then give me one good eye to see with .
I am unable to get an NHS appointment until November , even though I have an ongoing eye condition ( uveitis) which is dormant at the moment . Even then I doubt if they will do the lens replacement under the NHS
So I have resigned myself to having to pay for a lens implant unless a cancellation turns up and things change .
I hope to get a private assessment in the next couple of weeks , but realise not everyone can afford this .
It’s very frustrating …

An ex colleague of mine is the sort of person who never goes to the GP, and didn’t see an optician until his eyes were so bad, I’m sure he thought he was actually going blind.

He had two extremely bad cataracts. I picked him up after the first was done - he was absolutely elated only the next morning to be able to see! - properly - out of that eye - for the first time in ages. I don’t recall him having any trouble because the other wasn’t done yet. However, that one was still very bad, not like yours - it was done about a month later.

I had one eye treated and not the other and had no problem.

Before the operation I was very short sighted, and my sight was very uneven, one eye being -8.5 and the other -5.5. The -8.5 eye was treated first

Six weeks after the cataract operation on one eye I had an eye test and the old pre-op lens was changed to the prescription for the post-op eye. Once the glasses had the new prescription, my sight with glasses was again in balance, just a different balance.

Five years later the second eye was operated on.

Well I had surgery on the first eye three days ago unfortunately the anaesthetic didn’t work fully and I had a very painful op but like child birth I ve got to let that go as I do need the other one doing -12 in both eyes astigmatism, had torn retinas in both eyes, and a hole in left macula plus two cataracts Bit of a mess aren’t I ?
However I m seeing well out the one eye with no after op problems contact in other one for now and a blurry old cataract but brain is adjusting
Watch this space
You could try a contact again your body might be quite different now ( I’d say soft contact) or you could have glasses with a none prescription glass in the good side and a prescription glass in the bad side to level you out
Good luck

I had a lens exchange for a cataract in one eye about seven years ago. I only needed this as the gas bubble treatment for a retinal detachment caused a cataract. The sight in my treated eye is amazing. You’ll be surprised at how much brighter colours are too!

Since then I have coped perfectly by wearing a contact lens in my untreated eye which is - 6.50. I cannot however wear glasses as just the inch or so distance between my eyeball and the plain glasses lens gives me double vision.

I seriously suggest that in the 18 months between now and your NHS cataract surgery you save the money to pay to have your second eye treated privately, as soon as possible after your initial surgery.

My surgeon only gave me a half correction to the first eye I had operated on as a full correction would give me double vision . I had to wait a year for the second eye to be done and , on my optician's advice, I asked for a full correction in it. The surgeon said that he would normally just do the same as the first eye but if I was adament he would do as I asked. It is great I can read well with my first eye and see distance with my second. I do not wear glasses at all unless driving or watching TV.
My husband had a detached retina and was given a full correction ( very short sighted ) and he just could not cope even wearing an eye patch . He went back to his surgeon who said he knew he would be back and he got the second eye done to match .

I had op last week, sight is brilliant now. I'm almost blind in the other eye due to a childhood accident so am used to using only one eye! Using $25 readers for 6 weeks then will get new reading lens in old specs. It's the faffing around with 3 lots of drops that's a nuisance!

Anyone else have a very painful op ?

I thought they would only operate on one eye at a time anyway?
DH had both his eyes done, quite some time apart and he said the difference was amazing straight away. He hadn't realised how much colour vision he had gradually lost.
I presume you may still have to wear spectacles for the time being until the other eye is done and they will e adjusted to compensate for the difference.

BlueBelle I did. Not even sure I had right painkillers? Surgeon kept complaining I was moving my eye and assuring me it didn’t hurt. Ha!
Sight in that eye possibly worse than before. I opted out of having second eye done.

Monica did you still need glasses for reading. I dont mind if I do. I just want my distance vision corrected. I am -7 somethin in both eyes.

truman I was offered a choice. I was not going to get back perfect eyesight, but the prescription lens put in my eye could be adjusted so either I needed glasses for reading but would have good distance vision or I would be able to see withpiut specs to read and would need glasses for distance.

I opted for having glasses for distance but being able to read and go about my normal life without wearing glasses. After 50 years of always having specs on my nose, I did have contact lens, but had problems with them and could not wear them for long periods, it is absolute bliss not wearing glasses all the time.

I use my distance glasses or driving, watching tv and also when shopping because so often you are scanning down aisles or looking at something in the distance.

Oh purplrdaffodil thanks for that they just implied afterwards that I had a low pain threshold and totally ignored me during the op when I said it’s really hurting a lot… I kept saying it and the surgeon didn’t even answer didn’t acknowledge that I was even speaking
I said never again but I will have the other one done as I m totally lopsided now and like with childbirth you ‘get over it’ but I am going to talk it over when I get my assessment and ask for something stronger next time
I did a Google search and it did say it’s not a pain free op for some and they think the numbers feeling pain in surgery are higher than they believed
I ve only heard if one other friend who experienced a lot of pain the rest all said it was a breeze