Cataract Operation Looming.

I had two done a few years ago, a couple of months apart. It wasn't at all painful, just a strange sensation, and your eye will be covered for the day. My eyes were very sensitive to light for a while, particularly first thing, so I wore sunglasses for a time. They usually ask you to get somebody to collect you afterwards, you will definitely not be able to drive for a few days.
I chose to have lenses that make one eye long sighted and one shorter sighted as that is what my eyes were like beforehand and I found it useful as I don't need to wear glasses for driving or for reading. In general my eyesight is greatly improved but colours are strangely altered as the cataracts give everything a slightly yellow tinge, so what previously looked greeny blue now looks just blue.

I had cataracts in both eyes, surgery 3 months apart last year.

I'm in Scotland . Cataracts first diagnosed and tracked by my regular optometrist at Boots; who referred me to Scottish NHS when they deteriorated enough to need surgery.

From then on all my treatment and follow up was in NHS Scotland "National Treatment Centre" which is a fab purpose built brand new facility for opthalmic and orthopaedic surgery only. Surgeon told me " I'll also correct your vision; you won't need glasses once I've done both eyes"' .

I've been very short sighted and worn glasses full time since age 7. Without glasses I couldn't recognise my own family across the road. Since cataract surgery , I am glasses free unless reading. For screens / long periods book reading, as advised by surgeon I don a pair of lowest power supermarket off the peg reading glasses, latest pair cost £4.99.
(My previous Zeiss high refraction prescription varifocals cost £700).

On surgery day, as I waited to go in, the lady beside me had just come out of theatre. She kept seeing "I can SEE. I can SEE. It's a miracle". My turn; taken to theatre by a nurse who told me " I am your support person. That's all I do. I'll be right here beside you throughout if you want me to talk to you and to hold your hand. " I didn't want to hold hands and asked her not to talk because I was going to do a relaxation technique , but she never moved from sitting beside me. All patients get this. I was lying back and a very light paper shield was placed over my face except one eye. The surgeon told me "Lie as still as you can. I can stop if you want to move or cough ; so just tell me right away if you need a pause. " I was fine , didn't need to move or cough.

Eye drops in eye..tiny sting sensation. Anaesthetic injection around the skin around my eye (not in the eye) ; its on skin only and the needle is so tiny I barely felt a prick. No pain or wince. Once its numb, the eyelids are held open, I think by something akin to eyelash curlers but I couldn;t see what. The hold-open thingy is not remotely painful, uncomfortable or wincemaking You can't feel it. Now your eye is open and ready and can't feel a thing.

Blinking at a crucial moment during surgery was just one of the daft things I'd imagined happening. The other was, that I'd see a hand with a scalpel coming towards my eye. I was totally wrong; the last thing I saw was a sudden bright light. Then grey nothing. I did not watch my own surgery happening :-)

I just lay there doing gentle relaxation breathing from yoga days. (I do same at the dentist because I hate dentistry ) . I focused entirely on my breaths. No pain or discomfort and suprisingly quickly was told I was all done. Surgeon said " That went perfectly. You'll spend half an hour resting in the waiting room then go home. I'll see you tomorrow". . I'd felt nothing at all. My support nurse had me sit in a wheelchair (I am not disabled; everyone gets this) to wheel me back down the corridor to the waiting area. To my absolute amazement, I'm wearing no glasses but can see every thing sharp and perfect through the newly operated eye ; it could read the hospital signs on the walls. Next thing I'm back in the waiting room and now it's me saying "I can SEE I can SEE it's a miracle". It really is. When DH came through the main entrance my new eye recognised him.

I was given an eye shield for first night and sets of drops with instructions, and an appointment next day for follow up check. Then went home. I had no blurred vision, no pain, no discomfort.

Three things; bring sunglasses to travel home. Daylight is suddenly much brighter and it takes a while for your eye to adjust.
If your other eye still needs to wear glasses, take out the lens on the side that just had surgery; because your old prescription is all wrong for new eye. .
The drops. I had three different kinds to be put in my eye at different times through every day for weeks. Easy to lose count where you're up to. I made a date and time chart , stuck it on the bathroom wall and marked off every drop with a pen.
Be very meticulous about hand hygeine when doing drops. If you live alone you might find it useful to buy an eye drop-applicator online.

Second eye was just as easy and trouble free as the first. My NHS treatment was just superb and the result is simply wonderful. 70 years of wearing glasses all day every day and helpless without them, and now I just wake up every morning with instant excellent eyesight. A year later I'm still wowed at naked eyes being able to read the alarm clock, shampoo bottles in the shower, raindrops on the window, TV subtitles.

At my final hospital check up I was shown that chart of letters in descending sizes. Before surgery ( and for decades before I had cataracts) my naked eyes could only read top letter..Now, they can read the bottom line.

In my experience this operation is truly an instant miracle.

Luckygirl3

The line is: are these cataracts interfering with my daily life?

Hi Yes it has started to interfere with my daily life so I know the sensible thing to do is get it done.

I have one eye shortsighted and the other eye longsighted and it's the shortsighted one causing the problem.

Cataracts are the commonest operation in the world. It’s quick, safe, painless and most old people can see well thanks to this.
Stop worrying.

I was quite anxious too Nannato3, but would highly recommend SpaMedica. 💐

The line is: are these cataracts interfering with my daily life?

I'm wondering how long they say it is before they anticipate it needing doing?

I know I was used to just normal eyetests for years and after moving to Wales then - in recent years - they've done that photo one can have (and be charged for!) as an added extra of the back of the eye.

From that one of the things they can tell is if a cataract is starting to develop there and some years back they told me they could see the start of one (darn it!) and said "No action necessary for years yet". That's the way it's been and I think it's every other year I have that photo taken (as part of my yearly eyetest I personally have) and there seems to have been no change in it in all that time. I must have been early 60's when they said that to me and I'm early 70's now - so am rather thinking "Well with only an estimated 10 years left to live - with the pace it's developing at (ie it basically isnt) then hopefully my eyes will see me out without work on them". Though I know the rate these things grow at will depend a lot on the person - and I know of someone I used to know here that went from "You've got cataracts" to "You've got to get them done right now" in a matter of just months (am not sure why - and whether it was connected to the fact she had to have very expensive lens in her glasses - because it would have been those pebble thick lens otherwise that some people used to wear). So her sight was very poor anyway.

I'm going to cross that bridge if it comes to it basically - ie if they say "Oh it's developed a lot more" then I'll check out alternative health ways of dealing with it at that point and maybe avoid conventional healthcare for it.

It is my personal take that I use "conventional" healthcare as little as I possibly can personally and I really only see them after I've thought "My body has a health problem", checked out to see what I think it is myself and gone to them to see what they have to say about what it is (ie that's usually confirmation that I've figured out what it is correctly) and then I deal with it myself usually.

By the way I was told that the old-fashioned concept of waiting till the cataracts are "ready" or "ripe" makes no sense now when the operation is so simple and safe. If you've got cataracts and they are interfering with your daily life then they need to go.

I had mine done privately - both on the same day.

Truly it was a doddle. Drops and tiny anaesthetic pellets in both eyes - painless. Surgery - also painless. There is nothing to see when it is happening as the lights shining in your eyes are so bright that you can see nothing. All you have to do is sit still!

No pain afterwards.

You have to install drops for a few weeks afterwards and that is no problem. One of the drops stings a bit, that is all. I live alone and had no help with any of this and it all went very smoothly.

Frankly it is a blooming miracle! And my GP friend said it is one of the most successful pieces of surgery ever invented and has benefited millions of people.

You might be asked to choose the nature of the lens that is put in. I chose to have distance vision in both eyes so I could drive without glasses if I needed to. I now wear varifocals so that I can read.

I am blind in my left eye, but about three years ago I had the cataract removed from my right eye, absolutely no problem at all. They replaced the lens.
I had it done at Spamedica absolutely fine..

Thanks everyone for the reassurances.
I've had that many hospital appointments recently I feel overwhelmed. I was told I will be given a choice of where I can have it done and has I have a SpaMedica not too far away I think I will go with them if possible. It's just fear of the unknown has has been said and the fact I'm in a wheelchair when going out doesn't help X

I’m sure it’ll be fine, Nanatk3.

Not myself, but an ex colleague had seriously bad cataracts. He was the sort of person who never goes to a GP and hadn’t had his eyes tested for ages, maybe never. So he may well have thought he was actually going blind.

Eventually he did consult someone and was sent (via the NHS) to a private clinic. I picked him up after the first appt (he said the procedure was fine, no problem) was all fine, and took him home. Phoned him next morning to see how he was - he was over the moon! His top floor flat was very close to a railway station, and for the first time in years he could read the announcement board!

I had one done last year, and the other one will probably be next year. It was nothing like as bad as I feared. No pain, just feelings of pressure now and then, and lots of water being sloshed about in my eye, it felt. I was amazed at how soon I recovered and could see so much better within 24 hours.
I drove again in less than a week.
Good wishes, Nanato3. You'll be fine.
PS. I had mine done at a private facility in Exeter, under the NHS. I wasn't given any choice in this. But it was fine.

My optician told me my cataracts have got a bit worse when I saw her earlier this week, but they aren't yet ready for treatment. I am pleased to read everyone's positive posts. Thank you.
Good luck Nanato3

A friend reassured me when I was offered replacement lenses; the procedure was quick, painless, and I was staggered at the instant improvement in my vision. Patients lay on a slightly reclined chair, a white cloth is placed over the face, you are told to focus on a bright light through the cloth, and there was no sense of any touching or discomfort, no injections, or anaesthetic - drops are used. Each procedure took about fifteen minutes. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Good luck - I hope all goes well.

Not remotely harsh. I understand the OPs anguish, but if she does not know one who has ever had the operation then she may think that it is a major operation causing lots of problems, so I just stated the facts that these days a cataract operation is a trivial operation soon over. I would have thought that information would have been reassuring

M0nica

it is a trivial op these days and soon over and done with.

Bit harsh *M0nica…if you have severe anxiety nothing is trivial…I’ve a dental appointment for prep for implants or dentures Monday and I feel nauseous thinking about this…
Also was told have cataract forming in left eye but can’t cope with all my medical appointments over last 6 mths ..seems I go from one to another 🙃

I have had both eyes operated on with no problems. There was a lot of waiting and hanging around involved which I found boring but otherwise it was a breeze.

Just be careful to follow the post op instructions and I am sure you will be fine.

I had both my eyes done earlier in the year, no anaesthetic or medication just the usual small pill in the eye and drops. The Opthalmic Surgeon was pretty quick. Very good results, you will find a bright world out there
All the best

it is a trivial op these days and soon over and done with.

Nothing to fear- unless you are also frightened of going to the dentist. I found it less painful. These eye surgeons are very skilled in what is a simple and quick operation and you will be in and out in no time.

After your procedure you will be amazed what a difference it makes to your sight too!

I had both of mine done last year at SpaMedica. There is nothing to worry about at all, the procedure is painless and over quickly. After care could be difficult for somebody who lives alone as you have to administer two lots of eye drops several times a day for a couple of weeks. As grandMattie says the difference is miraculous, I can now read quite small print and do not need glasses for driving.

No need to be frightened.
It feels very peculiar, with the buzzing sound when the lens is liquefied. You will feel nothing, but there will be a very bright light shining during the approx 20 minutes it takes.
I had no pain during or after the operation an£ the difference is miraculous!
Good luck.🤞

Yes like flippinheck SpaMedica for me too, the staff are very aware of some patients reluctance, all were most reassuring.

I had my cataracts done recently, I was amazed when the optician told me I needed this, my husband is over 10 years older than me and his clearly haven't reached that stage yet, but it doesn't work like that, age isn't a factor. I thought the appointment would be ages in advance, but it seems the NHS has outsourced cataract procedures, well where I am anyway. I was sent to a private clinic a few miles away a mere couple of weeks hence from my eye test. I'm like you, I was really nervous and particularly squeamish about eyes. The actual procedure, is really quick minutes, lots of different assessments first. Don't worry, everyone was reassuring given my nervousness about having it done. In the aftermath they will place a plastic shield over the eye to be kept in place for 24 hours and eye drops to be used for a couple of weeks with the recommendation to use baby shampoo for hair washing.

Good luck, you'll be fine, your trepidation can't be worse than mine was, the fear of the unknown that's all.