Lens replacement surgery

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Golfnut

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
So, I was due to have Multifocal lens replacement surgery next week with Optical Express. Got a call to say I need to be rescheduled, as I am "Diabetic", because they need to have an anaesthatist on hand. I queried what an anaesthatist would do for someone with a BGl sensor on their arm, a reader (and some fruit pastilles) in their pocket and a track record of 50+ years of managing themselves. "It's our process" was the reply, "sorry we should have been in touch earlier".
Not for the first time I feel like I am being discriminated against.
Anyone else had similar?
 
Golfnut said:
Not for the first time I feel like I am being discriminated against.
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Considering they are looking after your health, I can not for the life of me understand why you feel discriminated against. :confused:
 
Have you had a Multifocal Lens recommended? When I had cataracts I was told to run a mile from anyone recommending them (by a consultant); they cause endless problems because it is completely unnatural for the brain to look through a multifocal lens, and they cause problems if they aren't inserted exactly correctly. In fact I do know folk who have had revision surgery with plain lenses. In any event, if you really are a golfnut, if you actually play golf, a varifocal lens in your eye is entirely wrong. You would be able to see the hole you were aiming for, but the ball would be out of focus. Plain lenses are far cheaper - go for distance vision 20/20 and use reading glasses to mark your card.

That said, there is no need for an anaesthetist, everything is done by the surgeon, under local anaesthetic administered by the consultant. It only takes about 20 minutes to do the op, so I'm sure you can maintain your BG for that period of time. I got my cataracts sorted by the great and glorious NHS Scotland, and never saw hide nor hair of an anaesthetist. Just a pleasant nurse who held my hand throughout the procedure, to squeeze if I felt any pain. I didn't, of course.
 
Pumper_Sue:
Well it's because the generic term Diabetic gives, it seems, everyone other than real healthcare professionals licence to treat type 1s and type 2s as if they were one and the same including whether they are well controlled or not.
I feel like I am allowed to question why an anaesthatist is needed when I'll be fully awake with some eyedrops in, optical express haven't come up with anything to explain to me other than "process". My real anger is they've known for months about my medical conditions and scheduled me for the procedure, then today called me up (the day after they took my final payment via phone) to say I needed to reschedule at 7 days notice.

So two different issues, the "discrimination" one being generic and includes things like travel insurance (never made a claim re my health) and similar where you declare type 1 on some form and immediately we have to pay more whatever our control track record is. Discrimination is probably the wrong word, but you get what I mean.
 
mikeyB said:
That said, there is no need for an anaesthetist, everything is done by the surgeon, under local anaesthetic administered by the consultant.
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I must have been spoilt then as an anaesthetist did the local for my eye's. He was fascinated by my CGM and loved the way things moved after he gave me 100mg of HC via IV and asked to take photos so his mate with diabetes could see how well it worked.
 
mikeyB said:
Have you had a Multifocal Lens recommended? When I had cataracts I was told to run a mile from anyone recommending them (by a consultant); they cause endless problems because it is completely unnatural for the brain to look through a multifocal lens, and they cause problems if they aren't inserted exactly correctly. In fact I do know folk who have had revision surgery with plain lenses. In any event, if you really are a golfnut, if you actually play golf, a varifocal lens in your eye is entirely wrong. You would be able to see the hole you were aiming for, but the ball would be out of focus. Plain lenses are far cheaper - go for distance vision 20/20 and use reading glasses to mark your card.

That said, there is no need for an anaesthetist, everything is done by the surgeon, under local anaesthetic administered by the consultant. It only takes about 20 minutes to do the op, so I'm sure you can maintain your BG for that period of time. I got my cataracts sorted by the great and glorious NHS Scotland, and never saw hide nor hair of an anaesthetist. Just a pleasant nurse who held my hand throughout the procedure, to squeeze if I felt any pain. I didn't, of course.
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Yeah, multifocal. Funnily enough I've had several friends go through this procedure and say it's the best thing they've done. Doubt it'll bring my handicap down though 😉.
I've never gone private before, but as I don't have cataracts I decided to splurge on it. NHS are the best.
 
mikeyB said:
Have you had a Multifocal Lens recommended? When I had cataracts I was told to run a mile from anyone recommending them (by a consultant); they cause endless problems because it is completely unnatural for the brain to look through a multifocal lens, and they cause problems if they aren't inserted exactly correctly. In fact I do know folk who have had revision surgery with plain lenses. In any event, if you really are a golfnut, if you actually play golf, a varifocal lens in your eye is entirely wrong. You would be able to see the hole you were aiming for, but the ball would be out of focus. Plain lenses are far cheaper - go for distance vision 20/20 and use reading glasses to mark your card.

That said, there is no need for an anaesthetist, everything is done by the surgeon, under local anaesthetic administered by the consultant. It only takes about 20 minutes to do the op, so I'm sure you can maintain your BG for that period of time. I got my cataracts sorted by the great and glorious NHS Scotland, and never saw hide nor hair of an anaesthetist. Just a pleasant nurse who held my hand throughout the procedure, to squeeze if I felt any pain. I didn't, of course.
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I had multifocal lens replacement done 15 months ago privately Mikey. Things really have moved on massively since they were introduced to the market but it‘s absolutely essential to find the very best ophthalmic surgeon you can to perform this procedure as there’s absolutely no margin for error. My surgeon was fantastic…and expensive! It takes much longer than the standard cataract op and it did hurt afterwards but because I’m type 2 diet controlled, the diabetes was never really factored in. The fact that I was having cancer treatment obviously was of course. In fact the drops didn’t fully anaesthetise my eyes and I needed injections. This isn’t routine however but I was pretty stressed. Having had a mum who lost her sight from macular degeneration has made me very jittery about eyes and sight.
I now don’t need glasses for long or short vision and it certainly doesn’t feel remotely ‘unnatural’ to me looking through these lenses 🙂 I’m not sure why you’d imagine things would be out of focus. I’ve never once experienced that phenomenon (although I don’t play golf!).
Good luck Golfnut!
 
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