• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

The cataract is fixed…..yay!!

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Deb_l

Deb_l

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
She/Her
Two days post surgery and everything is fab!! I definitely need to sort out new spectacles as I can currently see perfectly without specs in the right eye and perfectly WITH specs in the left. It’s all gone a bit wonky!

The procedure itself was slightly alarming. Lots of ‘look to the light please’ and general flushing and swirling but no pain, just a little pinch which is when I’m assuming my original lens was removed.

As to the cause of the cataracts? Well, it’s certainly not age related (I’m 54). It could be the diabetes but it’s just as likely to be a head injury I had many, many years ago aged 9. I will never know, I’m just pleased the first eye is done. I’m not sure how long I will have to wait for the left eye but that’s OK, I can still see perfectly OK through that one 🙂

Piccie is the day of surgery



IMG_7419.jpeg
 
Fantastic news @Deb_l 🙂 I've heard that modern cataract surgery is really good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't get cataracts but it's good to hear that it can be treated successfully. x
 
That's great! I was so terrified of having mine done I was begging for general anaesthetic but "we don't do that here". So deep breath and a lovely nurse held my hand all the way through. The difference was amazing and the second one 6 months later was a breeze. Enjoy your new normal!
 
Delighted for you! So pleased you are "seeing" a dramatic improvement and thanks for describing the process as I am sure it will alleviate the concerns of others approaching this surgery.
 
Well done you. It is a daunting prospect, but really quite uneventful isn’t it.

I was most amazed looking a trees. They are covered in leaves not a green blob like a child’s painting.

Are you having the other done? I had to have both done (a few weeks apart) and wanted a long sight lens in one eye and a short sight one in the other. I know folk with contacts like this and the brain compensates and you don’t need any specs. My surgeon was old school, and whilst he accepted the fact that some people were having this done, it was all a bit too radical for him and I settled for two the same - long.

Any soreness? I didn’t have any but I now people who did. A bit subjective though I suspect.
 
@Deb_l How long did you have to wait before getting surgery?
Who decided that it could be done? Was it optician or GP?
I've been wondering if I need something done. My sight is clear, fine at close range but unfocussed at distance and I am told that my left eye can't be corrected any more than my present lens.
 
barrym said:
Well done you. It is a daunting prospect, but really quite uneventful isn’t it.

I was most amazed looking a trees. They are covered in leaves not a green blob like a child’s painting.

Are you having the other done? I had to have both done (a few weeks apart) and wanted a long sight lens in one eye and a short sight one in the other. I know folk with contacts like this and the brain compensates and you don’t need any specs. My surgeon was old school, and whilst he accepted the fact that some people were having this done, it was all a bit too radical for him and I settled for two the same - long.

Any soreness? I didn’t have any but I now people who did. A bit subjective though I suspect.
Click to expand...
Well, I’m not sure about the left eye because, although there is a cataract present, it currently isn’t bad enough to justify surgery. However………..I’ve just said to my friend tonight, when she popped round to walk the dogs, I feel I will struggle with my current varifocal prescription and I feel like I want the other one doing ASAP so I have a matching pair!!

I’m also struggling a bit with the colour variation in two eyes. One eye is like a super duper OLED TV while the other is like an old fashioned tube telly!!

Yesterday morning I had a bit of pain above my eye when I looked at bright light but that’s gone today. I’ve generally just had a bit of discomfort, a bit like having an eyelash in my eye but that’s been it. Absolutely no drama at all.
 
I visited the optician yesterday for my annual eye check up and mentioned I was concerned about the cataract in my right eye as I had noticed it was more difficult to see the SatNav which I have on the side window but had managed to get around it by moving it up slightly and the other thing was driving at night when headlights seem more glary.
However she said it hadn't changed much from last time and has been there for at least 10 years so she thought at this stage it did not justify any action. But it would be the optician who would refer for the procedure.
 
Drummer said:
@Deb_l How long did you have to wait before getting surgery?
Who decided that it could be done? Was it optician or GP?
I've been wondering if I need something done. My sight is clear, fine at close range but unfocussed at distance and I am told that my left eye can't be corrected any more than my present lens.
Click to expand...
It was my optician that first spotted them during a routine eye test back in Sept ‘23. At that time they weren’t bad enough but I was told to go back if anything changed.

When I went to Spain in March this year, I kept thinking I had a smudge on my specs but in reality, my right eye had got much worse very quickly

It was a faff getting referred from the opticians because they put me through on the wrong system at first but from going back to the opticians on 2nd April to the date of operation has been just short of 6 weeks. It would have been quicker if the opticians had referred me right in the first place.

I was treated at a place called SpaMedica who out source treatment for the NHS.
 
I had my cataract surgery in December, both my eyes were really bad and as i asked them to put me out they did both at the same time. It was amazing waking up and being able to see. I need reading glasses for close up but i can deal with that. Only downside was i could see how dirty my house had got lol x
 
Deb_l said:
Two days post surgery and everything is fab!! I definitely need to sort out new spectacles as I can currently see perfectly without specs in the right eye and perfectly WITH specs in the left. It’s all gone a bit wonky!

The procedure itself was slightly alarming. Lots of ‘look to the light please’ and general flushing and swirling but no pain, just a little pinch which is when I’m assuming my original lens was removed.

As to the cause of the cataracts? Well, it’s certainly not age related (I’m 54). It could be the diabetes but it’s just as likely to be a head injury I had many, many years ago aged 9. I will never know, I’m just pleased the first eye is done. I’m not sure how long I will have to wait for the left eye but that’s OK, I can still see perfectly OK through that one 🙂

Piccie is the day of surgery



View attachment 30215
Click to expand...
Fab news, so pleased it went well
 
I might drop in at the opticians and see what can or can't be done. I have damage from a laser in my left eye as well as astigmatism, so if it can be improved on I'd be well pleased.
 
Deb_l said:
I’m also struggling a bit with the colour variation in two eyes. One eye is like a super duper OLED TV while the other is like an old fashioned tube telly!!
Click to expand...

My mum had both eyes done in fairly quick succession recently, and found just the same in the in-between phase. One eye super-bright and the other unhelpfully dark and fuggy. She was very relieved when eye no.2 was done, as it really helped to balance things out.

Glad the first op went well. Hope you can either get the other seen to, or find some other way to balance things. Perhaps the brain would adapt over a few weeks?
 
I was amazed when I saw the retinal screening photo from before my cataract op next to the post op one. No wonder life seemed blurry!!!

IMG_3403.jpeg


So glad that I had mine done. I had then done 2 months apart. The interim period was really weird.
 
SB2015 said:
So glad that I had mine done. I had then done 2 months apart. The interim period was really weird.
Click to expand...
I found I was waking around winking with alternate eyes, constantly making the comparison. I must have looked very odd. No change there
 
Deb_l said:
As to the cause of the cataracts? Well, it’s certainly not age related (I’m 54).
Click to expand...
My eldest and youngest daughters were found to have congenital cataracts, ie they were born with them. Our optician picked up on them a few years ago now. Middle daughter is fine. I don’t know if that means they will have problems later on in life, they both wear specs and are 40 and 31.
 
SB2015 said:
I was amazed when I saw the retinal screening photo from before my cataract op next to the post op one. No wonder life seemed blurry!!!

View attachment 30336


So glad that I had mine done. I had then done 2 months apart. The interim period was really weird.
Click to expand...
Oh my days!! Yep, my retinal scan wasn’t quite as bad as yours but it wasn’t far off. I had to go back and be scanned on a different machine.

When I had the pre-assessment scans done (on both eyes) the doctor said, “see that big black spot, can you guess what that is”???
 
barrym said:
I found I was waking around winking with alternate eyes, constantly making the comparison. I must have looked very odd. No change there
Click to expand...
Ha ha, yes I’ve been doing that wayyyy too much. I have also pushed out the right lens of my specs, which wouldn’t look too bad but for the fact my specs are tinted light reactive. I keep wondering why everyone is looking at me funny :rofl:
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Glad the first op went well. Hope you can either get the other seen to, or find some other way to balance things. Perhaps the brain would adapt over a few weeks?
Click to expand...
I’ve pushed out the right lens of my specs, which has helped enormously. At least I can see to drive again now. I am hopeful the optician will refer me for my left eye doing sooner rather than later. It will need doing eventually so I can’t really see the point in waiting.

It would be fantastic to have both eyes as good as the right one.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top