Cateract Surgery

A question about : Cateract Surgery

Hello. This is my first post after many years of just reading them.

I am a male in my mid 40s who has recently been diagnosed with a cataract in one eye that will need lens replacement. I also currently wear contact lens for short sightedness.

I can have my lens replaced by the NHS but the replacement lens is monofocal, which means it is a fixed distance and so I will need reading glasses.

I would rather not wear glasses as I am still actively sporty and think this may hinder me.

Doing research I see that there are many private options for lens replacement which offer lens that can focus across a range of distances. In particular there seems to be a lens called Symfony that says it offers an extended range of vision and also I have been reading about light adjustment lens, which seem to be the latest innovation with lens replacement. Both of these are not cheap and I am still undecided on the right thing for me. I don’t have private medical cover so would be paying for it myself.

I have hoping for anyone’s experiences with both NHS and private lens replacements. I also see that as well as private hospitals, places such as Ultralase and Optimax also now offer lens replacement surgery!

Where (and when) did you have it done? What type of lens did you have fitted? Are you happy with the initial consultation, the results, the treatment, any aftercare?

Thank you.

Best answers:

• You will have to have both lenses replaced to get a decent result with a multifocal is their any cataract in the other eye?
  I would go for a consultation with a consultant who also does NHS work
• Thanks for the tip. The other eye has no symptoms but the NHS consultant who diagnosed me did say I will probably get one in the future, but that could be years away.
  Didn't realise that for multifocal lens I would need both eyes doing - so double the cost of anything I see.
• No idea about a lot of your comments but my 80+ year old mother is having a cataract op privately in a few weeks at a cost of getting on for 3k. She could have waited for an NHS one but the wait was quoted as 18 weeks. The other eye may also need doing but is not as bad.
• If you arrange a private appointment, check with the private secretary to make sure that the ophthalmic surgeon you are booking with can offer you a multifocal lens, as not all consultants use these. The ophthalmic surgeon I work for, for example, does not. The self funding fee for cataract surgery using a standard lens at the private hospital where I work is Ј2,310 + the cost of the initial consultation. As you say, the specialised multifocal lenses can add quite a bit to this.
• Aunty had hers done last year on the NHS and had no problems.
  The "problem" is that the current thinking is frequently changing when it comes to all these things. A colleague had terrible eyesight and had been using contact lenses for distance viewing plus reading glasses. Then her optition recommended that they give her varifocal contact lenses which she had for a while but then she was told the "best" way to do it was effectively have one lens in one eye for distance and one for reading in the other eye rather than varifocal lenses.
  For contact lenses these changing ideas are fine but for surgery to your eyes? Personally I'd want to be going to tried and tested rather than bleeding edge
• Thank you all for your comments. The more I know and are aware of my choices and their implications certainly is helping me.
• My husband had cataract surgery on both eyes, a few years ago. One was much worse than the other but they decided to do both, to save him having to be referred again in a couple of years time (or less)
  Obviously, they only do one eye at a time but because he was working (i.e. younger than a pensioner), the surgeon did them both within 3 months.
  The surgery was very simple and he was in and out of the hospital within 4 hours each time. His eyesight has always been very bad, he was extremely short-sighted from a young age, but changes due to age have actually improved his vision quite dramatically.
  He does now wear glasses for driving and for reading but he can swim and do sporty stuff well enough without them. He does say that he didn't realise how much the cataracts had affected his vision until it they were removed. He kept commenting on the bright colours, all the way home from the hospital!
  He did look into having the varifocal-type lenses but no-one could guarantee that he wouldn't have to wear glasses afterwards anyway, so he decided not to bother.
  Good luck with whatever you decide!