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I don't have cataracts, but my prescription is so severe and I'm getting to an age where there's an RX difference between near, medium, and far sight, and I just wanted to commiserate. It is annoying to have to have multiple pairs of glasses, and remember where you put them, and do you have the right ones for this, etc.

by RHSeeger13 days ago|

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I keep my new computer glasses at the computer, and the old ones downstairs for "other" uses. Then I keep my new driving glasses in the car, and the old ones downstairs for "other" uses (tv, etc). Basically, I keep the new ones where it matters and accept that my vision will be mediocre in other cases. And also, I'll see 2 of everything because I have double-vision (corrected with the glasses - but "older" ones don't work very well for it).

by Mezzie13 days ago|

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I have to choose each year between paying for (main) glasses or contacts, so I usually opt for contacts and that means my glasses are a few years old. When I wear them at night, I definitely see double. Hate it.

I'm a -20, so small differences really magnify.

by jaggederest13 days ago|

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Wow, that's a wild prescription, presumably ICL would be a huge quality of life difference for you! You could get within a diopter or two. I've been contemplating it at only -6, my commiseration on the multiple focal lengths.

by Mezzie13 days ago|

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Yeah, I've wanted ICL for years, but I could never afford it out of pocket, and all insurance considers vision correction aesthetic. Which is freaking stupid: There's a huge difference between me and someone who's a -2.

I might be able to stretch it now, but I'm coming up on my presbyopia years, so I'm not sure it's worth the money if I'm only going to get a few years of stability.

At this point, I'm hoping I take after my mother and get some really early cataracts because then I can just pay for the lens and the insertion/replacement will be covered.

If you can afford it, I would go for it, though. Personally, even for people who are candidates for PRK, LASIK, etc. I think ICL is still worth considering because it has some benefits. Less risk of dry eye and the ability to change the lens if your prescription changes. Longer recovery period, though.

by jaggederest13 days ago|

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I know I'm not a candidate for PRK/LASIK/LASEK due to dry eye (curse you programming!), so ICL was always my fallback, but like you I'm approaching the point where presbyopia is going to be a concern.

by devilbunny13 days ago|

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Holy fucking shit. I am -11 contacts, -13 glasses, and you are the first person I have ever heard of that is more than one diopter stronger than me.

Ophthalmologists will bring their newer assistants in to look at my eyes to see what a severe myope looks like. I got contacts at age eight, so they also use me to show off what a scrupulous contact user’s eyes look like after >40 years. I’m a physician myself, so I’m happy to oblige - some things you can’t understand until you see them.

by Mezzie13 days ago|

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Yeah, the only people I've heard of with worse vision than me are those with some sort of associated eye condition (e.g. kerataconus).

For the most part, it's...fine. Insurance has no idea what to do with me and that's frustrating, though. Somehow, I have eyes this bad without any associated pathology, and companies don't understand that the needs that such severe myopia presents on its own. I wear custom made RGPs; they can custom make softs but they're horrific (or at least they were 13 years ago when I gave up on them).

Isn't it hilarious every time you go to a new eye doctor? It's actually really cute: I like watching them get all giddy. They get so excited when they can't use the machines (a lot of them will only go up to a -15) and have to measure my RX manually. You can just see how they're like 'oh my God, I learned about this in school!'

by devilbunny13 days ago|

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They learn about me. You are a class on your own.

by Mezzie12 days ago|

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I did have to do a lot of advocating/educating back when I was younger and too poor for insurance. It was good practice for when I was diagnosed with MS, though.

Now I usually look for practices that work with keratoconus patients. They usually have practice with strange prescriptions and unusual contact fittings.

by isityettime13 days ago|

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I appreciate your commiseration! Thanks for dropping by to share :)

by dmayle13 days ago|

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You can swap out your default lenses with multifocal lenses... I use multifocal contact lenses, and my wife and my mother both had the surgery. My wife got the panoptix (no need for glasses at all) and my mother got vivity (just need reading glasses). At night, there are halos with the panoptix lenses (same with the multifocal contact lenses), the severity is not always the same per-person, and it bothers some people more than others (interferes with night driving), but it's an option. Yes, it's another surgery, but depending on your ability to afford it, and the amount it bothers you, it is still an option. From my point of view (admittedly, with contact lenses), going from three different pairs of glasses (vision, vision+reading, plain contact lenses+reading) to contact lenses with no glasses at all was just unquestionably worth it.

by isityettime13 days ago|

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I'm unfortunately not a candidate for multifocal intraocular lenses due to other problems with my eyes, otherwise I would have gone with them for the first surgery.

Multifocal contacts are probably not a good long-term fit for those same reasons, and there's the same problem with progressive lenses in glasses. Old-school bifocals are okay, but limited in the usual way.

by NetMageSCW13 days ago|

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Perhaps you could try monovision in glasses instead of multifocal?

I have monovision contacts and they work pretty well for me, though mid-tier (e.g. desk computer) work requires special glasses.

by jaggederest13 days ago|

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Have you tried using contact lenses to make one eye long focus and one eye short focus ("monovision" in intraopticlens terms)? Then you'd only need at most one middle-distance pair of glasses on hand.

by NetMageSCW13 days ago|

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Exactly what I do, and even though my short focus is set extra short, I only need the middle distance glasses for desk computer work.

by t-313 days ago|

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Wouldn't you get a headache or have depth perception issues? Whenever I lose a contact in the middle of the day and don't have a spare it's very uncomfortable to keep the other in.

by yencabulator13 days ago|

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"Monovision" in the in-eye lenses is a very common choice for elderly patients having cataract surgery. There may be a period of adjustment, which you wouldn't have had.

by coryrc13 days ago|

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I am not GP, but I don't have a problem with a single contact. What I find really neat is after hours of just one, the vision in my other eye is improved for a while; I can actually see decently from the non-contact eye when I remove the contact.

by WalterBright13 days ago|

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The local drug store went bust recently. They had a clearance sale, and I bought a collection of reading glasses of different strengths for a few dollars each.

I find them very handy, as my progressive lenses are rather limited for closeup work.

by spatley13 days ago|

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Do you mind telling what procedure you got? I know multiple people that had lens replacement surgery for cataracts and are very happy with their vision. But that is just a couple of stories.

by isityettime13 days ago|

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Just had my natural lenses removed and a standard monofocal lens put in in each eye. But I've had only a marginal improvement in visual acuity and none in color vision. Before my surgery my cataracts weren't even detectable in my normal field of view; they were tiny and my brain just patched around them. But my overall acuity was low enough that I met the insurance criteria and I went for it thinking it would be similar to the experiences of others in my life who had received intraocular lenses. But those people were all older or had ICLs or experienced more impairment from their cataracts than I had. I made the wrong call getting the surgery. :(