[lookout bob]

my eye doctor says I have cataracts in my eye. My vision is blurry in one eye and she says I'll need surgery to fix this soon. Anyone done this and can you share your experiences? Thanks

[Randito]

My dad had it done at age 88. Dramatic immediate improvement, recovery pretty easy and quick. Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute 10500 NE 8th St #1650, Bellevue, WA 98004 (425) 462-7664 https://g.co/kgs/bkwaZt

[stever]

Hi Bob, I had cataract surgery a few years back thru Eye Assoc. NW in Seattle. No muss, no fuss, I had a bunch of prelim exams for them to map my eye but the actual surgery itself was fast and simple. I was in surgery maybe 20-30 minutes. You don't feel a thing as they deaden your eye with numbing drops. Perfect vision again when I was out. Steve R.

[grannyhiker]

I was always extremely nearsighted--without glasses I had to walk right up to the eye chart to see the biggest letter. After my cataract surgery with lens implant, when the doctor removed the bandage the next day, it was like a miracle! I could see! No more having to put on glasses to visit the bathroom at night, or see the alarm clock. I did have to use glasses for closeup work, but distance vision after surgery was 20/40, good enough for driving. In the 20 years since, my distance vision has deteriorated slightly. It's now about 20/60, which means I am required to wear glasses for driving. However, I leave the glasses off most of the time around the house (unless reading or sewing), and even when out walking, unless I know I'm going to use my bird-watching monocular. The surgery is generally done with a local anesthetic--sounds horrible, but I hardly knew it was happening. Your eye will be bandaged overnight. They won't do both eyes at once, but each eye separately, usually several weeks apart. In your case, I gather only one eye has a cataract right now, so you should be more than recovered before one develops in the other eye (as it probably will). Mine developed while I was undergoing several surgeries for detached retina, so the cataract surgery was delayed. Finally I told my ophthalmologist that I could no longer tell apart the 3 from the 6 from the 8 from the 9 on my computer screen, and that since one of my job duties was to calculate the physicians' bonus for the HMO, he probably ought to be concerned. I was in surgery two weeks later! The one restriction was that I was not allowed to bend over for a couple of weeks, unless I kept my face upright. Otherwise, no issues.

[cdestroyer]

eyesight was getting to the point driving was a hazard. The VA did mine one eye at a time. they put me out with twilight anesthetic then numbed the eye and after had eyepatch on for a couple of days. then eye drops to aid healing. no big deal was painless and now i can see two dogs doing it 2 miles away but i need glasses to see my winky..... ha ha

[BeyondLost]

I had a cataract removed and intraocular lens implanted about four months ago in my left eye. 20/400 pre and 20/20 post. Done under local. Not to say there cannot be rare complications, but, this was quick, painless and completely successful for me. So happy I had it done!

[tmatlack]

Everett Clinic on Colby has several cataract expert eye docs. Both say cataract removal surgery, world-wide, is one of the top 5 quality of life enhancing medical procedures in human history.

[Bird in Hand]

I'll kick in on this. I had both eyes done just over a year ago here in Ellensburg. Three weeks apart but I went from 20/500 to 20/25. I have a minor floater which can be annoying as the movement can mimic a bird in flight. Eye patch for a day and no pain although it took one stitch in the left eye and three in the right which came out a week later. Twilight numbing for the surgeries but only drops to numb for the stitch removal in the office. Guess which one was more nerve wracking. I wear the el cheapo $15.00 reading glasses from the grocery store for reading and computer work. The big clunky dark glasses can be annoying but if you've a good pair of glacier glasses those work as well. Dr. Hansen at Boys Smith did the work. The ongoing follow up is interesting, I'd never seen photos of my optic nerve before.

[grannyhiker]