Yup, Uncle Dave is getting old. Although I’m kinda young for it (turn 52 tomorrow) and I don’t have any of the normal reasons for getting it, I’ve developed a subcapsular-type cataract on my left eye. So today, I’m going under the knife to get it fixed. What I’ve learned about the proceedure is rather interesting and thought you might find it interesting, too.
UPDATE: Just got back from surgery. Everything went fine, although between the swelling, eye dialation drops and the gunk they put in my eye afterwards, I can’t see anything clearly yet. It was amazingly fast. If I was on the table more than five minutes I’d be supprised. No pain, just watching a light move around as the doctor worked and a little pressure. The needle for the IV (Uncle Dave HATES needles!) going in my hand caused me more pain than anything else. So, if you need to have this proceedure done, you’ll be simply amazed at how easy, fast and painless it was.
Cataracts are classified as one of three types:
* A nuclear cataract is most commonly seen as it forms. This cataract forms in the nucleus, the center of the lens, and is due to natural aging changes.
* A cortical cataract, which forms in the lens cortex, gradually extends its spokes from the outside of the lens to the center. Many diabetics develop cortical cataracts.
* A subcapsular cataract begins at the back of the lens. People with diabetes, high farsightedness, retinitis pigmentosa or those taking high doses of steroids may develop a subcapsular cataract.
The old lens is removed using ultrasound to pulverize and remove it, followed by the new lens:
Phacoemulsification (“phaco”) was developed in the search for a way to extract cataracts through a smaller incision. It has become the preferred technique for cataract extraction. An ultrasound or laser probe is used to break the lens apart without harming the capsule. These fragments are then aspirated out of the eye. A foldable intraocular lens (IOL) is then introduced through the 3mm incision. Once inside the eye, the lens unfolds to take position inside the capsule. No sutures are needed, as the incision is self-sealing.
As the headline says, cataract surgery is one of the most common done these days. As a result, I should be back in only a few hours. Can’t go a day without putting up something that would make Paul twitchy! ;-)
Always cheering to hear one of the “kids” around this blog gets to deal with some of the aging questions this old fart worries about, once in a while — after war, climate, ethics, sex, science, education and all the other stuff geeks are supposed to ignore. At least, according to the head-in-the-sand crowd.
Good Luck with the surgery, Bro’. And Happy Birthday!
“Good Luck with the surgery, Bro’. And Happy Birthday!”
Second that motion, Uncle Dave.
Good luck with the surgery. Just thought I would also at this time, tell you how much I enjoy your presence on TWIT. As much as I like Leo and Patrick, I found the few times you were not on TWIT it seemed like something was missing. I also enjoy Crankygeeks. Keep up the good work. virge.
When you reach a certain age that list of, “things we need to watch closely”, can get long. At least you’ll have this one out the way. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Speaking of making Paul twitchy, don’t look now, but…
HE’S YOUR SURGEON! RUN!!!
Since you won’t be able to read tomorrow, Happy Birthday!
Haha, wait ’til tomorrow before judging the pain.
Virge, thanks for the thoughts, but one thing — I’m not John. I was the one having the surgery.
Gary, I think Paul made a mistake and started operating on the guy in the next room. I kept hearing the patient yelling something like, “OK, OK. The sky’s NOT falling!’
And thanks to everyone else!
Makles me think about my 93-year-old Grandmother, and how many changes she’s seen since circa-1910.
What changes will I have witnessed by the time I’m in my 90’s, circa 2048??
Just typing “2048” is disturbing… 🙂
What type of IOL did they use? There are five main brands these days and at least two of them offer a degree of accomodation restoration.
Tom
I’m 48 and last year had a detached retina. Part of the cure for that creates a cataract that needs to be removed. I have also had lasik surgery. What I discovered is that because of the lasik surgery they had trouble getting an artificial lens to get my vision back to 20/20. Something many lasik patients are going to experience as they get older and form cataracts.
A little side note: cataract surgery has been performed since the first century AD. I guess they dug up some old tools or something. (Finally, all those hours of watching the history channel are playing off.)
I had the operation done a few years ago. (IOL is from AMO for the curious) Unfortunately, the epithelial membrane started to grow and needed to be zapped with a YAG laser. Vision is okay, but not spectacular. In 1984 I had an operation done on the other eye where the entire capsule was removed – I am happy to report the vision is fantastic in that eye, but requires a hefty contact lens.
Keep an eye on your eye pressure. My father had this done and had a history of elevated eye pressure. He never should have been worked on. But these doctors crank people through like an assembly line. If eye pressure rises too much you can get a detached retina like my dad.
Take care.
I have had cataract surgery with implants for both eyes in the past year or so.
The procedure is uncomfortable, but not painful.
There was no significant pain following the procedure and vision was excellent within a week.
Once healed I immediatly went to DMV and had my eyes retested. No more need to wear corrective lenses when driving.
The doctor set both lenses to focus for distance, so now I am farsighted, used to be near sited. (usually one eye is focused near and the other is focused far, this is called mono-vision and usually works well for most people). My dominant eye was the second surgery and the doctor and I decided to set it for distance as a slightly better choice. I am currently 55. The first eye developed a rare type of cataract and went from good vision to very near blind within 3 months. The second eye developed more slowly and was a more conventional type.
There doesn’t seem to be a great range of focus, so I wear reading glasses to work with the computer and anything closer than 4 feet, I am NOT complaining though.
All in all I am one happy camper!
Well, kid, (I got two years on you) I’m happy to hear you did all right. I know I will need cataract surgery pretty soon and your story just seemed to make me feel better about it. My mother had both eyes done the same day when she was 78. She is very much happier too.
Keep the good topics coming.
Pat
I just had my second eye done in March. It was amazing. By the next day, my closeup vision was completely restored. Computer work with no glasses. The mono-vision is tricky getting used to, since there’s always one eye to give bad information and be filtered out. Within two weeks, I wasn’t wearing glasses at all. I may need a pair for middle distance, but that’s all. (I read, fine. I can drive, fine. 6-8 feet away, watching TV? Out of focus. Well, I don’t watch that much TV anyway.)
Good luck on your operation and happy b’ day 🙂
#9: Don’t know.
#10: I had Lasik on both eyes the day after 9/11. I had near coke bottle glasses prior. At that time, they couldn’t get my eyesight perfect (they could with today’s tech) so I’ve had progressive lenses since (need reading glasses after Lasik). Today, they needed my records of that operation to figure out what lens to use.
Who the heck is Uncle Dave? What’s going on? I thought this was John Dvorak’s blog!
Just like Hearst had editors at his newspaper, John has contributing editors. I’m one of them. Obviously, you didn’t read the blog info ( http://www.dvorak.org/blog/misc/masthead.html ). I hope John, in his Berkeley-area Xanado, doesn’t mind the comparison to William Randolph.