I had cataract replacement surgery on my left eye. The difference between the color balance between right and left is big. Eye guy said , "well, the right one is old and yellowing." I've adjusted the color in the R5 EVF to get the right eye through the EVF as close as possible to the left.
I've done the surgery a few months back. After having cataract surgery I felt the same and I noticed that colors are brighter when looking through that eye. When I discussed this with my surgeon, he explained that many people feel a change in color after cataract surgery ( https://jenkinseyecare.com/procedures-technology/laser-cataract-surgery ) because they are viewing the things through clear lenses rather than their own lenses. I was tensed till I explain it to him and then I realized it's very normal after the cataract surgery. I'm not feeling any discomfort and I'm very happy that I got my vision back.
I have the cataract surgery to replace the lens in one eye. I let my opthamologist sell me on the most expensive replacement lens, which is touted as being multifocal, the best possible lens. The result: I preferred my eye as before, with the multifocal correction being in my prescription, progressive lens, eyeglasses. The replacement lens in my eye gets its multifocal ability from a fresnel-like design. At night I see concentric rings around stars, the moon, and lights. Even with a new set of glasses prescribed for my "repaired" eye, I cannot see the moon and stars as well as could before the surgery. I had the surgery more than two years ago, so this isn't just a matter of having to adjust. Be careful.
I have had both eyes done with replacement cataracts called PhysIOL, intraocular lenses which means they allow you to focus near and far. I had the right eye replaced 5 years ago and the 2nd eye replaced just recently. My vision now is near perfect and there is no need for glasses.
The eye surgery part of it was the worst part of it for me as I have never been a fan of having my eyes messed with. That said the above lenses are not available in the US but they are in Thailand and apparently in Europe also. In the US my insurance company wouldn't pay for anything other than the basic lenses with a massive co-pay where in Thailand they paid for the intraocular lenses and procedures, everything, zero deductible, no co-pay. Heck just for the eye exam state-side I paid almost $500.
If I had to do it again I would for sure. It sucks when one eye then the other gets cloudy and photography is your passion. Do I feel like it improved my craft? Yes, most definitely. There are the tell-tale circles at night with bright lights but it is so minor it is nothing to get concerned about imho.
As far as color correction goes, I shoot with an 18% grey card and or use a Lumu Color Meter for critical stuff. My monitors are routinely calibrated with a Datacolor Spyder X Pro. No color issues that I can see or notice.
This is an interesting thread. I've had three surgeries on my left eye this year for glaucoma, but in the latest one (earlier this week) they removed a cataract at the same time and replaced the lens with an implant. No cataract in the right, so the doc advised me to stop wearing glasses (which I've worn since age 8) and get a contact lens for my right eye to correct its vision. I've never used contact lenses. My right eye (the one that would have the contact lens) is my dominant eye and the one I use for looking through the EVF; are there any issues I should consider (e.g., would putting my eye in the EVF eyecup risk dislodging the contact lens)?
Sorry, this isn't an answer to your question, but i do want to update the thread with my results.
I finally had my cataracts removed. My initial hesitation was because of some other issues (large translucent floaters that defocused my vision randomly). Also, i was not experiencing the color distortion that many of you have described. However, the blurring caused by the cataracts finally got to the point where I had trouble getting to 20-40 our even worse and lots of backlight glare.
Because of my extreme near vision and my desire to have the clearest, highest contrast lenses, we (doctor and I) decided to go with fixed focus lenses with roughly the same focal length as i have had for the last 50+ years. Initially my doc was going to use a new generation multi focal lens by Alcon, but they did not make it for my long eyes (yet).
End result: huge difference in contrast and much sharper image, even to the point where the floaters are no longer bothersome.
Color difference is minimal. When the first eye was done I could barely see a difference in color between the eyes, but boy, the contrast and sharpness!
I suspect my cataracts didn't get as brown as others have reported because i have worn glasses with UV protection since I was in my early teens. Just a theory.
bjhurley wrote:
This is an interesting thread. I've had three surgeries on my left eye this year for glaucoma, but in the latest one (earlier this week) they removed a cataract at the same time and replaced the lens with an implant. No cataract in the right, so the doc advised me to stop wearing glasses (which I've worn since age 8) and get a contact lens for my right eye to correct its vision. I've never used contact lenses. My right eye (the one that would have the contact lens) is my dominant eye and the one I use for looking through the EVF; are there any issues I should consider (e.g., would putting my eye in the EVF eyecup risk dislodging the contact lens)?...Show more →
While I have no experience with cataract, I wore contacts for many years before getting lasik surgery. There is no problem using the viewfinder while wearing contact(s), unless of course you dislodge the contact by hitting it with the eyecup Happy shooting.
Kim, I'm very glad to hear things went well for you. And thanks for the thread. Am heading down next week to help my dad with alzheimer's recover from this surgery, and I'm realizing it would likely benefit me as well eventually. Couldn't be a better community in which to delve into this. -tig
jdc562 wrote:
I have the cataract surgery to replace the lens in one eye. I let my opthamologist sell me on the most expensive replacement lens, which is touted as being multifocal, the best possible lens. The result: I preferred my eye as before, with the multifocal correction being in my prescription, progressive lens, eyeglasses. The replacement lens in my eye gets its multifocal ability from a fresnel-like design. At night I see concentric rings around stars, the moon, and lights. Even with a new set of glasses prescribed for my "repaired" eye, I cannot see the moon and stars as well as could before the surgery. I had the surgery more than two years ago, so this isn't just a matter of having to adjust. Be careful.
This is good to know, as i'm now in the queue for cataract surgery (public healthcare here in Norway). Not sure how long i'll have to wait yet, but i do need to choose the type of replacement lens at some point. There seem to an awful lot of options, but i confess i tend toward the idea of having something simple and full transparent set for distance. I can then use varifocal glasses for near distance work.
It was commented earlier in the thread that progression is not linear. That is very much the case for me - late last year my left eye prescription drifted, but then kept drifting all through winter and spring. My optician was not impressed with my prescription going completely out within 2 weeks of getting new lenses, as they run a 6 month you-can-change-if-you-don't-like-it guarantee. I still had sharp vision all the way up to the start of June, when the optician noticed "slight haziness" in the eye and i then got referred to an eye specialist. By the end of August i couldn't read the computer screen any more, and now i am half way to "frosted window" in that eye. I'm also starting to notice the light scattering and haloing getting worse in my right eye too.
Good luck @15Bit figuring out the right lens and good luck with your surgery. Your situation sounds similar to mine in terms of progression and age - I had my cataract sugery at age 48 - lots of words and pictures of how things progressed for me before and especially after cataract surgery.
Good advice from @jdc562 to be careful/wary of multi-focals ... since you can't really put a "piece of glass" to adjust for possible visual aberrations.
bjhurley wrote:
This is an interesting thread. I've had three surgeries on my left eye this year for glaucoma, but in the latest one (earlier this week) they removed a cataract at the same time and replaced the lens with an implant. No cataract in the right, so the doc advised me to stop wearing glasses (which I've worn since age 8) and get a contact lens for my right eye to correct its vision. I've never used contact lenses. My right eye (the one that would have the contact lens) is my dominant eye and the one I use for looking through the EVF; are there any issues I should consider (e.g., would putting my eye in the EVF eyecup risk dislodging the contact lens)?...Show more →
Before I had cataract surgery, I wore contact lenses for many years, while using DSLRs and before that film SLRs, which worked a 100% well. Never experienced the contact lens becoming dislodged by touching the viewfinder.
My cataract surgery went well too, and I don’t need contacts now, only glasses.
Alek Komarnits wrote:
Good luck @15Bit@ figuring out the right lens and good luck with your surgery. Your situation sounds similar to mine in terms of progression and age - I had my cataract sugery at age 48 - lots of words and pictures of how things progressed for me before and especially after cataract surgery.
Good advice from @jdc562@ to be careful/wary of multi-focals ... since you can't really put a "piece of glass" to adjust for possible visual aberrations.
Thanks. Interesting write-up you've done too, though i'm not much into optics so a fair bit of it passes over my head. I had no real astigmatism before what i assume to be the start of the cataract period late last year. Indeed i had pretty much perfect vision until 3 years ago, when i started to lose the ability to close-focus and developed a tiny bit of astigmatism in each eye. So i am thinking of going with either fixed distance or the accommodating ones like you chose (if we can get them here). I am absolutely not putting a fresnel lens in my eye:I live 350km south of the arctic circle and we get a lot of darkness, so the aberrations from lights would drive me nuts for 6 months of the year.
kimknapp wrote:
Thanks all.
I suspect that since I have worn eyeglasses since I was about 13 and they always had UV protection built in, they have kept me from getting bad cataracts, so far. As a result, I decided to use some more time to evaluate the different options for when I do have cataract surgery.
The doctor felt that the new Alcon Vivity would be perfect for my lifestyle (active, lots of hiking, biking, birding and, of course, photography), but I am finding that they are so new that there is very little result-based news online. There is a long term test being done with exactly the type of info I am interested in, but the report won't be done until later this year.
Marketing literature such as "our tests show that 94% have at least 20/25 vision" just isn't good enough.
As I mentioned in my first post, these are not multi-focus lenses, with potential halo issues. Instead, they are extended depth of field lenses, but they won't say how they work.
At 72 and having worked in technology my whole life, I know how easy it is to get burned by the "latest thing", hence I am happy to wait a bit longer, especially since my cataract are very mild and those lenses sound interesting.
One can evaluate these lenses to some degree as picking out a new lens for one's cam. The "no free lunch" rule of optics applies. Look at the MTF curves for a 3mm aperture and see how Vivity works.
The link is to the package insert approved by the FDA. Sometimes they plot these out to make them look a bit better--still accurate but can be misleading by the scales used.
See page 4: As this is a SINGLE lens there is only so much resolution to go around so what is done is to rob Peter at plano (infinity) to pay Paul at intermediate and near distances. This can be a good compromise especially if both eyes done and the adjustments offset a bit. If one desires max MTF than get a good standard monofocal IOL and use lenses to shift the focus--i.e. spectacles. This lens is not a diffractive multifocal optic that robs photons for each focal length. The multifocal diffractive optics (eg, a trifocal) result in using only 1/3 available photons at each focal length. Contrast sensitivity and low light performance are reduced. Some also use a small aperture to improve dof but I don't want my eye at f22 all the time necessarily unless being spectacle free is the priority. Also dysphotopsias can occur using diffractive optics with starbursts, halos, flare etc. This does NOT happen with Vivity.
Now look at the Defocus curve on page 14-- 0 diopter is infinity, -1 diopter is for an object at 1meter, -2.5 diopter is 40 cm. So the Vivity is very very good at intermediate distances and so-so at reading. It robs some resolution at infinity to accomplish this trick. (No free lunch) The lens has toric version to correct astigmatism too but that can be very tricky to accomplish. Sometimes despite meticulous measurements the perfect lens is not chosen--I think Vivity is more forgiving with this due to the design.
There is a similarly designed EDOF (enhanced depth of focus) lens call Eyhance (and just recently available like Vivity) but that is rather more like a slightly modified mono-focal and I don't think is treated by Medicare as a "premium" lens. That only robs about 0.5 diopters from infinity for intermediate vision. I would only expect modest benefit at intermediate distances compared to a monofocal and I don't even think the manufacturer was able to show a statistically significant improvement.
What everyone wants is for the lens to act like one is 20 yo again and perfect accommodation for intermediate/ near vision. They are under development and one would expect everyone in 10 years will get those and be driving eclectic cars. Look up the Grail study using Juvene---it is very cool with a modular design and fills the capsular bag preventing PCO (posterior capsular opacification) The front part is the optic that can thicken as the ciliary apparatus contracts. I don't believe they have started the pivotal trial to get it approved in the US yet. One suspects it will be 5 years at least but one can hope. This is a big deal and multiple solutions have been devised and under development.
Bottom line is that these are lenses like any other and evaluate and shop accordingly. Admittedly most have Leica prices but I can't think of a more important lens. One needs to understand the strengths/shortcomings of each IOL choice and discuss in detail with the ophthalmologist based on the individual circumstance/measurements.
I am an endocrinologist, not an ophthalmologist but no one on this august list should be intimidated by any lens choice or feel under informed.
kimknapp wrote:
Sorry, this isn't an answer to your question, but i do want to update the thread with my results.
I finally had my cataracts removed. My initial hesitation was because of some other issues (large translucent floaters that defocused my vision randomly). Also, i was not experiencing the color distortion that many of you have described. However, the blurring caused by the cataracts finally got to the point where I had trouble getting to 20-40 our even worse and lots of backlight glare.
Because of my extreme near vision and my desire to have the clearest, highest contrast lenses, we (doctor and I) decided to go with fixed focus lenses with roughly the same focal length as i have had for the last 50+ years. Initially my doc was going to use a new generation multi focal lens by Alcon, but they did not make it for my long eyes (yet).
End result: huge difference in contrast and much sharper image, even to the point where the floaters are no longer bothersome.
Color difference is minimal. When the first eye was done I could barely see a difference in color between the eyes, but boy, the contrast and sharpness!
I suspect my cataracts didn't get as brown as others have reported because i have worn glasses with UV protection since I was in my early teens. Just a theory....Show more →
large translucent floaters that defocused my vision randomly even to the point where the floaters are no longer bothersome
These are interesting statements. I had cataracts removed on both eyes. My right eye was bad to the point that I was probably legally blind on that eye. Prior to the operation I asked my surgeon if anything can be done about floaters. The answer was negative. Cataracts are more or less on the front side of the eye, whereas floters are in the back. Therefore good to hear that your improved vision made the floaters less pronounced.
Great info Michael Gordon ... and yes, there is no free lunch.
That package insert was super-detailed ... better than most I have seen. BTW, I noticed "blue blocking" is mentioned and the Spectral Transmittance curve seems to show that... so another things to be aware of - there are mixed opinions if that is good or bad. When I had mine done at age 48, the more vivid blue/purple/etc. was very noticeable at sunrise/sunset. Part of that is because the Crystalens even allows more UV in - I have a whole writeup about my experience with being able to see UV here. and here's a spectral transmittance curve from there with more breakdowns by age.
Having watched the "IOL" field a bit since my surgery a decade ago, I think you are a bit optimistic that in 10 years that "elastic" IOLS's providing at least two diopters of *real* accommodation that can routinely hit their target endpoints will be commonly available ... but we can certainly hope.
15Bit wrote:
Thanks. Interesting write-up you've done too, though i'm not much into optics so a fair bit of it passes over my head. I had no real astigmatism before what i assume to be the start of the cataract period late last year. Indeed i had pretty much perfect vision until 3 years ago, when i started to lose the ability to close-focus and developed a tiny bit of astigmatism in each eye. So i am thinking of going with either fixed distance or the accommodating ones like you chose (if we can get them here). I am absolutely not putting a fresnel lens in my eye:I live 350km south of the arctic circle and we get a lot of darkness, so the aberrations from lights would drive me nuts for 6 months of the year. ...Show more →
I’m very happy with the monofocal aspheric type. I’d never take a multifocal, bifocal or progressive IOL (implant), as these will always be a compromise of some sort. The aspheric property improves your vision in low light conditions. If you require progressive or multifocal correction of your eyesight, that can be done with glasses or contact lenses. The great thing about contact lenses and glasses is that they are way easier to get rid of than an IOL you’re unhappy with.
I’ve tried bifocal contacts, and they can never match a monofocal correction for visual clarity.
kimknapp wrote:
Although not yet severe, my cataracts are bad enough that I have gone to an ophthalmologist for tests and consultation.
My BIG concern is whether one of the "higher end' replacement lenses work as well as advertised, especially since I enjoy photographing birds and other wildlife and I enjoy working on the photos, using my computer.
So, after agonizing for a long time, it hit me. Where else could I find a large number of older photographers then right here at my favorite photo website
I think about eyesight. I scratched my right eye and recently a doctor said I have the beginning of cataracts but minimal. For the moment, and near future, I think that just having all auto focus lenses or live view is fine for my needs. My right eye is my dominant eye, and the fuzzy one. But I can still shoot excellent as long as the focus dot is on a face, body, etc..
One thing I did years ago that maybe you could ask about, is lasik. Not for the cataract but for vision. It was amazing how near sighted I used to be and how one momentary procedure brought both eyes close to 20/20. I don't know if there is an old age limit on that.
my very limited understanding of this is that the replacement lens gets sewed in with cataract surgery? lasik scars complicate the options for stitch location.
the other issue is that vision changes with age, i was nearsighted for decades but it self-corrected as i got older... lasik would have been a huge improvement for a long time, but who knows where my vision would be now after lasik... perhaps it would have fixed the astigmatism that i still have.
cortlander wrote:
Btw, if you opt for one eye for close up vision and the other for distant, you may want to make sure that you select your dominant eye for distant.
A simple way to find your dominant eye: Keep both eyes open and focused on a distant object, then extend your arm out and point with your index finger or thumb at the object. Alternately close one eye at a time The eye that keeps your finger directly in front of the object while the other eye is closed is your dominant eye.
Late reply here, but I'd just like to say this is some very important advice that I wish I'd been given!
I had cataract surgery in both eyes at 45, and in Canada it was covered by health care. That's great, but it meant that I had to wait almost a year to get it done.
By the time my surgery rolled around, I had limited vision in my left eye and was completely blind in my right eye, but my brain would fill in the blanks and just tell me that there was nothing there. My kids figured that out and they had a great time sneaking up on me from the right and scaring me in public.
I do a lot of work at a computer, so I raised the topic with the surgeon of mono-vision, one eye close up and the other for distant, and she said that would be fine, but there was no discussion of the dominant eye and I got the near vision lens in the dominant eye.
My near vision is great now, but when I try and look at something distant or even watch TV, it's like there's a blurry image from my dominant eye over top.
I wear glasses for driving and when I'm out at night, so that's fine, I used to wear glasses all the time anyway. But I was surprised that my surgeon who had done thousands of these surgeries didn't point out that this would be the result.
I do love being able to see faces clearly and read and work without glasses (I work more than I drive, right?) but it was an adjustment, that's for sure!
I have had a pair of bifocals after surgery. Most of the time I dont need classes. When driving I wear the bifocals and look through the top so that both eyes are focused for distance. When doing close work, I look through the bottom so both eyes see close. Works great. I also have a set of prescription sunglass for outslde, so both eyes focused for distance.
Happy shooting.