Eyes surgery for the far-sighted ...  opinions, experience?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 09:31:31 pm
content: Engineers are typically good with critical thinking. For this reason, I would like to ask you for your opinion and ideally experience. I've been using reading glasses since my childhood. Every couple of years I need stronger, and stronger, and stronger...I am 37 y/o. I start my day by getting my glasses. It is also the last thing I put away before I go to bed.My current glasses are +5.25D on both sides. I am far-sighted. It is okay for everyday life. However, I need an extra magnifier glass for fine work. Especially soldering.I found my way. However, I feel that I need again new glasses. It seems that +5.25D is not enough. (note the previous post from 2017 when I said +4.25D.What is even worse is that I am completely useless without glasses. I can't even read the stupid clock on my cellphone and even 1cm digits on my Garmin watch are difficult if not impossible to read for me.I visited a doctor (surgeon) twice. The first time in 2019, and the second time in 2022. He suggested a multi-focal (or single-focal with extended DOF)Intraocular Lens. Oh boy, how scary this is. I don't need to get rid of the glasses completely. I am used to them. It would be just great to not be completely useless without them.I understand the risks and I am not seeking for comforting.I would like to better hear field experience from someone who has been through this and does similar stuff to what I do - electronics, R/C toys, soldering...Is anybody willing to share?

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 09:34:37 pm
content: How is your distant vision? If that is good, then I'm not sure it is worth the risk to go tinkering with the eyeballs if glasses do the trick. I've resisted the urge to do Lasik or lenses and just have lineless bifocal glasses. Not 5+ diopters though, that might be worse. The advantage is that I always have them on.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 10:28:04 pm
content: Distant vision is fine. For now. I am waiting for presbyopia kicking in.Thanks for sharing. Single-use contacts are also something I used to use.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 10:44:14 pm
content: I don't know where you are in the world, but your doctor's suggestion seems to fall short.For myself, I'm short-sighted (~-3.5) and that's a much worse situation. Without glasses I can't drive, recognize people, read signs at medium distance, watch TV... you name it.A retinal detachment on one eye and a cataract on the same led to an emergency operation, where a plastic lens was inserted. The retinal was fixed (wonderful work by the surgeons!) and I now have approximately 20:19 vision when wearing glasses.Anyway: lens replacement surgery is not really for the far-sighted, although some clinics try to sell it as such.In your place, I'd try consulting a real specialist, because the rapid worsening of your far-sightedness over just 5 years is an alarming sign to me. I'm thinking glaucoma or high eye pressure.Good Luck.

author: Traceless
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 10:45:07 pm
content: Quote from: Warhawk on January 06, 2023, 09:31:31 pmHi Warhawk, here are my five cents from a purely analytical POV:1. You are used to your glasses and they do not make you disproportionately uncomfortable.2. It is easy to get new glasses and replace them if they are not suitable for you.3. If surgery goes wrong your eyes can not be replaced and you may end up in a situation where even with glasses you can not properly work again.Unless your doctor tells you that surgery is necessary to prevent future damage or delaying surgery will deteriorate chances for successful surgery in the future I can not see any significant advantage in doing surgery for you right now but a risk in making things worse.Edit: Also +1 on Bentas suggestion to get a second (and maybe third) opinion on what causes the deterioration of your eyesight.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 11:00:37 pm
content: Amateur engineers think about how things work. Professional engineers think about how things fail.My father had, in the 1950s an analogous problem with his hearing. The surgeon recommended and performed an advanced procedure. It left him stone deaf. He suggested performing it on the remaining ear, but my mother refused to allow it. There is a suspicion the surgeon was mainly interested in inflating his CV.In separate cases I have chosen between alternative courses of treatment based not on how well they work, but what happens in the cases where theyfailto work.

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 11:31:01 pm
content: The problem with multifocal lenses is that they are harder to put in. they need to be anchored to keep them in the correct position. If they need replacing, it can cause complications.I had my cataracts done and wanted to have one eye for far vision and one for near vision. I wanted the near vision to be "computer length".They screwed up and my eyes are both 20/20 with need for near vision glasses. I had worn glassed for far vision since I was 7 years old. It is still strange to be able to see far without them. I also had LASIK at the same time because of annoying asigmatism.As far as I was concerned there was no "recovery time". Instant sight.Some people are vey happpy with one eye for far vision and one for near vision.If you can use ONE contact lens for NEAR vision. You might consider having one eye corrected to 20/20 with LASIK and you might be very happy.Did anyone suggest this?Is it possible in your case?You can try this out by having one contact in for a while and considering the results. IE: are you happy with seeing 20/20 out of one eye and up close out of the other. In your case the up close eye would be the one with the contact lens.Many people are quite happy with this arrangement and lots of people start using one contact when old age sets in and you can no longer focus on up close things. It works for many folks for many years. But most of these folks have the opposite problem that you have, they can see close up and need far vision assistance.However, you may wish to wait untill you need cataract surgery and make your decision then. I personally would wait as long as possible, since technology may offer a better solution in the future.If there is nothing substantially wrong with your present lenses in your eyes, no cataract etc, it would be hard to suggest replacing them, you lose the ability to change focus when new lenses are put in although,as you have read, they have some lenses that can accomidate IE: focus, at least a little.From what you have said, it seems a little much to have your natural lenses exchanged for store bought ones.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 11:51:36 pm
content: In my opinion, there are three premier ophthalmology departments in the US and many, many others that are almost as great. In my opinion Wilmer at Johns Hopkins, Wills in Philadelphia (part of the Jefferson University system) and Palmer Eye Institute in Tallahassee, Florida are tops. Wilmer is perhaps noted more for basic research, the other two are more clinically focused. After those come almost every other major university, and include non-university entities like Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN main campus), Lahey Clinic (Boston) and Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland OH main campus). I would have no qualms going to any of them. In fact, I go to the one of the above that is local. Notably absent from my list are the thousands (it seems) of private refractive surgery clinics.EEVBlog is the last place in the world I would go to for medical advice, present company not excepted. In your case, there is a old axiom that a surgeon always leaves his fingerprints. That is, repeat surgeries for the same disorder are usually more difficult than the first, particularly if the first did not achieve the desired results. Aside from that, I know very little about the specific subject.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2023, 12:16:03 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on January 06, 2023, 11:51:36 pmWhy do you think the OP is in the US? There are other places in the world.Just sayin'...

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2023, 12:32:59 am
content: I don't care whether the OP is in the US or not. He/she didn't give a location. I suspect you know far less about the quality of ophthalmology around the world than I do, and I know almost nothing. If you want your country to be anonymous, then accept what you get.However, the top institutions I mentioned, including the named clinics, have numerous trainees from non-US areas -- so called IMG's. Lower rated American programs are swarmed with them. For the better programs, those positions are very competitive.* Reviewing a physician's credentials is not without error, but can be helpful.*Those in non-competitive slots often come to the US with plans to stay. Those in the very competitive positions often come with a plan to return home and teach there.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2023, 12:50:21 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on January 07, 2023, 12:32:59 amWell, I was only in the LMU University of Munich clinic and had eye surgery by the best, restoring eyesight on one eye from 0 to 19.Trainees are all over the place, including US ones at the LMU.Why don't you get off your high US horse?But I'll accept your "I know almost nothing" readily.

author: twospoons
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2023, 04:04:54 am
content: If your prescription is not stable then surgery doesn't seem like the right answer, since in a few years you'd need glasses again anyway.I had LASIK about 15 years ago to correct astigmatism, and for me its been great. But then my prescription had been stable for a long time.Age has inevitably caught up with me, so I have reading glasses now. Anything beyond arms length is still crystal clear though.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2023, 04:26:07 am
content: Quote from: twospoons on January 07, 2023, 04:04:54 amWhile that is true for laser surgery which reshapes the cornea, I'm not sure it is as problematic for introcular lenses. But obviously only an ophtalmologist having examined his eyes can answer that.Now I don't have any medical advice to give, so only my own opinion there. Intraocular lenses are a pretty drastic surgery as they replace your own lens. If you have a damaged lens (such as cataract), obviously this is an inevitable move if you want to get your eyesight back, but if your own lens is fine and this is just a "comfort" surgery, I would not do it. Of course it's your choice though and only you can know. I realize how annoying it could be not to be able to see anything below a certain distance. Especially in our current world in which we are constantly looking at close-up stuff (which is likely why myopia is almost becoming the norm these days.)

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2023, 10:34:05 pm
content: Guys, please allow me for some time to read all you feedback. I appreciate your inputs.