Cataract surgery
- Thread starter pulzcul
- Start date
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A friend of mine at the pool hall said his wife, who works for an opthamologist, told him an Asian woman came into their office for an eye exam the other day. After the examination the Doctor told the lady she had a cataract.
"Oh no." Said the woman. "I drive a Rinkon." :grin:
"Oh no." Said the woman. "I drive a Rinkon." :grin:
PM DaveK - he is the big expert on Canadian health issues.
Get the best surgeon you can, and like the other poster said, make it close to home if you can. I would say no to Canada as I have heard people having bad eye surguries there.
Even in the US there are very high risks having novices work on your eye. My grandmother-in-law had one of her eyes screwed up and it doesn't see properly.
This is much more complicated that laser vision surgery.
Lol, interesting point! I don't think eye surgery is quite the same as going to a cosmetology school, dental school, or having a first-year plastic surgery resident put in your boom-booms!
Unfortunately the guy (or gal) who has done 1,000 operations had to do 1-999 first! Sorry about your GIL, but contrary to your post, there are risks having an expert (opposed to novice) doing your eyes. 1/1000 chance is great unless your that 1. I'm thinking about getting LASIK done, but waiting, allowing my future (unknown) surgeon rack up some more procedures!!
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I had cataract surgery several decades ago.
Opened up the yellow pages to find out where the eye specialists were concentrated (in Toronto).
Picked one to see.
He was associated with several hospitals, and said he would do it at a hospital that I wouldn't have thought would be highly rated.
It wasn't conveniently located for me either.
He said that it had the best equipment.
You want is a surgeon who specializes, not someone who does it infrequently.
That is the only reason I can see for you wanting to have it done in Canada, probably in Calgary, since you are in Montana.
It is about a half hour surgery.
Just a day surgery production line.
Only one eye is done at a time.
Driving yourself home after surgery is not an option.
And as has been mentioned by others, you have several office visits afterwards.
Both surgeries were fine.
Opened up the yellow pages to find out where the eye specialists were concentrated (in Toronto).
Picked one to see.
He was associated with several hospitals, and said he would do it at a hospital that I wouldn't have thought would be highly rated.
It wasn't conveniently located for me either.
He said that it had the best equipment.
You want is a surgeon who specializes, not someone who does it infrequently.
That is the only reason I can see for you wanting to have it done in Canada, probably in Calgary, since you are in Montana.
It is about a half hour surgery.
Just a day surgery production line.
Only one eye is done at a time.
Driving yourself home after surgery is not an option.
And as has been mentioned by others, you have several office visits afterwards.
Both surgeries were fine.
BTW, it took me six months to have 2 eyes done. My left eye had to have Lasik (again), and then that had to be redone because skin was growing back over my pupil. My doctor was one of the best in the country - teaches at high end places. Let me tell you, and this is what my doctor said, cataract surgery is not an exact science IF YOU HAVE HAD LASIC previously and had astigmatism. There is some scientific guessing involved and they just don't make those tubes in finely measured increments.
Lasix
No need to wait for your lasix guy to get experience. Just ask how many they have done. Not sat in and watched, but was the man who did it. I passed on a beautiful woman who looked like a movie star but had only done 17! Got a man who was so good he moved to NYC! Make sure any enhancements, do over because of regressing, is free and part of initial cost. Dont shop for best price! Find the best!
No need to wait for your lasix guy to get experience. Just ask how many they have done. Not sat in and watched, but was the man who did it. I passed on a beautiful woman who looked like a movie star but had only done 17! Got a man who was so good he moved to NYC! Make sure any enhancements, do over because of regressing, is free and part of initial cost. Dont shop for best price! Find the best!
try to stay home
I just had both eyes done several months ago (I'm 42 by the way). My vision had gotten so poor that I didn't even shop for a surgeon. But the local guy in my small town has done about 20,000 surgeries, so I had some comfort there. I agree regarding all the post op appointments. It's nice to be home for that. I also would advise against driving for a couple of days post surgery.
I posted some of my story here:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=219149
I will suggest that you look at docs in Missoula if you stay in the states. I used to live there, and some fabulous docs practice there.
Hope this goes well for you.
Karl
p.s. I think we met at a tourney in Ronan several years ago. My friend James won that weekend.
I just had both eyes done several months ago (I'm 42 by the way). My vision had gotten so poor that I didn't even shop for a surgeon. But the local guy in my small town has done about 20,000 surgeries, so I had some comfort there. I agree regarding all the post op appointments. It's nice to be home for that. I also would advise against driving for a couple of days post surgery.
I posted some of my story here:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=219149
I will suggest that you look at docs in Missoula if you stay in the states. I used to live there, and some fabulous docs practice there.
Hope this goes well for you.
Karl
p.s. I think we met at a tourney in Ronan several years ago. My friend James won that weekend.
I had the cataract surgery done 2 yrs ago and my eyesight is perfect, no problems,it was done in ST Peterburgh FL.
Good Luck
RAY MARTIN
I had lasix in 2000, local guy at the time. My dad had cataract surgery done here, after the VA told him it was not bad enough to need treatment. He was reading the next day, could see great. He was 70 at the time. The risk and benefits must always be examined, but a good local guy may be better than a great far away guy you can't get to if there is a problem or complication. John
Cataract surgery is NOT the same as lasik, etc
Cataract surgery is not the same as corrective laser eye surgery (lasik, etc). There is no relationship between the two. In the latter, a laser is used to actually reshape parts of the eye to correct vision problems such as nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness (hyperopia). This is much more complicated than, and very different from, cataract surgery. Cataract surgery is delicate but not terribly complicated. Cataracts affect about 60% of the US population over the age of 60, and one to two million cataract operations are done annually in the US alone.
Cataracts are caused by the fluid in the eye's lens gradually (usually) becoming opaque ("milky") which blocks and scatters light coming through the lens. It is treated by replacing the lens with an artificial "plastic" one. The modern method removes the lens from the capsule that contains it, while the older one removed the lens with its capsule. The older method is very rare now. The procedure is quite straightforward, and takes about half an hour. I've had both eyes done, the second one about six months ago. In both cases, I got to the hospital about 0800 and left about 1300. The vast majority of that time was spent simply waiting, and then in pre-op and post-op care.
I know nothing about Canada's medical system. In the US, medical insurance and Medicare will not pay for the procedure until some specific (but unclear to me) degree of visual acuity is lost in the affected eye(s).
The biggest problem is choosing the replacement lens. Your natural lens "bends" to change the focal length of the lens which allows you to see clearly both close up and at a distance. It's this flexibility that is lost as we age and usually causes us to become progressively more farsighted, thus needing reading glasses, etc. The artificial replacement lenses cannot be adjusted by the eye muscles to allow focal length changes (yet - being able to do this is the holy grail for replacement lens manufacturers and they are working on it very hard). There are two fundamental types of replacement lenses: monofocus and multifocus.
Monofocus lenses are somewhat akin to "single vision" glasses. They have a fixed focal length, most commonly chosen (by the patient) to provide glasses-free distance vision. You use normal glasses for reading, etc. Contacts can be used, also. In the US, Medicare and most medical insurance will pay only for this type of replacement.
Multifocus lenses have a somewhat limited ability to allow you to focus at both near and far distances. There are several ways of doing this, resulting in several types/brands of lenses. Most opthamologists have a strong preference for a particular one. Exactly how well any of them work seems to me to be at least somewhat dependent on how good your vision was before the lens replacement, not counting the problem the cataract caused. That last sentence is my own inference from various sources of information, not something that was told to me directly. These lenses are much more expensive than the monofocus type. They also seem to make the process of getting the correct "prescription", and perhaps the surgery itself, slightly more difficult. In my case, the total cost beyond what insurance and Medicare would pay was $3K, whereas using a monofocus lens would have cost me nearly nothing. This was true for both eyes (the first was done about three years ago). Whether it was actually worth the cost is still, and probably will remain, unclear to me.
You do need to be aware that your vision will not be the same as it was prior to the cataract forming. Some parts of it may be better, some parts may be worse, and some parts will probably just be different. One very common occurrence is seeing a "halo effect" around point light sources (e.g., distant lights at night). This generally lessens with time; in my case it still exists somewhat with both eyes, but not enough to bother me. (Personally, I believe the reduction in "noticeability" is caused as much by the brain learning to ignore the halo as by a reduction in the underlying cause.)
I chose the multifocus route because seeing clearly the front sight of a pistol was important, and it appeared to have the best chance to achieve that. It was at least partially successful. I can focus on the front sight about as well as I could before the cataract. I can now read most things without glasses which, I could not before the cataract. My low-light vision is somewhat worse than it was before the cataract, but much better than it was immediately before the operation. For pool, my sight is also about what it was before the cataract. I don't know whether this is a better result than could have been achieved with monofocus replacement lenses and contacts. Frankly, I have my doubts, but there's no reasonable way to be certain one way or the other.
Cataract surgery is not the same as corrective laser eye surgery (lasik, etc). There is no relationship between the two. In the latter, a laser is used to actually reshape parts of the eye to correct vision problems such as nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness (hyperopia). This is much more complicated than, and very different from, cataract surgery. Cataract surgery is delicate but not terribly complicated. Cataracts affect about 60% of the US population over the age of 60, and one to two million cataract operations are done annually in the US alone.
Cataracts are caused by the fluid in the eye's lens gradually (usually) becoming opaque ("milky") which blocks and scatters light coming through the lens. It is treated by replacing the lens with an artificial "plastic" one. The modern method removes the lens from the capsule that contains it, while the older one removed the lens with its capsule. The older method is very rare now. The procedure is quite straightforward, and takes about half an hour. I've had both eyes done, the second one about six months ago. In both cases, I got to the hospital about 0800 and left about 1300. The vast majority of that time was spent simply waiting, and then in pre-op and post-op care.
I know nothing about Canada's medical system. In the US, medical insurance and Medicare will not pay for the procedure until some specific (but unclear to me) degree of visual acuity is lost in the affected eye(s).
The biggest problem is choosing the replacement lens. Your natural lens "bends" to change the focal length of the lens which allows you to see clearly both close up and at a distance. It's this flexibility that is lost as we age and usually causes us to become progressively more farsighted, thus needing reading glasses, etc. The artificial replacement lenses cannot be adjusted by the eye muscles to allow focal length changes (yet - being able to do this is the holy grail for replacement lens manufacturers and they are working on it very hard). There are two fundamental types of replacement lenses: monofocus and multifocus.
Monofocus lenses are somewhat akin to "single vision" glasses. They have a fixed focal length, most commonly chosen (by the patient) to provide glasses-free distance vision. You use normal glasses for reading, etc. Contacts can be used, also. In the US, Medicare and most medical insurance will pay only for this type of replacement.
Multifocus lenses have a somewhat limited ability to allow you to focus at both near and far distances. There are several ways of doing this, resulting in several types/brands of lenses. Most opthamologists have a strong preference for a particular one. Exactly how well any of them work seems to me to be at least somewhat dependent on how good your vision was before the lens replacement, not counting the problem the cataract caused. That last sentence is my own inference from various sources of information, not something that was told to me directly. These lenses are much more expensive than the monofocus type. They also seem to make the process of getting the correct "prescription", and perhaps the surgery itself, slightly more difficult. In my case, the total cost beyond what insurance and Medicare would pay was $3K, whereas using a monofocus lens would have cost me nearly nothing. This was true for both eyes (the first was done about three years ago). Whether it was actually worth the cost is still, and probably will remain, unclear to me.
You do need to be aware that your vision will not be the same as it was prior to the cataract forming. Some parts of it may be better, some parts may be worse, and some parts will probably just be different. One very common occurrence is seeing a "halo effect" around point light sources (e.g., distant lights at night). This generally lessens with time; in my case it still exists somewhat with both eyes, but not enough to bother me. (Personally, I believe the reduction in "noticeability" is caused as much by the brain learning to ignore the halo as by a reduction in the underlying cause.)
I chose the multifocus route because seeing clearly the front sight of a pistol was important, and it appeared to have the best chance to achieve that. It was at least partially successful. I can focus on the front sight about as well as I could before the cataract. I can now read most things without glasses which, I could not before the cataract. My low-light vision is somewhat worse than it was before the cataract, but much better than it was immediately before the operation. For pool, my sight is also about what it was before the cataract. I don't know whether this is a better result than could have been achieved with monofocus replacement lenses and contacts. Frankly, I have my doubts, but there's no reasonable way to be certain one way or the other.
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Thanks gentlemen, your advice is noted. I'm checking out Canada because of the expense obviously. I don't have insurance so $5000 an eye here in the US is kinda steep. Canada is about 1/2 that and Mexico is around 1500$ although it would cost about 750$ to get there. I can drive to Calgary or Vancouver for a 100$/gas. I've been investigating this for a few months now. I found a forum with a wealth of post op info about the effects of multi focal lenses and the brands to try and the ones to stay away from. Seems the halo effect comes with the package to some degree. Finding a "good clinic" with references doesn't seem to be a problem, I just thought I might connect with some one in BC or Alberta that had first hand experience.
Thanks Ray. Thats encouraging. Don
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