Cataract Operation - Good to know information?

[ravip]

Yesterday, I was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes, and surgery recommended.

I am totally clueless about this procedure, and mortally scared of surgery (this will be my first).

 

• How painful can it be?
• What are the best practices in choosing an intra ocular lens?
• Is this a once in a lifetime operation (under normal conditions)?
• Recovery time (under normal conditions)?
• After full recovery, what precautions are necessary - eg is swimming OK Pool or sea?
• Any other...

 

Thanks a million in advance!

 

[transam]

No problem, unless you are really unlucky, just get it done and start a new life..........

[lopburi3]

Are you having issues caused by these cataracts?  Suspect may be reason they were found but if not there is normally no need to remove.

1.  Pain is in wallet.  Actual procedure only takes a few minutes and at most should not be much more than hair in eye feeling.  

2.  Safest is single vision to correct distance vision - reading glasses are cheap and easy to obtain.

3.  Yes.

4.  Immediate - you will be using eye next day.  But best to do eyes a few weeks apart in case of issues.

5.  Nothing - but you will need sunglasses for some time as everything will be much brighter and colors very bright.

6.  Most common surgery with excellent success rate.  Nothing to fear.  But as said make sure you need to remove now (even if this requires another exam elsewhere).  Will also provide more cost information.

[ravip]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Are you having issues caused by these cataracts?  Suspect may be reason they were found but if not there is normally no need to remove.

1.  Pain is in wallet.  Actual procedure only takes a few minutes and at most should not be much more than hair in eye feeling.  

2.  Safest is single vision to correct distance vision - reading glasses are cheap and easy to obtain.

3.  Yes.

4.  Immediate - you will be using eye next day.  But best to do eyes a few weeks apart in case of issues.

5.  Nothing - but you will need sunglasses for some time as everything will be much brighter and colors very bright.

6.  Most common surgery with excellent success rate.  Nothing to fear.  But as said make sure you need to remove now (even if this requires another exam elsewhere).  Will also provide more cost information.

Are you having issues caused by these cataracts? 

I found reading small print difficult. Long distance too, the smaller print on shop name boards, road signs were appearing blurry. I thought changing my current lenses would solve it - but during the testing, the optometrist mentioned about signs of cataracts. Then I we consulted an eye surgeon, and he confirmed.

 

Night driving too was an issue - oncoming lights were blinding me. First I thought it was an issue with my windscreen.

 

[Pouatchee]

do at a good gvt hospital if you can. if you are in pattaya do at sirikit hospital. MUCH cheaper and just as gtood as other private hospitals. had both my eyes done there and am very happy with results.

 

complications: if you see flashes of light when you close your eyes means you have a tear in retina. i had that about a year after surgery in left eye. this is an emergency... i rushed to hospital and got laser treatment. now my eye is itchy but all is good

 

 

[simon43]

"How painful can it be?"

 

It cannot be!  There are no nerves in your eye to send pain signals to your brain 🙂

[transam]

Just now, simon43 said:

"How painful can it be?"

 

It cannot be!  There are no nerves in your eye to send pain signals to your brain 🙂

You reckon..........

[simon43]

Just now, transam said:

You reckon..........

I had Lasik surgery on both eyes many years ago.  No pain, just the smell of burning eye ball...

[ravip]

8 minutes ago, simon43 said:

"How painful can it be?"

 

It cannot be!  There are no nerves in your eye to send pain signals to your brain 🙂

Never heard about this!

[transam]

1 minute ago, simon43 said:

I had Lasik surgery on both eyes many years ago.  No pain, just the smell of burning eye ball...

I had 2 detached retina eye ops, the one with local anaesthetic was excruciatingly painful, laser and N2O were used, something to do with nerves, I think.....😉

[ravip]

1 minute ago, transam said:

I had 2 detached retina eye ops, the one with local anaesthetic was excruciatingly painful, laser and N2O were used, something to do with nerves, I think.....😉

Even with local anaesthetic?

[ravip]

1 minute ago, transam said:

I had 2 detached retina eye ops, the one with local anaesthetic was excruciatingly painful, laser and N2O were used, something to do with nerves, I think.....😉

Yes, also I've heard about painful injections on the eye.

[transam]

1 minute ago, ravip said:

Even with local anaesthetic?

My first retina op in London I was put under, looking back, I'm glad I was.

The second here in LOS, the surgeon recommended local because no recovery time, so I said OK, but, he said if I have to use N2O as well as laser, you may feel pain, he did, and I did............😱

[connda]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Are you having issues caused by these cataracts?  Suspect may be reason they were found but if not there is normally no need to remove.

1.  Pain is in wallet.  Actual procedure only takes a few minutes and at most should not be much more than hair in eye feeling.  

2.  Safest is single vision to correct distance vision - reading glasses are cheap and easy to obtain.

3.  Yes.

4.  Immediate - you will be using eye next day.  But best to do eyes a few weeks apart in case of issues.

5.  Nothing - but you will need sunglasses for some time as everything will be much brighter and colors very bright.

6.  Most common surgery with excellent success rate.  Nothing to fear.  But as said make sure you need to remove now (even if this requires another exam elsewhere).  Will also provide more cost information.

How bad is your eyesight?  If you have a large degree of myopia, you are at a risk of retinal detachment as well as surgical complications. Consider laser photocoagulation months before the surgery.  And if you take alpha-blockers for BPH, you'll need to stop for 1 to 2 weeks prior to surgery.  Best of luck peeing.  Just some things that nobody else will tell you.
The surgery in a government hospital is about 1/2 the price of private hospitals. 

[simon43]

Bit more info about pain in your eye: (from my doctor Dr Google).

 

Pain is a tricky thing, and it's certainly possible to feel pain when pressing your eyelids against your eyeballs if you press hard enough ("hard enough" in this context is generally quite a lot less hard than is required to cause damage, by the way).

However: Since your eyeballs don't have skin, they also don't have nociception; i.e. they don't have pain receptors in the same way your skin at large does. Eye pains, like headaches, are largely caused by a combination of psychological responses to perceived stimuli and pain responses in associated structures.

Basically, the pain you experience when fingering your eye isn't pain in the same sense as the pain you feel from touching a hot stove or pricking yourself with a needle, it's generated by the brain in response to novel stimulus. Your brain knows what eyelids feel like, and it's okay with them, but once you start introducing fingers into the mix, all sorts of disturbances in salinity and moisture crop up, and your brain freaks out (and rightly so).

The same phenomenon can be seen with regards to swimming in the ocean: If you try to open your eyes under water, you'll find it a painful and disconcerting experience, but if you keep at it and practice holding your eyes open under water, you'll get used to it, and the pain will go away. Similarly, contact lens wearers will soon learn to deal with these stimuli, and be able to handle eye touching.

While I wouldn't advise you to go pawing at your eyeballs, if you for whatever reason have a need to do so, acclimating yourself to the feel of it will make the associated pain go away in short order.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, connda said:

How bad is your eyesight?  If you have a large degree of myopia, you are at a risk of retinal detachment as well as surgical complications. Consider laser photocoagulation months before the surgery.  And if you take alpha-blockers for BPH, you'll need to stop for 1 to 2 weeks prior to surgery.  Best of luck peeing.  Just some things that nobody else will tell you.
The surgery in a government hospital is about 1/2 the price of private hospitals. 

I had a detached retina after my second cataract fix, but it is not a regular or a certainty after the procedure, it's just bad luck...🤕 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Bit more info about pain in your eye: (from my doctor Dr Google).

 

Pain is a tricky thing, and it's certainly possible to feel pain when pressing your eyelids against your eyeballs if you press hard enough ("hard enough" in this context is generally quite a lot less hard than is required to cause damage, by the way).

However: Since your eyeballs don't have skin, they also don't have nociception; i.e. they don't have pain receptors in the same way your skin at large does. Eye pains, like headaches, are largely caused by a combination of psychological responses to perceived stimuli and pain responses in associated structures.

Basically, the pain you experience when fingering your eye isn't pain in the same sense as the pain you feel from touching a hot stove or pricking yourself with a needle, it's generated by the brain in response to novel stimulus. Your brain knows what eyelids feel like, and it's okay with them, but once you start introducing fingers into the mix, all sorts of disturbances in salinity and moisture crop up, and your brain freaks out (and rightly so).

The same phenomenon can be seen with regards to swimming in the ocean: If you try to open your eyes under water, you'll find it a painful and disconcerting experience, but if you keep at it and practice holding your eyes open under water, you'll get used to it, and the pain will go away. Similarly, contact lens wearers will soon learn to deal with these stimuli, and be able to handle eye touching.

While I wouldn't advise you to go pawing at your eyeballs, if you for whatever reason have a need to do so, acclimating yourself to the feel of it will make the associated pain go away in short order.

Stick your finger in your eye, when it stops hurting, get back to us with a report.........

[LosLobo]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

"How painful can it be?"

 

It cannot be!  There are no nerves in your eye to send pain signals to your brain 🙂

There is the optic nerve, located in the back of the eye, carries impulses produced by the retina to the brain, where they are developed into images.

Also, there is the ophthalmic nerve, which is the first branch of the trigeminal nerve, supplies sensory innervation to the structures of the eye, including the cornea.
 

The cornea, which is the clear front surface of the eye, is one of the most densely innervated tissues in the body and is extremely sensitive to pain.

During cataract surgery, local anesthesia is used to numb the eye and prevent pain.

However, after the surgery, some may experience mild discomfort or a gritty sensation in the eye for a few days.  

I have had two cataract surgeries, one posterior YAG laser capsulotomy, one retinal detachment repaired by laser and inflated with gas (known as a Pneumatic Retinopexy) and one redux cataract surgery with removal of displaced IOL from my retina but with the new IOL stitched to the iris instead of inside the posterior capsule.

No pain!

 

Edited March 23 by LosLobo

[MJCM]

@ravip

 

Here my experience at Bumrungrad last year

 

 

The next day after the operation I got instructions from the Nurses on how to clean my eye with sterile cotton and Saline as I was not allowed to wash my face for over a week. Also got a strict eye drop schedule.

 

[Bangkok Barry]

You might find this thread that I began a couple of weeks ago useful. I plan on having the first eye done tomorrow. I was told 25,000 each eye at my nearby-ish private hospital and 20,000 plus 5,000 'tip' demanded by a doctor at the government hospital. They tell me an overnight stay is needed but I'll argue against that to return the next day to be checked. I'll take an overnight bag containing essentials such as my laptop if they insist otherwise no op.

 

From all that I've read, the procedure is no big deal and takes less than 30 minutes. Friends that have had it done in the UK went home on the bus after tea and biscuits.
Why does cataract surgery require a hospital stay in Thailand? - Page 6 - Health and Medicine - Thailand News, Travel & Forum - ASEAN NOW

 

Edited March 23 by Bangkok Barry

[transam]

18 minutes ago, MJCM said:

@ravip

 

Here my experience at Bumrungrad last year

 

 

The next day after the operation I got instructions from the Nurses on how to clean my eye with sterile cotton and Saline as I was not allowed to wash my face for over a week. Also got a strict eye drop schedule.

 

When I had my cataracts done in a Gov hospital, there were quite a lot of us, me the only farangy, we were all instructed on the importance of cleanliness and the proper use of the eye drops, no water in the eye. Which was a lot to think about.

 

We all had to return in a week. After the week went back to the hozzy, walked into the waiting room to see it full of Quasimodo's, I kid you not.......😱 

[MJCM]

 

7 minutes ago, transam said:

When I had my cataracts done in a Gov hospital, there were quite a lot of us, me the only farangy, we were all instructed on the importance of cleanliness and the proper use of the eye drops, no water in the eye. Which was a lot to think about.

 

 

I fully agree, I went back the following morning (after the OP) and we got the instructions on how to clean the eye with the supplied sterile cotton balls and Saline. The eye drop schedule was rigorous, 11 drops during the day

 

Ps: The numbers I wrote on the list are circled ones, the order you have to use them  the > 10 is how long to wait after administering them (which in this case is wait 10 mins)

 

[MJCM]

30 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You might find this thread that I began a couple of weeks ago useful. I plan on having the first eye done tomorrow. I was told 25,000 each eye at my nearby-ish private hospital and 20,000 plus 5,000 'tip' demanded by a doctor at the government hospital. They tell me an overnight stay is needed but I'll argue against that to return the next day to be checked. I'll take an overnight bag containing essentials such as my laptop if they insist otherwise no op.

 

From all that I've read, the procedure is no big deal and takes less than 30 minutes. Friends that have had it done in the UK went home on the bus after tea and biscuits.
Why does cataract surgery require a hospital stay in Thailand? - Page 6 - Health and Medicine - Thailand News, Travel & Forum - ASEAN NOW

 

 

Strange, I was operated on (Cataract) at Bumrungrad Hospital, arrived at the Hospital at 8ishAM and was back in the hotel (next door to the Hospital) at around 1pm.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

I had Lasik surgery on both eyes many years ago.  No pain, just the smell of burning eye ball...

They use a topical anesthetic.

 

There are nerves in the eye. Hence the pain if you get a bit of sand in the eye or (wirse) have a cirneal abrasion.

 

For cataract surgery local anesthetic is ymused, so painless. 

[topt]

3 hours ago, ravip said:

Any other...

OP this may help with some answers-

https://www.supersightsurgery.com/

 

Go to FAQs on the right of the screen.

 

Thoroughly recommended (in my case) all be it perhaps a tad pricey.... 

 

[MJCM]

@ravip

 

One thing I would advice to NOT DO is have BOTH eyes operated on the same day.

 

Mine were done 2-3 weeks apart, Right Eye first and left eye after a couple of weeks!

[Tropicalevo]

Diagnosed cataracts last year and found this web site at Bangkok Hospital Phuket.

https://www.brightviewcenter.com/

 

Very expensive but absolutely top class. (200k). Best eyesight ever.

Tri focal lenses means that I do not wear glasses any more. (I needed glasses for reading and different ones for mid range.)

 

This PDF should answer most questions.

Flow-RLE-Flyer-1.pdfFlow-RLE-Flyer-1.pdfFlow-RLE-Flyer-1.pdf

• How painful can it be?
• Nil pain - anaesthetic in the eye drops
• What are the best practices in choosing an intra ocular lens?
• Is this a once in a lifetime operation (under normal conditions)?
• Depends on your age. At 72 they will last a lifetime.
• Recovery time (under normal conditions)?
• The replacement took one hour (no pain). Sat in a dark room for a couple of hours. Walked back to my hotel (with dark glasses) and was typing emails that afternoon and updating spreadsheets that afternoon.
• After full recovery, what precautions are necessary - eg is swimming OK Pool or sea?
• After about 2 weeks, nothing other can cleaning your eye now and again. No water in the eye for those two weeks.
• Any other...

[GreasyFingers]

If yo pay 200K you have too much money. There are many that range from 30k to 60K. Just make sure you ask plenty of questions on how many the surgeon does. If he is not doing them weekly find some one else.

I have had one go wrong by an inexperienced doctor but the second one was no problem by a doctor that was doing them nearly every day.

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, topt said:

OP this may help with some answers-

https://www.supersightsurgery.com/

 

Go to FAQs on the right of the screen.

 

Thoroughly recommended (in my case) all be it perhaps a tad pricey.... 

 

How pricey is pricey please?

[ravip]

3 hours ago, connda said:

How bad is your eyesight?  If you have a large degree of myopia, you are at a risk of retinal detachment as well as surgical complications. Consider laser photocoagulation months before the surgery.  And if you take alpha-blockers for BPH, you'll need to stop for 1 to 2 weeks prior to surgery.  Best of luck peeing.  Just some things that nobody else will tell you.
The surgery in a government hospital is about 1/2 the price of private hospitals. 

My eye sight is not too bad. I use the phone/WhatsApp without my specs when I am out cycling/jogging. No I am not taking alpha-blockers.