Lens replacement eye surgery - your experiences, please

[TR888]

I'm nearly 50 and have a high prescription for short-sightedness. Additionally, I've been wearing reading glasses for a couple of years and find I have to rely on the more.

I'm really fed up with not seeing well, so I'm considering eye surgery. Lens replacement surgery seems like the obvious choice given my age, although it's incredibly expensive and seems like a more invasive procedure than other options.

If you've had this kind of surgery, what do you think of the results? Is it like having "young" eyes again? Is it more likely to lead to complications than other forms of eye surgery? Thanks.

Bump

I had this some years ago. It’s the same as cataract surgery, I have crystalens that contract in and out so replicate the natural lens ie they are not fixed like cheaper lens.
I was £8500, each eye done separately just in case of infection or complications.
It was the best thing I’ve done, I was -11 before so couldn’t function without high prescription contacts.
I use cheap reading glasses for closeup reading (although I can read without, but slightly more comfortable with) but have perfect long distance vision. I swim, cycle, everything now, like normal.
Like any operation, there are risks so need to weigh these up. I’m delighted with my outcome .

Not my personal experience but of a work mate - he had both lenses replaced and did no longer need glasses afterwards. It was great to see him back out on construction sites after being confined to desk work because of his deteriorating eye sight.

I'm booked in for Trans-PRK at Moorfields Eye Hospital in mid-October. I'm very shortsighted & also have astigmatism. I need reading glasses as well. Aren't eyes a funny thing?

If I wanted to clear my prescription completely then I would have to have lens replacement surgery which, to be frank, I'm too much of a chicken to do...
So I'm taking it down to a much lower prescription with Trans-PRK & will still wear glasses. I've worn them all my life & feel naked without them & I also have grooves in the top of my nose...

Is this a possibility for you? Do you want to be completely without glasses?
I'll be reading without glasses but will need them for distance vision.

Apparently there's more risk of getting an infection from wearing contact lenses than there is post-surgery.
It's about the same risk as being hit by a car (1 in 6000)!

Had it for cataracts - prescriptions went front 13+ in right eye to 0.25 and 11+ in left eye to 0.25.

Surgery is disconcerting, I guess because it involves your eyes, but was painless and very quick (10 minutes or so). Had eyes done about 5 months apart, NHS because it was for cataracts. No issues in recovery.

Distance vision is brilliant - I've been seriously short sighted all my life. I now have 'bluey' white tones, whereas before surgery whites had a brownish tinge, but that's down to cataracts.

I still wear specs all the time (varifocals) because I need them to read and can't be bothered with reading glasses.

The only issue I have is feeling slightly disconcerted at not being able to read without specs. All my life I've been able to read without specs, even if it means holding the book at the end of my nose.

Thanks, that's really useful. Argh, I wish I wasn't so scared by the idea of surgery...

I keep thinking about it too, in my 50s, no cataracts but a -12 prescription, I'm managing with monovision contacts at the moment but am starting to need top up glasses for driving at night in order to keep being able to read with contacts in and I think I'd really miss my superpower of being able to see things in incredible detail if I hold them up to the end of my nose. Going to talk to my optician about it next week.

Yes! The ability to see really well in the very short distance is quite something. Having ti depend on glasses for everything else is a pain, though'