Eye Lens Replacement Surgery

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Has anyone had this done? I have enquired with Optical Express about laser eye surgery and they said that it wouldn’t be suitable and I would probably need lens replacement instead. I have an appointment for a consultation in a few weeks. I googled the procedure and it sounds a bit grim, not sure if im better off just sticking with the glasses. Im 50 btw.

Speak to a surgeon, on paper it’s great, I went through the process with 2 clinics, finally I spoke with a surgeon and he outlined the risks based on my actual prescription and age, the risks were bad, and it would need to be an NHS procedure to fix in the case that something went wrong.

A detached retina or lens coming away/damaged are both situations where they need to be fixed within a tight timeframe, imagine having to leave a clinic and find an NHS surgeon to fix it.

I wear the CL’s - restrictions apply like you can’t nap in them or shower in them. By evening my eyes are quite tired. Reading is not quite as sharp as glasses - eg I can’t sew / needlecraft wearing my CL’s - but great for distance, driving, walking, sport etc.

have often consider the op. Great thread.

Going slightly OT for a moment. I did try soft lenses for a while for the convenience and the fact losing one of those wouldn't cost the £75 to replace one of my RGPs.

It was the combination of tired eyes and lack of acuity that sent me scurrying back to my hard lenses.

I know wearing RGPs puts me in the contact lens dinosaur territory, but they do work for me.

Are there soft and hard versions of varifocal contact lenses?

Can I ask how much it’s cost you? I have astigmatism as well as short sighted and needing varifocals. My high density glasses lenses are about £700!

It sounds like there are at least a couple of specialists on the thread, so I'm crashing to ask for a bit of advice.

54, female.
Short sighted since early teens, have had contact lenses since then, varying from -1.5 to -2.25, currently -1.75.
Astigmatism in both eyes.

Near sight deterioration about 6 years ago, tried multifocal and didn't get on with them, moved to mono-vision (distance lense in one eye, reduced distance in the other - now nothing in the other, although probably need reading now) which was great.

ISSUE - I get very bad "fogging" in my non-dominant eye, to the extent that I've had to stop wearing my lenses as I can't read with the fogging.
I can blink it away, a bit like sleep, but sometimes I'm blinking constantly.
Various investigations, including part of a trial at Aston Eye Clinic, and basically told there is nothing that can be done.

I'm not working atm so am wearing my distance lense periodically as I don't need the near vision for screen work.

QUESTION - presumably I wouldn't be able to have a distance and reading lense if I had lens replacement, as the fogging issue would still be there?

If varifocal is the same as multifocal, I believe there are:

https://www.visiondirect.co.uk/contact-lenses/multifocal-contact-lenses?promo=PaidSearch_Campaign&cid=PM-SGA_000000-3.UK-VisionDirect-EN-NB-NA-Generics-NA-NA-NA-Ecom-NA_143537088888_multi%20focal%20contact%20lenses-p&gclsrc=aw.ds&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PM-SGA_000000-3.UK-VisionDirect-EN-NB-NA-Generics-NA-NA-NA-Ecom-NA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12601923&gbraid=0AAAAADooETucLOUVjD6ETn5PGgOQLOFNH&gclid=CjwKCAjw1IHTBhAaEiwA4AYNFnpTF1Blu_7usF7kRpiRu_nNzRg-VB-Fp1UWgEhqDvxT2RnAz3l8gRoChzQQAvD_BwE

That's why I didn't get laser treatment for my shortsightedness. Since the cataracts needed doing anyway, improved vision was a bonus.

I had it done privately, but had to pay about £1800 extra for the multifocal lenses.

Oof, pricey. That’s what I would want though. At the moment I have other eye problems that make it not advisable.

Had it done about 10 years ago, at Optegra at Whitely, Hampshire. Best decision. Since then my brother and friends have done it, all very happy with results.
As it is essentially a cataract op and most elderly people end up with cataracts, it is one of the most common operations in the world.

Is it done while you’re awake?

Had it done for a different reason as part of a retina reattachment surgery and can honestly say it’s painless and a breeze.

i was having keyhole surgery on my eye, a much longer surgery than a standard lens replacement, they gave me something really lovely that they didn’t tell me the name of (probably a good thing as would have been tempted to get it again) which left me completely lucid but blissfully uncaring about anything. You can’t see anything and you can’t feel anything. Afterwards I was out of the hospital within 30 mins with a plastic shield over my eye for 24 hrs and drops for a couple of weeks. There was no pain during recovery either. Because of the nature of what I had done to the rest of my eye I had to stay laying face down for 3 days which was boring and uncomfortable but you wouldn’t have to do that for a lens replacement.

Can I jug in and ask - I have a lazy eye (corrected aesthetically) so only really use the dominant one. Now it seems there’s a cataract developing. I’ve got used to and really rely on my varifocals but I know I’d have to go private to get this.
A friend had varifocals implanted and had terrible trouble, plus he said the peripheral vision was really reduced and it felt a bit like wearing blinkers.
I effectively only have one eye so really don’t want anything to go wrong; maybe the best solution is to have the single vision option and get reading glasses, which I know will be a right pain as I draw and paint a lot so the varifocals have let me do that without having to constantly take the glasses off and on.
Sorry this is a bit stream-of-consciousness but I’d appreciate any thoughts.

So what’s the basic cost?

I had lens replacements over 3 years ago as part of cataract surgery. My vision is now really good.

(Name changed for this. Even though I live on the other side of the world, some people on here know me and I don't want this post to point them to my usual username.)

I just had new lenses fitted to both eyes five weeks ago due to cataracts and it's been life changing! My distance vision is incredible. My close vision initially improved then fluctuated quite a bit over the first month as my brain came to terms with the new lenses and I still need reading glasses now but hey, the cataracts are gone, I can literally see for miles and my reading prescription works great now the cataracts aren't in the way. Do it if you can.

I have read that people struggle with multi focal lenses as they are slower to focus than the eye, possibly causing a feeling of blinkers at times as it’s slow and this has put me off. Can anyone confirm if they have received lenses for near and far vision that it is almost as fast as original focus vision and where they had it done please?

Wow that's such a great outcome, I miss my perfect distance vision and never appreciated it, of course, until it deteriorated.
Sorry typos.

Both distance and close?

Distance only so I still use reading glasses. I'm ok with this though as I've had to wear them for over 15 years anyway, but at least I ditched the contact lenses and I've got much clearer vision.

Dh had it done due to cataracts, he no longer needs glasses. It’s a 20 minute at most procedure available at many places (he used new medica) if you don’t have insurance, nor cataracts it will be about £2k per eye

I've just checked the Optegra website lens replacement surgery is either just under £4k or closer to £3k per eye dependent on the type of lens fitted.

Sorry to sound ignorant but what did you use teh contact lenses for? To correct distance vision or near or both? Did you combine lenses with glasses?

The contact lenses were for distance only vision and I wore reading glasses when necessary.
Once the cataracts were removed and the lens implants put in, the contact lenses became redundant, so I only need reading glasses for close vision from now on.