Cataract surgery and colour perception

[absentblinded]

This may seem a little strange…

I have cataracts in both my eyes. The one in the left was removed and a new lens inserted 2 days ago. Since the op, when I look at anything which is red or blue with my unoperated eye covered, the colour seems incredibly intense. I first noticed it in our living room (which has a lot of blue) and one of my tops (reddish-maroon). There’s a cloudless blue sky today which looks absolutely stunning because of the intensity of the colour.

I've checked that I'm not imagining it by covering each eye separately - I can definitely see the difference.

Has anyone who’s had this surgery experienced anything similar?

My mum is an artist and commented on this. You lose your colour perception gradually and it comes back all at once!

@Phineyj that's interesting! Is there something about those 2 colours that's different from others?

It was the first thing I said to dh after mine. I likened it to Dorothy entering Oz, everything was sepia and now its technicolour. I wonder if thats what colour perception is like for babies, and then as you age your eyes and brain adjust and the world goes duller.
Make the most of it OP, it doesnt last.

I experienced this and felt on a high as everything looked so bright, beautiful and stunning!
It happened with both eyes.
Wore off but lovely while it lasted.

Oh no! I was looking forward to living in this gorgeous new world. Thanks for the heads-up - I'll definitely make the most of it.

Absolutely.
When I had my first eye done I spent some time looking at things with the not done eye.." yellow" and then the done eye "not yellow".
I discovered my white skirting boards didn't need repainting after all.

It's amazing and wonderful!

@FuzzyPuffling you're right - I'm looking at the radiators and they're brilliant white!

I had a lens replacement in 2007 (only 40 but cataract started in the centre of my eye so had to be operated on quickly) and I see blue completely differently in that eye even now. When both eyes are open my brain defaults to the 'normal' view as seen by the other eye. In about a year or so (according to my optician) the other eye will need surgery and she confirmed that I will see colour in the way I do with the current replacement lens eye. Very exciting.

Definitely a thing. I went from seeing everything in sepia tones to everything being bright, and whites being bluey white, not browny white. It's quite a thing if you have your eyes done separately so you have one sepia toned and the other bright 😁

I had my first cataract done 6 weeks ago and noticed blues purple and pinks were much more vibrant even as I left hospital with the plastic eye shield on
Looking forward to ridding the sepia shade from my right one in two weeks and getting new glasses

I won't be getting my right one done until next year. @PrancingPanda mentioned that the loveliness doesn't last so I'll enjoy this time, knowing I'll get to do it again.

I felt like I’d been reborn! Absolutely beautiful feeling.

Yes, the first night me next day I had the most beautiful vibrant colours but it did wear off

I don't think it wears off your eye just adjusts I had mine done a few months apart and both were the same. Also I could see leaves, blades of grass so clearly. The only downside was crepey cleavage was finally noticed

My mum was in that position for some months before she had the other eye done and said it was very professionally interesting for an artist.

I'm in my early 60s so apart from nature, I'm definitely not going to be looking down anywhere!

Slightly off topic
Has anyone gone from very short sighted to long sighted or mono vision
I've had my first one from -8 to long vision was intending to do same with other but now planning leaving it short sighted to reduce need for glasses

I went from very long sighted to slightly short sighted. I now only need glasses for driving.

DH had both eyes done at once, came home and demanded to know when I’d painted the downstairs bathroom a different colour. He couldn’t believe it hadn’t changed!

Red and blue are at opposite ends of the light spectrum, which might be why those colours seem particularly vivid.

In linguistics, red is usually the first colour to be names in a language, and blue often one of the last.

My ex has a visual impairment, which has gets progressively worse over time. His colour perception has all but gone, but I remember a couple of years ago, he was very excited watching a sports match on TV - "are those players' socks red?" he asked - and I confirmed there were, to his delight. He can't make out any colours now, though. 😞

I was just about to start a thread, when I saw this.
OT, but I'm due to have cataract surgery soon, & I'm frightened.
I've had various ops over the years, but all with general anaesthetic.
My optician is very re-assuring, but then he would be !
Someone please tell me it's totally painless & I'm worrying over nothing !

I went from a prescription of -12.45 and -10 to - 0.25 in both eyes 👀. I found it very disconcerting not to be able to read without my specs after having the superpower of reading with a book 4 inches off the end of my nose for my whole life. It left me feeling a bit vulnerable for a while tbh, and I regularly fall asleep with my specs on from reading in bed.

I wear bifocals all the time with clear glass at the top and my reading prescription at the bottom.

I must admit I was really nervous about my surgery and staying still
But can honestly say it was fine didn't feel anything painful just a slight pushing and tugging

Its normal to be worried, im quite squeamish but they were very reassuring at the pre op appointment. The op itself is very quiet and calm. You can't see anything. The drops blur your vision, you can't feel anything because of anaesthetic and then when the lense is removed you see even less. You can't even feel them touching your eyes. Its over pretty quickly. I did a lot of deep breathing and relaxation exercises before.

That's interesting
I must admit I keep looking for my glasses but haven't been wearing any except my reading glasses with the left lens popped out