Anyone had presbyopia surgically corrected?

[Gussie]

I am getting so crazy frustrated with the old age eye thing. I can't read anything anymore! I am 46 and have to use 2.0 reading glasses. I always had perfect vision and far away I still do. It is now getting so that my focus after reading is slow to adjust to far away. I have been reading about options for surgerey but wanted to know if anyone has had them. No one I know has. I read about these but I am so freaky about my eyes!

Kamra inlay
Raindrop near vision inlay
Monovision Lasik

PS - I can't see any inclusions in diamonds AT ALL!!!!!

 

[whitewave]

Following. My eyes are ridiculous.

 

[kenny]

Don't those treatments only last for some time period, then you have to do it again or try something else?
And what are the long-term effects of these treatments?
If you start getting them at age 40 what will be the condition of your eyes at 65 after goodness knows how many surgeries?
Will they be worse than if you had left your eyes alone?

I'm skeptical about information regarding these profitable treatments (you know, follow the money).
Also, all those glowing testimonies may go south in 25, 35, 45 years when the long-term effects become known.
I don't want my eyes to be anyone's guinea pig.

Frankly I'm annoyed by small print too but I'd rather accept natural aging than let anyone mess with my eyes.

 

[partgypsy]

I may be wrong, but the Lasik type surgeries can only correct to a certain distance. So say if you were near sighted and in your 20's, they will correct for reading distance. And then you relax your eye muscles to see far away. The problem is that when you get older your cornea stiffens, so you can't bend it much. You are able to see two different differences by essentially squeezing your lens to be fatter or thinner. So Lasik can correct your vision for one of the distances, you would still need glasses for the other. So I don't think Lasik is the correct answer. I don't know of those other options. You could get your lenses replaced (i.e. cataract surgery) but I don't think insurance will pay unless your vision is affected by cataracts.

I'm "lucky" in that I'm extremely near sighted. When I wear my contacts I can tell my very near vision (such as to thread a needle) is affected. When I'm wearing my glasses all I need to do is take off my glasses to see as close as I need to.

 

[Gussie]

I may be wrong, but the Lasik type surgeries can only correct to a certain distance. So say if you were near sighted and in your 20's, they will correct for reading distance. And then you relax your eye muscles to see far away. The problem is that when you get older your cornea stiffens, so you can't bend it much. You are able to see two different differences by essentially squeezing your lens to be fatter or thinner. So Lasik can correct your vision for one of the distances, you would still need glasses for the other. So I don't think Lasik is the correct answer. I don't know of those other options. You could get your lenses replaced (i.e. cataract surgery) but I don't think insurance will pay unless your vision is affected by cataracts.

I'm "lucky" in that I'm extremely near sighted. When I wear my contacts I can tell my very near vision (such as to thread a needle) is affected. When I'm wearing my glasses all I need to do is take off my glasses to see as close as I need to.

They only do Lasik on one eye so one eye is for reading and one eye is for distance. They say that you adjust to it very quickly.

 

[Gussie]

My problem is also that even though I have 20+ pairs of readers, I never have them handy! I will get one of those chains for the glasses about the same time I get a minivan and start wearing house dresses - never, lol!

 

[ksinger]

There is exactly no amount of frustration that is enough to let someone come at my eyes with a knife. Period. If I was actually going blind? Yes. Less than that. Nope.

I don't know what to tell you about not having glasses handy. I usually am not too far away from a pair, but since I have bifocal pairs for distance/reading and special pairs for computer distance, I do get to flip glasses pretty often.

Have you had your eyes checked and actually know that your 2.00 readers (I'm assuming +2?) is the right strength for you? I ask, because most people frantically buying readers are not the ones who are going to an eye doctor. (Says your sententious old Auntie Ksinger)

My suggestion? (Take a deep breath, OK?.....you ready??)

Skip the surgery. Give into getting older, go to a good eye doc, get the bifocals you almost surely need. If vanity demands get progressives, but get those bifocals. I promise you need them. (Everyone does after 40, if they say they don't, they're just in denial.) Get the coolest, hippest frames you can find, TRY THEM ON FIRST!! When you find the ones that make everyone around you go, "My God you look AWESOME!!" buy them and commit to wearing them all the time. If you look smashing in them, it won't hurt as much, I promise. Fysh, Etnia Barcelona, iGreen, and Modo have some awesome frames. Then, once you have a pricey pair you love wearing all the time, go cheaper and see if you can find some still-stylish "reader" type (in your script) bifocals at some place like Zenni.com.

 

[Rfisher]

I am interested in this - have had bifocal contacts for about a month.
I am not sold on them.

 

[kenny]

FWIW, I wear progressives.
I hated them at first.
It took over a month to get used to them.

The frames are just whatever was cheapest at Costco.
(I depend on my extraordinary and ageless inner beauty to keep my adoring fans in love with me.)

 

[ksinger]

FWIW, I wear progressives.
I hated them at first.
It took over a month to get used to them.

The frames are just whatever was cheapest at Costco.
(I depend on my extraordinary and ageless inner beauty to keep my adoring fans in love with me.)

Uhmm.....a bit nauseated here for some reason.

 

[Gussie]

It's really not totally the vanity. It is so damn hot here (92 today!) And they make me hotter. We'll maybe it's the hot flashes. Promise that I have no issues with getting older - my doctor tells me that I get less botox and fillers than most of her patients my age!

Off to make the eye doc appointment... Maybe good frames will hide the lines between my eyebrows!

 

[kenny]

Uhmm.....a bit nauseated here for some reason.

 

[Calliecake]

@ceg. I went to the eye doctor and got a pair of readers. Spent over $300 on them. Lost them the first week. I now have many pairs of the cheap ones.

I hear you on the chains for glasses, minivan and house dresses. Ain't never going to happen for me either!!!!

If you find a cure for hot flashes can you please let me know!

 

[whitewave]

I started with bifocals when I turned 40. My prescription changes every 6 months. It's crazy.

 

[Austina]

I had corrective laser surgery about 8 years ago. I wore contact lenses for over 30 years but eventually wasn't producing enough tears for them to be comfortable anymore.

I was short sighted with astigmatism in both eyes, and didn't get clear enough vision with glasses.

Best thing ever, no more waking up and everything being blurry.

One eye took a couple of seconds the other was about 10 seconds. It's not painful just very uncomfortable but it's over so quickly it's totally bearable.

 

[ksinger]

It's really not totally the vanity. It is so damn hot here (92 today!) And they make me hotter. We'll maybe it's the hot flashes. Promise that I have no issues with getting older - my doctor tells me that I get less botox and fillers than most of her patients my age!

Off to make the eye doc appointment... Maybe good frames will hide the lines between my eyebrows!

Tip: If glasses make you hot, or if you have oily skin, or a narrow bridge, then skip the frames that sit directly on the nose. Go for frames that have nose pads. It limits you a bit in that you can't have the stylish plastics that are out there now, but nose pads are more adjustable and you only have 2 small points of contact on the skin, which is much less of a problem when you're HOT HOT HOT.

Tip: There is no substitute for trying on frames. Don't buy frames online until you have experience picking frames in person - meaning understanding your face shape and what shapes work with it. And knowing approximately what groupings of measurements are likely to work on your face. For instance, I can do a bridge of about 15-18mm, with individual frame widths of 51-54mm. Personal observation: frames that pay homage to your eyebrow line, generally look better than those that don't. I occurred to me after many years that the top line of all of my glasses always end up being an echo the curve of my eyebrows. Maybe others will chime in and tell me I'm full of hooey, but that's how it works for me. Now I can zero in on glasses that will work, pretty quickly.

Biggest tip: For your first pair, work with someone who knows their stuff, and can help you.

I considered these - cool cutouts in the metal and RED!:
https://www.coolframes.com/glasses/...omens-rx-reading-prescription-eyeglasses.html

It was a close race, but I recently (like 2 months ago?) got these: (Picture and monitor color don't do these justice - the inner surface is violetish-blue, and the outer frame is metallic purple with hints of iridescent pink)
https://www.contactlensclub.us/eyeg...ku=fysh-uk-fysh-3567-680-ink-purple-54-15-135

 

[stracci2000]

I also do the reader-glasses swap out. Super frustrating!
What did folks do in the olden days? Our ancestors probably died young, before their eyes gave out!

 

[stracci2000]

I also do the reader-glasses swap out. Super frustrating!
What did folks do in the olden days? Our ancestors probably died young, before their eyes gave out!

 

[lyra]

What a coincidence, my husband and I were talking today about how long it takes to go from reading to distance (TV). We both have noticed it's taking longer these days! I see my opthamologist on Monday. I don't qualify for any operations because I'm also diabetic. I've instead just adopted a habit of getting the most trendy frames that will work for me--always in a shade of purple if possible. Gotta embrace some of the changes after 55. I am always feverish. It's a curse. I do always pick lightweight plastic frames anyway. That's all I can bear.

 

[kenny]

I also do the reader-glasses swap out. Super frustrating!
What did folks do in the olden days? Our ancestors probably died young, before their eyes gave out!

Yup.
I read somewhere the body only lasts around 40 years.
After that, just be happy you're not maggot food.

 

[Arkteia]

I don't believe Lasik could work for presbyopia, in principle.

The near-sightedness, where it works, is related to the eye apple being too large (long) so that the focal point lies before the retina. The surgery serves to make the length from the retina to the cornea (the eye depth) smaller. Radial cuts of the cornea with subsequent scarring make the anterior chamber of the eye smaller. It works great for not-too-severe near-sightedness; I had a friend who had -7 and his near-sightedness was corrected, but probably to -3.

Now presbyopia is related to the tissues getting drier with age. The eye apple shrinks, it depth becomes smaller and the focal point lies after the retina.

Lasik would be counter-productive as it makes the eye smaller, too.

What potentially could work would be some fillers that would expand the eye, but I don't know of any such procedures. And any such surgery could cause retinal detachment.

I am sure that in the future medicine would invent something interesting. My youngest kid has congenital hypermetropia, his eyesight is +4.5 so we are very much interested. But I told him he had to wait.

 

[Arkteia]

I also do the reader-glasses swap out. Super frustrating!
What did folks do in the olden days? Our ancestors probably died young, before their eyes gave out!

Some did. Others suffered from the same things as people do today, e.g., glaucoma, cataracts, and would often get blind in old age.

One thing is, glasses might have not been necessary since reading was not commonplace. Before Guttenberg's printing press, there was one book per 2500 people in Europe. Afterwards, of course, the situation changed, but the nobility had lorgnettes. Eyeglasses as such were invented in XIII century. http://www.museumofvision.org/exhibitions/?key=44&subkey=4&relkey=35

(But even before, since glass was known from antiquity, I suppose it was not difficult to blow pieces of glass that could be held in front of the face, or polish pieces of rock crystal).

 

[ksinger]

I don't believe Lasik could work for presbyopia, in principle.

The near-sightedness, where it works, is related to the eye apple being too large (long) so that the focal point lies before the retina. The surgery serves to make the length from the retina to the cornea (the eye depth) smaller. Radial cuts of the cornea with subsequent scarring make the anterior chamber of the eye smaller. It works great for not-too-severe near-sightedness; I had a friend who had -7 and his near-sightedness was corrected, but probably to -3.

Now presbyopia is related to the tissues getting drier with age. The eye apple shrinks, it depth becomes smaller and the focal point lies after the retina.

Lasik would be counter-productive as it makes the eye smaller, too.

What potentially could work would be some fillers that would expand the eye, but I don't know of any such procedures. And any such surgery could cause retinal detachment.

I am sure that in the future medicine would invent something interesting. My youngest kid has congenital hypermetropia, his eyesight is +4.5 so we are very much interested. But I told him he had to wait.

Yeah, all of that was pretty much my understanding too. I always just assumed Lasik was only for nearsighted people, and not for age-related changes.

I have been mildly farsighted since birth - as in about 20/15. I also had an eye that crossed. Ultimately the crossing eye was corrected, but I wore glasses from ages 3 - 15. Then I was able to ditch them until about (wait for it) age 40. And when the age-related changes start happening to someone who is farsighted, wow, everything goes - near, far, in between. Sucks. Especially since I had such wonderful vision for so long. (pouting)

Having worn glasses back in the only-glass-lenses day, I can say that modern lens materials are sooo much lighter and don't make you look like you have eyes the size of golf balls. Or, if you're nearsighted, like your eyes are beady little pin points.

Fun vision history site, BTW. I've had fun reading up on glasses through the ages!

 

[missy]

IMO we don't yet have the best surgical treatment of presbyopia. I would wait and see and perhaps in a few years time there might be a sufficient surgical treatment of presbyopia but in the meantime I would take a wait and see attitude and deal with the inconvenience of reading glasses/bifocals etc.

I am also personally not a fan of monovision (one eye corrected for DV and one for NV) but that is a personal individual decision. Monovision correction compromises your binocularity and depth perception so just be careful if that is an option you are choosing or currently have.

FYI a few helpful links.

https://www.healio.com/ophthalmolog...sbyopia-treatment-in-2017-where-are-we?page=2


https://www.reviewofophthalmology.com/article/the-future-of--presbyopia-correction

https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/a-closer-look-at-presbyopia-correction


https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/ce/advanced-refractive-solutions-for-todays-presbyopic-patient

 

[Arcadian]

Soooo i love my glasses. I did contacts for about 5 years and went back to glasses.

Get your prescription, then order your glasses online. I have a pair of Dior sunglasses that are prescription...lol yeah took 4 weeks to get them from Italy where they did the lenses but I just didn't care. (and I got them online).

I have about 10 pairs of glasses.

 

[ksinger]

Soooo i love my glasses. I did contacts for about 5 years and went back to glasses.

Get your prescription, then order your glasses online. I have a pair of Dior sunglasses that are prescription...lol yeah took 4 weeks to get them from Italy where they did the lenses but I just didn't care. (and I got them online).

I have about 10 pairs of glasses.

I have 6. Two computer pairs, 3 pairs of lined bifocals (one previous script and 2 current), and my beloved Maui Jims.

The only caveat to ordering online (for me anyway) is that I do wear lined bifocals, not progressives. I tried progressives and hated them, so I went back to lined. If you have had lined bifocals, have you ever had a pair where they got the inset too high? I have, and that was screwed up by someone in front of me looking at my eyes through the glasses on my face. I've read at least one online source that stated that for lined bifocals they used a 60-40 to size the insert. Having had my experience, I can say I don't trust that. So much depends on where the glasses typically sit on your nose - how high, how low.
So probably not an issue for progressives, but still. Some places are so inexpensive however, that it would be worth it to try. I've been pondering this for the last several months.

Currently, my latest bestest glasses are in the shop, being drilled for a pair of Chemistrie magnetic sunglass clips. I hope they're as cool as my friend's, because they will solve the problem of my Maui Jims being only my distance, meaning if I need to read something in sunlight, I'm screwed and have to take them off and put on regular bifocals again.

 

[House Cat]

There are contacts for this situation? My doc suggested one of two scenarios, I could have one near sighted contact in one eye and one far sighted contact in the other...somehow, our wonderful brain knows how to adjust. The other scenario is to wear a bifocal contact that is designed like a bullseye.

I opted for progressive lenses.

Interestingly enough, I couldn't find any frames that I liked because I have a really big head. I walked out of the doctor's office (still) slightly blind. I have found that this is the best anti-aging cream on the market. My skin appears line free and smooth each time I look in the mirror! Incidentally, everyone else is getting more and more attractive too!

 

[Arkteia]

There are contacts for this situation? My doc suggested one of two scenarios, I could have one near sighted contact in one eye and one far sighted contact in the other...somehow, our wonderful brain knows how to adjust. The other scenario is to wear a bifocal contact that is designed like a bullseye.

I opted for progressive lenses.

Interestingly enough, I couldn't find any frames that I liked because I have a really big head. I walked out of the doctor's office (still) slightly blind. I have found that this is the best anti-aging cream on the market. My skin appears line free and smooth each time I look in the mirror! Incidentally, everyone else is getting more and more attractive too!

I had experience with my first pair of glasses of near-sightedness. The optometrist determined that my vision acuity was different in different eyes, so one was +1.25 and another, + 0.75.

Even with this minute difference, it felt exceptionally uncomfortable. Our brain learns to compensate - probably all my life I had slightly different vision in my eyes, but the brain corrected for it, and I never had a problem (I know my right eye is the "dominant" one, so to say, but it does not matter much).

Suddenly the correction started "reminding" me of this flaw. It felt horribly. I got used to it after a while but it was difficult to revert back whenever I would take the eyeglasses off.

So I threw the prescription glasses far away, went to a nearby pharmacy, bought a pair of reading glasses and called it a day. I have been buying catseye eyeglasses on Amazon, maybe there are better outlets, but Amazon is OK. They are cheap. Sometimes move them to my nose if I am looking at the people. My dad said he used to do the same. I can string beads and tiny spacers, so I assume glasses bought online work fine.

The real damage that we can do to our eyes is not by wearing glasses that might be slightly off. The damage is done by sunlight (cataracts), so we need to get tinted glasses when outside. This applies to everyone.

 

[missy]

I had experience with my first pair of glasses of near-sightedness. The optometrist determined that my vision acuity was different in different eyes, so one was +1.25 and another, + 0.75.

Even with this minute difference, it felt exceptionally uncomfortable. Our brain learns to compensate - probably all my life I had slightly different vision in my eyes, but the brain corrected for it, and I never had a problem (I know my right eye is the "dominant" one, so to say, but it does not matter much).

Suddenly the correction started "reminding" me of this flaw. It felt horribly. I got used to it after a while but it was difficult to revert back whenever I would take the eyeglasses off.

So I threw the prescription glasses far away, went to a nearby pharmacy, bought a pair of reading glasses and called it a day. I have been buying catseye eyeglasses on Amazon, maybe there are better outlets, but Amazon is OK. They are cheap. Sometimes move them to my nose if I am looking at the people. My dad said he used to do the same. I can string beads and tiny spacers, so I assume glasses bought online work fine.

The real damage that we can do to our eyes is not by wearing glasses that might be slightly off. The damage is done by sunlight (cataracts), so we need to get tinted glasses when outside. This applies to everyone.

Hi Arkteia you are correct. Everyone does need UV protection when outside even on cloudy days since the UV radiation does come through and cause damage. However it is not the tint that provides this protection but the UV coating.

You need UVA and UVB coating on your sunglasses to protect your eyes and the tint or darkness of the spectacle lens has nothing to do with the level of protection. Just an FYI.

Do not buy those inexpensive sunglasses they sell on the street as you just don't know if they are protective or not as the color of the lens has nothing to do with the level of UV protection.

You can however bring any of your sunglasses to a good optical store and they should have the necessary equipment to test your lenses to see if they do block UV rays. HTH.

 

[VRBeauty]

I had monovision lasik done in 2011 or so. I love it. It was done to correct severe astigmatism. I had used various types of monovision contact lenses before, quite successfully, so I was comfortable with the concept of monovision. I have no problem driving without glasses, but I do have a pair of glasses that correct the near vision eye to 20/20 far vision and add a bifocal reading correction to the far distance eye. I keep them in my car for night driving because I figure I need every advantage I can get when driving at night.

The only negative from the surgery, for me, is that I lost my super-near vision. So I now have to use a loupe to find inclusions that I used to be able to pick out with the naked eye, and threading a needle is kind of hit-or-miss unless I pull out some readers.

BTW I loved my monovision contact lenses. I wore hard lenses, and as I recall I had a weighted bifocal lens at one point before going straight monovision. I ditched them only because I developed a condition in one eye that made it difficult to wear the hard lenses, and the soft lenses didn't provide the same level of correction as I was used to with the hard lenses. I might never have opted for lasik if I could have continued wearing my hard lenses!

IMHO with any prescription glasses, and particularly bifocals of any sort, it's important to work with really good opticians, and to let them know how you will be using your glasses. My prescription sunglasses were spec'd so the reading correction would be perfect for the dash and nav displays on my car - and the changeover point (distance to near vision) is lower than usual, also because of the how I use my glasses and eyes when driving.

One final note: I was in my late 50's when I got the lasik done. My vision and prescriptions had been stable for several years, which was one thing I was waiting for. The main reason I finally decided on a surgical correction, though, was that by that time I had been primarily wearing glasses for several years. My face shape is such that I have pretty much to wear styles with the little wires and pads for nose pads... and I noticed that the pads were causing noticeable, permanent depressions where they sat on the bridge of my nose, and I thought those depressions made me look much older. So it was vanity that pushed me over the edge!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My daughter had Lasik surgery in August for astigmatism and she is THRILLED not to have to deal with contacts and glasses anymore! She was 21 at the time and will have many years to benefit from the surgery! She has seasonal allergies and that really made the contacts difficult with itchy, watering eyes. I am so happy we could do that for her! I watched the surgery and it was absolutely incredible!

This doctor also does Kamra for presbyopia. But I was also told that some people start developing cataracts at some point, so that is going to cause a need for surgery then, and I am not sure I want to do it twice. (Plus Missy says all of these are relatively new.) So for now, I'll stick with Walmart reading glasses because I would lose or break expensive glasses within a week of getting them. I don't worry when a pair costs less than $5! They are very lightweight, too!

 

[BlingObsession]

I wear one contact lense in my left eye for reading (nothing in my right eye). I think it is +1.75 It took me about 3 months to get my brain to adjust fully to seeing distance from my right and read with my left eye. It's fabulous - especially at work so I don't have to keep taking my glasses off and on to read between the screen, my paperwork and who I'm talking to. Multifocal lenses and glasses give me severe motion sickness.

The single lense was recommended to me by a highly respected ophthalmologist when I was living in Singapore. He was adamant that laser surgery was not a permanent fix for presbyopia and that the long term effects of carrying out the procedure more than once on aging eyes were too large a risk.

At home, I have several pairs of cheapish reading glasses dotted around the house which I use when not wearing my lense.

Works for me now although I don't know how I will go when my eyesight gets much worse and the disparity between the two eyes is too much from my brain to cope with but I'll address that as and when.

 

[valeria101]

Off the side,

This is the first time I hear of 'monovision' - I have it, but had never heard of the same as a concept for medical intervention ! [living under a rock ...]