Cataract Surgery as it may effect us as Photographers

airgunr · Jul 31, 2014

There is an article in the September 2014 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine called, "Cataract Surgery for Astronomers".

I think it has an important bearing on us as photographers as well. It is well worth reading and explains some things to be aware of and ask your doctor about.

If anyone wants, contact me with you e-mail and I'll send a couple of PDF files I scanned of the article. (had to break it into 2 files to get it small enough to e-mail)

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 31, 2014

Thread moved to "miscellaneous equipment" for lack of a better option. "Feedback and Discussion" is for feedback about the APUG forum.

airgunr · Aug 1, 2014

Thank you, sorry for putting it in the wrong place...

Photo Engineer · Aug 1, 2014

AFAIK, this is a recent copyright article. Please be careful what you upload/download. I just saw the same article and had the same surgery.

PE

eclarke · Aug 2, 2014

I had my first cataract surgery at 35 years old..It was botched, my eye hacked up and almost blind in the eye. Some years later my new surgeon replaced the bad lens, repaired the irridectomy, placed 24 sutures to keep my pupil round. I have similar issues with the other eye..I still have no problems making pictures with view cameras.

Jim Jones · Aug 2, 2014

I had cataract surgery on both eyes last year and find photography easier than in a long time. It does mean using reading glasses and magnifiers for some work, but the improved vision far outweighs that minor inconvenience.

airgunr · Aug 4, 2014

Photo Engineer said:
AFAIK, this is a recent copyright article. Please be careful what you upload/download. I just saw the same article and had the same surgery.

PE

I did not think about this but you are correct, I probably should not send this out. I would urge anyone interested to go and buy the current September 2014 Issue. My intention was only to get the information out as I think it would help some of us who are probably going to have to deal with this at some point.

Steve Smith · Aug 4, 2014

My father had cataract surgery on his one 'good' eye. He only had sight in one eye and that was so near sighted that he needed either a ridiculously thick glasses lens or a contact lens which was a few Dioptres stronger than the company officially made them.

When he had the cataract surgery, he was amazed at what he could see. Everything from his arm's length to infinity was in focus. He spebt a few months just walking around looking at things.

All from an operation which was carried out through a cut in the eye just a few mm long. The old lens is destroyed ultrasonically and removed with a syringe then the replacement lens is inserted, rolled up, via another syringe.

Steve.

c6h6o3 · Aug 6, 2014

I marvel at the technology. When my mother had cataract surgery in the early 80s she spent 4 days in the hospital. Whenever I've had it I've gone to an outpatient surgery center on a Wednesday, take it easy the rest of the day, go to have a followup visit with the surgeon on Thursday morning, and I'm back in the office on Friday. It's one area of medicine that gives us truly miraculous and immediate results.

Photo Engineer · Aug 6, 2014

My aunt had sandbags holding her head still for those few days she was totally immobilized and then she spent extra days there, but still restrained to keep her head from moving. It was a real ordeal in the '70s and '80s.

PE

RalphLambrecht · Aug 7, 2014

I'm very interested in this article;like to receive pdfrlambrec@ymail.com.

Steve Smith · Aug 7, 2014

Photo Engineer said:
My aunt had sandbags holding her head still for those few days she was totally immobilized and then she spent extra days there, but still restrained to keep her head from moving. It was a real ordeal in the '70s and '80s.

As a young man in the early 1960s, my father spent three months in hospital permanently on his back, unable to move, in an attempt to save a detached retina.

Steve.

David Brown · Aug 7, 2014

Steve Smith said:
As a young man in the early 1960s, my father spent three months in hospital permanently on his back, unable to move, in an attempt to save a detached retina.

I had a similar experience with an older sister. She had a detached retina in the early 1960s and as part of the recovery, another sister and my mother took turns watching her sleep so that she would not move accidentally. With that in my memory, I was diagnosed with a torn (not detached) retina in 2000 and I nearly had a panic attack. However, the ophthalmologist immediately sent me over to a specialist, who repaired the tear with a laser in about five minutes, with no sensation other then the extremely bright light. (Think holding a strobe flash directly in front of your eyes and setting it off several times)

In 2009, I, indeed, had a detached retina in the other eye. It, too was repaired. Not as quickly or as simply as the tear, but relatively easily and as an outpatient. Technology has greatly improved in 50 years, as one might expect.

Now, I am growing a cataract in one eye. It has caused me to change eyes as to which one I use in the viewfinders and grain focusers. It's not near bad enough to address surgically. But I almost have mixed feelings about it. Once it reaches that point, and is replaced, I'll probably see better than I have since childhood.

Steve Smith · Aug 7, 2014

My father's 1960s detached retina 'surgery' didn't work and he had sight in one eye for most of his life. In the 1980s, the retina in his other eye started moving.

Laser treatment was very new at the time and he didn't get that. Instead, they placed soft foam pieces behind his eye to apply pressure making the retina and eye make contact and join together again. This time the operation worked.

My father realised his second detachment was happening whilst he was driving his company's car. He stopped immediately, abandonning it in the midde of the road and walked to his optician.

Steve.

Photo Engineer · Aug 7, 2014

I told my surgeon that I wished they could do for ears what they do for eyes. The eye improvement was spectacular! Now I need new ears.

PE

pdeeh · Aug 7, 2014

Pardon?

Photo Engineer · Aug 7, 2014

You can't read or hear I would imagine.

pdeeh · Aug 7, 2014

It was an attempt at humour. Quite a commonplace retort to one complaining of deafness over here. Perhaps just a British thing.

Photo Engineer · Aug 7, 2014

I understood it. I was making a lame retort. After all, if you were blind, you could not have read my post, but if you were deaf no one could read it to you!

PE

pdeeh · Aug 7, 2014

Oh Lord I wish I hadn't tried! I'm the one to feel lame now

Although (not a joke) if there was something I could get done about my tinnitus I'd be a happy chappy ...

Photo Engineer · Aug 7, 2014

I think that the whole exchange was amusing. No need to feel bad. After all, if you can see and hear, you are alive!

PE

Steve Smith · Aug 7, 2014

Photo Engineer said:
if you can see and hear, you are alive!

As a photographer and musician, I don't want to lose either.

Steve.

ME Super · Aug 7, 2014

Photo Engineer said:
If you can see and hear, you are alive!

PE

Exactly. I'm in my mid-forties, and nearsighted enough that so far when I need to see close up, I take my glasses off. I had major health problems from birth to age 3, so my philosophy is: Any day you can wake up and move around is a good day.

My dad had cataract surgery in the 90's, and had to wear an eye patch for a while and was off work. It was related to being a carpenter who was foolish and didn't wear safety glasses. Ended up having to have surgery on his left eye in the early 1970s because of a 16d nail. Hasn't been the same since, though he saw better after all was said and done with the cataract surgery than he had for years.

Roger Cole · Aug 8, 2014

David Brown said:
Now, I am growing a cataract in one eye. It has caused me to change eyes as to which one I use in the viewfinders and grain focusers. It's not near bad enough to address surgically. But I almost have mixed feelings about it. Once it reaches that point, and is replaced, I'll probably see better than I have since childhood.

I had an optometrist scare me by saying my lenses were yellowing though "age normal." A later (older and far more experienced) optometrist poo-pooed that and labeled them "clear" and said I was fine. My Aviation Medical Examiner, upon relating this story, said much of what you did, "today's implants are so good, while it's not really something to look forward to, in 20 years or whenever you need it you'll be amazed. You'll see better than you have since your teens."

My dad insists his cause flare at night. I think he just got used to the dimmed view as his natural lenses slowly yellowed and darkened.

Roger Cole · Aug 8, 2014

ME Super said:
Exactly. I'm in my mid-forties, and nearsighted enough that so far when I need to see close up, I take my glasses off. I had major health problems from birth to age 3, so my philosophy is: Any day you can wake up and move around is a good day.

This will probably continue to be true, at least until you need cataract surgery. I had to go to progressives for near vision in my early 40s but for my absolute best near vision I still prop my glasses up on my forehead. It gets weird looks and even occasional argument from those who are not and have never been nearsighted.

If you see a guy in my area with his head under a view camera dark cloth, his glasses dangling from his teeth while he uses a loupe to check the ground glass, it may be me.

Cataract Surgery as it may effect us as Photographers

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