Vision
OK all you Coffee and Doughnuts
Does anyone have personal experience with having cataract eye surgery then racing ???
I often see people who have had this procedure with a twinkle in their eye as they move their head which leads me to think what happens when driving at speed
Is your vision affected by the vibration ??
Really appreciate any thoughts on positive negative outcomes
Happy New Year to all you racing people
If they have a twinkle in their eye they most likely had corrective lenses implanted at the time of the cataract surgery.
Peter Olivola
(polivola@gmail.com)
Cataracts
I had both eyes done by laser in December 2016. The results were fabulous. I have no issues with vibration or anything else.
The results were not perfect because my left eye had too much astigmatism to be totally corrected, but as I have always done, I race without any further correction - no glasses or contacts, and, IMO, my vision is excellent.
I do wear glasses for reading and long distance driving to reduce eye strain, but my depth perception and spatial awareness is much better w/o any correction.
No regrets - go for it.
From the web:
Toric IOL
To treat astigmatism that is more severe, the cataract lens is replaced with a special intraocular lens (IOL), called a toric IOL. These lenses correct astigmatism as well as nearsightedness or farsightedness. Like toric soft contact lenses, toric IOLs can correct astigmatism because they have different powers in different meridians of the lens. Because of how a toric IOL works, it must be properly aligned in the eye to provide the best visual outcome. The laser system helps eliminate inaccuracies and precisely aligns the toric IOL exactly where it needs to be in the eye.
Last edited by DaveW; 01.01.22 at 12:45 PM.
Dave Weitzenhof
The glint in peoples eyes that have had cataract surgery is because the front of the implanted lens reflects light back like a mirror. It is a better reflector than the original (don't ask why). The glint does not mean the implanted lens is loose or is moving inside the eye. Therefore vibration is not an issue. I suspect a million Americans get their cataracts done every year; if there was any sort of issue with head movement or vibration, we would all hear about it. As would the lawyers (apologies to the legal fraternity on this forum).
Yes, there are exceptions to every rule (except this one).
I had both eyes done (via laser surgery) about 3 years ago. Excellent results. I use glasses for reading, only. Not having to wear contacts while racing was a generous side-effect. I've had no problems in or out of the race car.
Dave
I had it too....about a year ago or so maybe two now. No regrets. No ill effect on my autocrossing. Possibly am faster now....is it because of the surgery? .... I would not be surprised.Originally Posted by DaveW
I had the old-fashioned phacoemulsion (ultrasonic liquefication) removal of my cataracts with single-vision implants. As a colleague said, if you need it badly enough it's "like going from regular to HDTV." Colors are back and I can drive at night again.
Last edited by TimH; 01.01.22 at 2:42 PM.
Caldwell D9B - Sold
Crossle' 30/32/45 Mongrel - Sold
RF94 Monoshock - here goes nothin'
I had a vitreous detachment last year, followed a few months later by a retinal tear. The surgery to repair it has left me with double vision from trauma to the eye muscles during the surgery, and a huge annoying floater.
The surgery also made me more near sighted in my right eye. I'd had LASIK in 2000 and it gave me fighter pilot eyes. But as I got older some "pre-cataract" conditions hardened the lens and reduced the focal capabilities, and I needed readers for close work and a mild correction for night driving - that mild correction increased a tad.
I'm struggling with a couple of things right now. I don't notice the floater when driving (especially in the race car) but when looking downward (like reading) it falls across my foeva and waves about in my field of vision with every small eye movement. It has made book reading completely unenjoyable. It's not as noticeable in computer work or watching TV (I think the distance and backlight has something to do with it), and as a result of this I've evidently become left eye dominant vs right eye dominant. I have no idea how that has subtly changed my perception of everything in life....It's really bad if I have to look down - like searching for some small lost part in gravel. Lying on my back creates an even worse effect - it collapses on top of my lens and pretty much washes out what I can see from my right eye.
Then there's the double vision. It's not bad, and I went several months with it uncorrected. The brain corrects it automatically except at the far edges of my vision like when my head is turned to the left as far as possible and I have to move my eyes as far right as possible. Then it really comes in and I have to turn my head vs rely on peripheral. But after a day of driving Im pretty exhausted. I attribute that the the amount of brain and muscle power required to straighten things out.
The fix for that is a feature in lenses called prism. The issue there is that you can't have bifocals if you have a prism correction. So now I have cheaters stashed everywhere around the house, a pair of prism corrected ones for heavy-duty reading or close work, and a pair of regular glasses and sunglasses for driving/outside work. When I go inside I have to take them off to see clearly. all this shuffling of optics is a royal PITA.
If I've not had any other detachments by March I'm going to have the vitreous removed from my right eye and the floater should come with it. I've not yet found any long-term issues from that procedure.
The i'm going to see a specialist that helped Bill Manofsky with his double vision. If I can train that out I'll be golden.
Right about the time I finish with all of that I bet I'll need cataract surgery.
Not cataract or Lasik but RK (Radial Keratotomy) way back in 1981. This all predates Lasik and most other eye procedures done today. Lasik is actually the follow up to RK. Doc that did it was the head of the Orange County California Eye Bank and had studied under the Russian doctor (Svyatoslav Fyodorov) that developed the procedure. I had checked him out throughly and made sure he was real damn good before I let him go anywhere near my eyes with a scalpel. He performed surgery on the left eye first (as an out patient at a hospital in Santa Ana), then after several checkups on that eye followed up with the right eye about 4 months later (at his office).
After the surgery, I went from about 20/100 or thereabouts to 20/15 in one eye and 20/20 in the other. The slight difference in the two was barely discernible, but on rare occasion I did notice it if the light was just so. I raced cars off-and-on the entire time without any issues ever. In fact, I spent years forgetting I even had the surgery done. It was only after I started needing glasses that I even remembered!
So perfect vision for more than 30 years until age evenually caught up to me. I still see pretty good but I now wear glasses for both reading and distance to sharpen things up a little bit. I could actually probably race without glasses as it's mostly farsighted, but the edges of objects just wouldn't be razor sharp.
I have had variable vision, one of the long term side effects of RK. Lately I've noticed it doesn't even occur, or I'm not noticing it. But when it does what happens is your vision is a bit more blurrier in the morning right after waking up, even wearing glasses it can be a little bit blurry, but after 2 hours or so things start to sharpen up a bit more. After those couple of hours vision stabilizes, for me at something like 20/50, sometimes a little bit better.
The problem with any eye surgery is there is always the potential for complications. Also, the long term side effect of most of these procedures are unknown. I know that was the case for RK back then. Today, I really don't appear to suffer from too many of any of the known long term side effects of RK, besides the variable vision issue and that's mostly a minor inconvenience when it occurs.
Luckily, my incisions are barely noticable, the healing was so good. One ophthalmolgist told me he could barely see them. These incisions can be a long term issue with RK. Not sure if this is so with Lasik or cataract surgery. The incisions done with RK were done with a diamond tipped scapel that had its depth preset depending on the amount of correction needed. I'm pretty sure your eyes have to have a certain shape to even be a candidate for either RK or Lasik. Not sure if this is true for cataract surgery.
My mindset today is totally different than it was back in 1981 and probably wouldn't do it or any eye surgery today unless absolutely neccessary. That said my Dad had cataract surgery and it worked out good for him.
Last edited by Thomas Copeland; 01.01.22 at 3:41 PM.
Firman F1000
Thomas - I've noticed some vision variations as well and here's how I've dealt with them:
I'm lousy with staying hydrated but I notice when dehydrated my vision goes off a bit - wondering if it has something to do with eye pressure as that is what stretches the cornea to the right shape after LASIK or PRK. If the eye pressure changes the correction changes.
I think the next one has to do with the stiffness of my lenses, but I try to avoid screen use as much as possible until after racing ends for the day. I'll put my notes down on my race report sheet, or look up reference data, but no web browsing, etc. I want my eyes focused as far out there as possible with the greatest depth of field. It just seems that my distance vision takes a while to adjust after a lot of screen use.
As far as depth of field goes, I no longer wear sunglasses under the helmet or use a smoked shield unless absolutely necessary. I want my pupil as small as possible. I've found yellow or blue-blocker shields to be a reasonable compromise.
The twinkle is a reflection off of the implant surface. No big deal.
Avoid "multifocal" implants.
Though using a laser to assist cataract surgery is not covered by whatever your Insurance may be......if you have the money to
spend on the laser, do it. You will not regret it. Many people get excellent post-cataract surgery results having their eye opened
the traditional "blade" way but if you've got the money, spend the extra on the laser.
If your astigmatism is fairly strong, spend the money on the toric implant. Period. In over ten years of toric implants existing, Medicare has just never bothered to have a meeting wherein they would vote to approve it being covered....so no other Insurances do either. They've never voted to not approve toric implants......they just totally ignore the issue......I imagine partly because they keep cutting what they approve for regular ol cataract surgery, so they're letting the docs make it back on the side this way.
Over the many years the implant can move/tilt/rotate a little inside of the eye....with a resulting power change to the optics of the eye.
I've had a rare Patient, after a very severe fall and head blow, have their implant shift enough to instantly cause a power change to the eye/glasses which they, of course, noticed
So I'm wondering if turn 17 at Sebring and my eyes someday after cataract surgery will cause a power change ?? Probably not is my thought.
Last edited by EYERACE; 05.05.24 at 11:50 AM.
EYE,
Am planning to have my cataracts removed this year.
Could you give us a little bit of detail of why to avoid the bifocal implants? I was considering asking my DR."s recommendations but two opinions are better than one.
Thanks
Well, shortly after my last post in this thread I had a vitrectomy (they suck the goo out of the eye and replace it with saline). This removed the annoying floaters but the doc told me that it would accelerate the formation of cataracts for reasons they don't really understand.
Just came back from the optometrist and evidently I now have a cataract in my right eye that needs to be corrected before any new prescription.
So reading back through this thread and another, it appears that about 6 years have gone by - has the laser cataract surgery improved? EYERACE made some comments in the other thread about higher complication rates.
I don't believe I have much astigmatism left after the LASIK 20 years ago, so perhaps toric lenses are not needed. Anybody get variable focal length lenses, or is going with a fixed lens the better thing nowadays?
My wife, who was near sighted with astigmatism, had cataracts. She opted for astigmatism correction and clear distance vision and uses OTC reading glasses.
Peter Olivola
(polivola@gmail.com)
I had cataracts removed and Toric lens implants put in using laser surgery in Dec. 2016 to correct severe astigmatism. The recovery was very fast and trouble-free. I would highly recommend it.
Dave Weitzenhof
I concur. You will find out that color white is really not yellow!
I have strong astigmatism and a tendency to cross eyes. The result is trifocals. It all works fine for me but I do need new lenses in my glasses probably next year. My depth perception is a bit weak but I get along.
I had one cataract done a few weeks before the other - the contrast in color was absolutely amazing between the 2 eyes. With the replaced one white was pure white. With the other that still had a cataract, white things were VERY yellow. Before the 1st operation, I had no clue about the yellow tint the cataracts gave everything. My brain compensated for that, and, my perception of the cataract-tinted yellow was white, until the corrected eye gave me a baseline.
Dave Weitzenhof
Art Smith described the initial color change as psychedelic. Your brain re-maps after a while though.
A friend also described the clarity as going from standard to HDTV. In my case, I was just happy to be able to see the street lines at night again.
Caldwell D9B - Sold
Crossle' 30/32/45 Mongrel - Sold
RF94 Monoshock - here goes nothin'
I have been trying to convince my ophthalmologist that I need mine done but she says "not yet" since she is regarded as the best of the best in the Dayton area I will have to accept that.
To complicate matters I had RK in 1997 and that has messed up the "consistency" of my corneas and will make it trickier to pick the correct lens implant
Sherrie had RK, IIRC, in the early '90's to correct myopia, and it was only marginally successful. I had been considering it, but after her less than perfect results I decided not to, and just continued to use glasses for reading, etc. The cataract replacement lenses are the only eye surgeries I've had. And they are calibrated to optimize distance vision.
Last edited by DaveW; 05.05.24 at 12:35 PM.
Dave Weitzenhof
Getting there
Last years appointment I was told cataracts were starting (69 yr old), but few years away still. When discussing the different options, bifocals came up - I live in Arizona farmland, biggest issue I'm noticing is star light effect from headlights (especially new LED's) in areas with no street lighting. Dr told me that going to a standard lens would be best as bifocals tend to not solve that issue. I also notice that depth perception at a distance is now an issue at night with no street lights, again they recommend standard implants set for distance and use reading glasses for up close.
We shall see... Oh, I renewed my SCCA license the day before my 70th birthday in Dec - so being 69 still my medical is good for 2 years... just after my 72nd birthday.
John H.
Reynard 88SF
I need to discuss the Multifocal implants which I realized Steve Demeter asked about quite some time ago.
Your distance vision will generally be sharper with a standard implant versus the multifocal. Your night vision will be better with a standard implant versus the multifocal.
When you have fairly advanced cataracts, it can seem like your vision post-surgery is better than your presurgical status when you get the multifocal......however.....I believe your surgeon will not be able to demonstrate to you presurgical such that with your own eyes & brain you will actually see what your distance vision will be like with either the standard or the multi before the surgery so you can make a truly informed choice. They can show you pictures of what someone supposedly sees like, generally provided by the multifocal manufacturer. They can provide testimonials too.....but snake oil salesmen have testimonials too.
When one receives a multifocal and is not all that pleased with their vision......about all the surgeon can do after the fact is say > you'll adapt.
Ok......so with the standard implants set up for both eyes to see at a distance, you'll need reading glasses......which was likely the case for many presurgical too.
An optical concept of a Fourier Transfer of multi vs. standard can explain things graphically. I will say the multis now are better than the ones a decade ago......but I still wouldn't want the new ones.
I have Patients with a standard in one eye and a multi in the other.....all dislike their multi. I have Patients with multis in both eyes who come in asking for reading glasses anyway.
The closest one might come to a comparison of standard vs. multi done presurgical (when their vision is not too compromised by a cataract) is to have a standard contact lens correction on the eye and then try on a multifocal contact correction. Other than the Docs who prescribe the multifocal contact lens and then say > keep wearing them, you'll adapt < and also claim a high success rate.....there's a lot of Docs who will say that multifocal contacts work out maybe 10% of the time.
Eye,
Excellent description.
IMO, a serious issue with anything more complex than optimizing vision at one particular distance is that everything in the lens area (and the entire eye) is so close together that lens installation tolerances must be almost zero to make it work correctly. So ANY shifting or tiny misplacement will be an issue. And this is particularly important in any sport requiring quick reactions - you can't function properly (eye-hand coordination) if something in your vision is distorting/delaying the eye's input to the brain.
That sort of distortion/blurring is why I don't wear glasses, tinted visors, or tear-offs while I'm racing.
Last edited by DaveW; 05.05.24 at 7:01 PM.
Dave Weitzenhof
Dave,
i can attest to the yellow cast. My wife picked out a blue for a spare bedroom that i wasn't thrilled with. She had cataract surgery and then wondered how she ever picked that color... I got to repaint it...
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