Refractive lens exchange - has anyone done it? (Or any ophtalmologists/optometrists here?)

I have worn glasses for over 40 years now. I was interested in LASIK when it first became more popular, but my dad (who was an ophtalmologist) was a bit skeptical because there weren't any studies of the long-term effects. So he referred me to a very highly regarded colleague of his who examined me and said my cornea was too thin for LASIK, and that it would be risky. So I scrapped my plan back then to get rid of my glasses. (Sometimes, I wear disposable contacts, mainly for swimming.)

Now, of course, I have slight presbyopia and also a slight astigmatism. I bought this Apple Vision Pro thing and had to order some lens inserts for it, which isn't possible in this country without a prescription, so I went to go see an optometrist. I asked her if there are any new developments other than LASIK which I might be able to look into to get rid of my glasses, even given the three different things (myopia, presbyopia, astigmatism) which need to be addressed.

She recommended a specialist and mentioned refractive lens exchange.

Apparently, now there are new lenses which can address all these issues at the same time.

https://bestcataractsurgeons.com/panoptix-lens-review/

After just walking out of the house and car a few times today and my glasses totally fogging up in the humidity of Florida, getting rid of glasses sounds quite liberating.

Has anyone gotten this type of surgery (and perhaps even with that specific type of lens) before?

Or are there any ophtalmologists/optometrists here who could weigh in?

Still a bit of a scary thought to get surgery on the eyes. I have no other issues with my eyes, other than needing glasses.

Thank you.

 

Naturally, I asked Chat GPT, by the way - was able to upload my prescription and have it give me a recommendation...

 

Simple. Everything is blurry if I don't wear glasses, and I can't wear glasses under that thing.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/120052

I guess in theory I could put in contact lenses every time I want to use it, but not sure how that would work with my presbyopia (my contact lenses only help with seeing things far away, I can't read without additional reading glasses when they are in - sucks getting old).

 

I also play tennis. This will be one of the questions I will ask the ophtalmologist (heading out to my consultation now) - if there will be any limitations when playing tennis if I do this.

As far as I understand, one of the advantages of this multifocal toric IOL (the Panoptix) is that it should work for all three things (far away stuff, computer monitor distance and reading stuff that is close) - without having to "look down" like with multifocal glasses (I use older, monofocal glasses for tennis, not so much because of the multifocal issue, but because they don't slip as easily when sweating as my newer, multifocal ones).

(I have the same setup as you - the monitor is elevated, and sits on a height-adjustable desk - have an Apple Pro Display.)

Another thing I read that seems beneficial is that basically everyone gets cataracts, as you get older.

But if you do this, you won't get cataracts because you already had your lens replaced.

In an ideal scenario, you get this done, and you will never need glasses again in your lifetime (except maybe reading glasses if your presbyopia gets a lot worse), and you won't have any issues such as cataracts.

The only thing you still need to do if you are myopic is get your retina checked once in a while.

 

Florida...sitting in the waiting room of a guy who has done 25k+ cataract surgeries...

I think it's about 5k/eye out of pocket.

 

52/m/FL

 

Because I am an idiot, I not only bought these custom lenses (which arrived today), but also just a few weeks ago bought some backup glasses for 2k.

I'll get the surgery done early September.

Will report back.

 

It's like walking into a friggin steam room lol.

 

Just wanted to sincerely thank you and report back that I had the surgery two days ago.

On the afternoon of the surgery, after coming back home, I couldn't read my phone or the computer screen - but because I am an online addict, I somehow managed to mirror my screen to the 90 inch TV, and then, by also enlarging the font size to the max, I could read my mails, messages and Clutchfans lol.

Went for my checkup yesterday and even though only about 20 hours had passed since the surgery, I was at 20/20 for distance, intermediate and reading (although admittedly with quite some effort when it came to intermediate and reading - my eyes were still dilated). Yesterday afternoon, I was already back driving, picking my kids up from school, and dropped them off this morning, no problem.

I did not have any cataracts - my lens was clear and "healthy" (except for the need for glasses). So I had to sign quite a few waivers to get this done.

It feels like my vision is improving a little bit still, "by the hour" (the effect of the dilation in this case only wears off within 24-48 hours, and I am not quite at the 48 hours yet). I was told it takes about a week to heal and to mostly get back to "normal" (except for starbursts/halos and glares from lights at night (e.g. driving), which is an effect that will be there for months until the brain hopefully adapts and it goes away ("neuroadaptation")).

I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than 30 lbs (foolishly, I was just celebrating something and briefly lifted my wife, she said wtf are you doing), play tennis or swim during the first week. I haven't driven at night, but when my wife was pointing her phone flashlight towards me in the dark last night, I did notice a lot of glare and halos around it. I have also been noticing some flickering at times - they told me that comes from the incisions which aren't healed yet.

I need to take a lot of eyedrops - Moxifloxacin for the first week, Prolensa for 6 weeks, Difluprednate for 4 weeks. And artificial tears without preservatives probably for several months.

The surgery itself, they just gave me three valium ("because you're a big guy") and eyedrops to numb the eye, so I was awake during the procedure. Didn't feel much of an effect of the valium at all. I guess the weirdest moment was when they used a laser to destroy the natural lens and sucked it out and the few moments before they then put in the artificial lens were a bit unsettling...all you can see is some light, but you are basically blind at that time.

I got the Panoptix Clareon multifocal toric lens, to correct my myopia and presbyopia and astigmatism at the same time.

I did a lot of research before the surgery.

Some of the videos I found very helpful were these:







Total cost was 5.5k per eye out of pocket.

One thing I noticed is that something I have gotten used to at night, as a myopic person, I cannot do anymore - holding the smartphone really close to my face to read. I get very good reading (book or smartphone, but not right in front of my eyes), intermediate (computer screen) and distance (driving, tennis, TV etc.) vision, but not the stuff right in front of my eyes - I knew this from doing my research beforehand, and it is fine. Truth be told, staring at the smartphone and posting on Clutchfans in bed is not healthy anyway .

So far, everything seems fine - no unusual inflammation, lenses are in place, vision is mostly back.

It's crazy to no longer have to look for my glasses on the night stand first thing in the morning (or when getting up at night). I am looking forward to going swimming and not feeling blind, going outside in the Florida humidity without my glasses fogging up, playing tennis when it drizzles without feeling handicapped, not having glasses slipping off my ears when I sweat while playing tennis, etc.

I am looking forward to all of that. I hope it will be amazing and liberating, after more than 40 years of wearing glasses. I hope my kids will be more like my wife and that they won't need glasses. (My wife might soon need reading glasses.)

One important thing to consider is that the more myopic you are, you should still get your retina checked once a year, because your eyeball is longer and there will be slightly more pressure than for people with normal vision.

I'll report back after a week - I have an appointment with the local optometrist who recommended the surgeon, in 6 days from now. Hopefully, everything will be fine.

I hope this post helps those who might be considering this.