BS: Help: early stage cataracts

Subject: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:52 PM

So I had a visit with the "Optometric Physician" (new fancy-pants name for the Optometrist) yesterday. He says I have early stage cataracts. He said that sun-glasses and special vitamins might help prevent or slow down further development of the cataracts.

Anybody around here have any experience with early stage cataracts? Any success with slowing them down or stopping them? Any advice about things that have worked for you besides sunglasses and vitamins?

This is sort of a music related thread. If I go blind, I'll have to find a way to remember the chords for the bass side of my accordion instead of using sheet music to help me remember. And with the creeping CRS I've been dealing with, that's not always easy to do.

Plus, I wouldn't be able to see my sweety's amazing face any more:

Amazing face
How sweet the eyes
That gaze with love
On me

I once had sight
But now I'm blind
You're there but I can't see...

(Ohhhhh, the irony... )

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:59 PM

Equating cataracts with blindness, CarolC, isn't too productive. Long before you became blind, you would be experiencing enough dimming and blurriness that the doctors would recommend the removal of the cataracts. It is not usually a sudden experience. Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:23 PM

Thanks Ebbie. Because of some of the other health issues I've been dealing with over the years, I'm hoping to be able to avoid surgery.

(P.S. Don't take the maudlin tone of my song too seriously. It's just a little darkly ironic way of lightening my mood a bit. A little gallows humor, if you will.)

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:28 PM

"Almost" everybody gets cataracts at some point, and they are not that big a deal to remove. Even very elderly, infirm folks can handle it. UV glasses for a week or so, and that's it.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: artbrooks
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:33 PM

I'm had cataracts removed from both eyes. The plus side is that part of the process was lens implants that eliminated any need at all to wear the glasses I had worn since I was eight. The minus side is that I have NO near vision without reading glasses. Having been there, my recommendation is to put it off as long as possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:49 PM

I have small cateracts. Apparently they are common in people who have spend much time outdoors in desert climates. My opthalomologist keeps an eye on them, but says that until they interfere with my sight, don't worry. He checks every 6 months.
When they do start to be a problem, he will surgically remove them by laser. Laser surgery is a wonderful thing. My wife has had new implants and is back to better than 20-20. The province pays most of the tab, but the better soft lenses cost additionally about $500.

The lens surgery is nothing. While she had it done (one eye at a time is best) The eye was covered for about 3 days. The cateract surgery calls for the UV glasses.
Other medical conditions, if not eye related, should be no problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:51 PM

Accordion playing and now cataracts, when will this end?
Are you sure they are cataracts and not Rincoln Continentals?

Carol, cataracts are not the dibilitating concern they once were. My Mom had hers removed after years of diminished sight. Now she drives again and reads without special equipment. I'd rather she didn't drive at times but she is 85, the surgery was done when she was 81.

Do what the Doctor says, let us pick on you, and worry less.

Your Pal

Don (Who actually owns several accordions or their cuzens and just hasn't the ability to play them anymore) Meixner

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:08 PM

One of the things that concerns me about the surgery is the implants. I have multiple chemical sensitivities, and I'm concerned that my body might not tolerate implants made from plastic. And I'm only 47, so I would be having to live with them for a long time (assuming I live long enough to get old).

Interesting point about spending a lot of time outdoors in desert climates, Q. I think I fall vaguely into that category, from back when I lived in Oklahoma. I worked outside a lot, and I drove 35 miles into the sun going in both directions for my commute to and from work.

Don... what can I say? I had a really awful pun I typed into this box here for you. But it was so bad, even I couldn't bring myself to post it ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: MMario
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:31 PM

is lens implant required with cataract removal? seems to me that it's optional - but I don't rmember where I heard that.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:38 PM

Hi MMario. The options I'm aware of are these:

No implants, no contacts, but special glasses. With this option, I'm assuming that I wouldn't be able to see much without the glasses.

Contact lenses. I have some concern about chemical sensitivities with this option, but not as much as with the implants. Again, I'm assuming that I wouldn't be able to see much without the contacts.

Implants. This sounds like it would be the best option if my body would be able to tolerate the implants.

Preventative maintenance. Try, through the use of sun-glasses and vitamins, to put off needing the surgery.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: artbrooks
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:41 PM

I wonder if it would be possible to put a slice of implant material in a subcutaneous pocket...maybe under the skin in your forearm...to check for tolerance?

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:45 PM

That's a really interesting idea, artbrooks. Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:46 PM

Reefer is only supposed to help glaucoma - right ?

Seriously - good luck with this and keep us posted.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: harpgirl
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:58 PM

Hi neighbor,

I've written about this before, so forgive the redundancy. I had cataracts in both eyes and had lens implants at a young age, twelve years ago in my left eye and four years later in my right. I went completely blind in my left eye in less than six months and it was very frightening and disorienting. My right eye went fast too but I was much less frightened. So don't assume it will take a long time.

Also, a friend of mine who is 82 waited too long and her catarct was too hard to remove effectively. She then got a detached retina almost immediately and has lost her sight in one eye.

My best advice is find the best surgeon possible and have the lens implants when your vision gets worse. No need to be blind for long anymore with cataracts. The surgery is relatively inexpensive because it is outpatient and short. You are awake for it as well. The technology isn't that old so they don't know just how long they will last. But mine have lasted since '91 and '95.

I have only a little dimming in my right eye again. Plus, I had too different types because the technology changed between the first and second operation. I need reading glasses and a slight correction in my right eye for distance so I wear glasses all the time now.

My surgeon was excellent and I had complete confidence in him. He did seem more irritable at the time of the second surgery and urged me to do it quickly. Less than a month later he shot himself.

It was heartbreaking, especially since he might have been saved had he asked someone for psychotherapy and medication managment. What a waste of a fine man!!! It still weighs on my mind. But good luck, Carol. Do it as soon as you need to. Abby

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: artbrooks
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:03 PM

There is a second operation (actually a laser procedure) called a "Yag" that reduces/eliminates clouding. I had it done in my first eye about 3 years later...waiting a while until I get it in the other.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:05 PM

Keep a check on them Carol, but they may not go anywhere. Several years ago, my ophthalmologist said that he noticed very early stage cataracts. He said that I didn't need to be concerned for a good five or ten years, but we'd "keep an eye on them." (Weird turn of phrase) So far, nothing has developed. I fact, he can't find them now. The up-side is that my insurance company won't pay for regular eye-exams, but they will if he's checking for cataracts.

artbrooks's idea sounds like a good one. Better to find out one way or another than to spend years worrying. If you can't tolerate implants, this gives you time to work on Plan B. There's gotta be a way. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: harpgirl
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:06 PM

that's good to know, artbrooks...I haven't found another eye physician I have as much confidence in and I have been to several in the interim and I may be ready for that operation at this point...thanks, Abby

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: rock chick
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:33 PM

I had early cataracts, waited 6 month till they said they were ready to remove, told I would only need glasses for reading wellll
had to have the new lenses they put in replaced with one month (couldn't see much all rather blurred)
Ok they replaced them nearly 11 month ago now plus I have had to have three lots of Lagg lazer I still have trouble with my eyes.
I have now been told that I am VERY unfortunate to have had a reaction to the lenses, the surgeon said I am the first one he has come across that this has happened to in the ten years he has been doing cataracts!!

Anyway I have now been told that the type of lenses they put in to replace my own ones are known to cause problems something called' star burst' which in a nutshell can stop you driving at night, they can also cause another problems with lights i.e. you get a halo sort of effect around the lights, that includes TV or any sort of lights, cars street lighting, wall lights and so on.

I have been informed that I should just live with it because the risk of taking out the lenses after 11months is VERY risky, I was quoted by the specialist that' one in every 100 can lose their sight, sobering thought.

Well me being me thought dam this, so I'm still investigating other possibilities of trying to put this mess right, with the help of my orginal specialist, whom I do not blame.

I do not really blame the doctors, other than I should have been informed a great deal more about the risks, (I still would have had the operation)

So before you have anything done PLEASE PLEASE ask questions, what are the risks, what is the % of success, make a list of questions to ask before you go along to see the surgeon, if then you decide to go ahead at least you will have all the facts.

Hope this hasn't put you off, nearly all cataract ops are successful, it's just you need to be aware of the ones that aren't no matter how small the %

Like you I use sheet music (never can remember the words) it should make me try more to remember the words, but on principal I won't not yet anyway.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:40 PM

There is a very good article on cateracts at www.mayoclinic.com. Their write-ups on diseases and procedures are excellent and trustworthy. The article describes the different types of cateracts, describes the operations, care, problems, etc.
MMario, cateracts developing with old age require an implant. That is what I must have done. The article discusses the different types.
Mayo Clinic write-up: Cataracts
You may wish to go to the first page at www.mayoclinic.com and look up other conditions.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: rock chick
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:45 PM

Thanks Guest Q i had to have implants but i'm no means in old age! or anywhere near it yet. ;o)

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:50 PM

Carol....I have had cataract removal and lens implants in both eyes. I waited as long as I could stand it...until they were 'ripe' as one doc put it. (They want to have as much to get hold of as possible...makes the operation easier.)

I had one done 4 yeas ago and the 2nd last year...and the worst time was the 2+ years in between, as I had to keep changing prescriptions in glasses and the difference in object size between my eyes kept getting worse. Made my brain sore trying to reconcile it!

It is 'mostly' better....right eyes is better than since I was 12 years old, and left one has a few what are called 'floaters'...nuisance pieces of protein that bobble about and make little blurry spots temporarily. But is is BETTER to have this done than not! And the implants used are as close to neutral and irrelevant to body chemistry as possible.

Just see a GOOD opthalmoligst and have all the tests and evaluations done....it is totally amazing what can be done these days!

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Susan A-R
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 10:53 PM

I had cataract surgery about 40 years ago (as a wee lass) They didn't do implants for those then, and still don't, so I wear glasses. They have wicked thick lenses, but they correct as much as my eyes will handle, so even if the implants don't work, it's just glasses, not blindness. Big difference.   (because of other issues my vision's at the legal blindness level and anyone who knows me knows that it doesn't slow me down much.)

The idea of inserting the substance they'll use for implant is a great one. They actually found out that they could insert lenses into the eye without problem because there were a fair number of WW II pilots out there wandering around with plexi glass in their eyes to little ill effect.

Have someone who does the surgery a lot do yours. Do it when the glare and vision obstruction gets irritating, and try out that material first if possible.

Good luck   Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:06 PM

With the other stuff, I have early stage cataracts too. I plan to just wait it out. By then, it'll be no big deal at all to fix it. Truth is, it's pretty amazing how far they've already come. Not to worry.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:16 PM

Thanks everybody! I really appreciate this information.

Hey Don Firth, Q, and Art. Did they give you special vitamins to help slow the cataracts down?

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Bardford
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 02:39 AM

Eat your spinach!
Click here

Carol- you might already be familiar with this, but if not - if you want to check out any research on anything medical, go to
here to access PubMed and Medline databases.

For the lens implant/allergy search, use search terms like "intraocular lens implants" or IOL, and "allergy", "reaction" or similar terms.

Folks are right-cataract surgery is quicker than a haircut these days, but it's still surgery, and any surgery has inherent risks.

We'll all get cataracts if we live long enough. A word about sunglasses- wear good ones! The cheap crappy ones, without adequate UV protection, can cause more damage to your eyes than not wearing any sunglasses at all. Your pupils dilate behind the dark eyeglass lens, and the dangerous "UV rays" (say that in quotation marks, like Dr. Evil) get in there and cause havoc to your lenses and retinae. Or so I've heard.

Also, if and when the time comes, you're a Canuckistani now, right? Get it done here. Cheaper, probably, and you might get to have your surgery performed by the well-known and highly respected Newfoundland Ophthalmologist, "Eye's the Bye".

Also also - see an ophthalmologist as well as the optometrist.

Here's looking at you, kid.
Bardford

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Hrothgar
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 05:05 AM

Be caeful with the gallows humour, Carol. Some people have hang-ups about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 09:03 AM

Not me...no mention of vitamins was ever made.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 01:50 PM

No, Carol, he didn't recommend any vitamins or anything like that. Perhaps he should have. Anybody have any recommendations?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 02:13 PM

If your diet is balanced and fresh, don't worry about it. My doctor recommends multi-vitamins because I am older, and "older people develop peculiar eating habits," says she. My opthalmologist has never mentioned them.
Echo Bardford on opthalmologists. They have the training.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Schantieman
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 02:26 PM

My grandmother had her cataracts done when she was 60-odd - 30 years ago. At the age of 95 she now reads all day - with those thick glasses (that I have to clean every time I visit her!)

My mother had them done a few years ago (also in her 60s), with implants, and now has better sight than before; the same goes for my mother-in-law. (Can I escape??) The prognosis, I think is getting better all the time and the operation less traumatic.

Good luck!

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,ASL- a physician
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 07:41 PM

Sunglasses are key- it is thought that the UV rays from the sun break down the protein matrix in the lens. Surgery not a relished option, but has become a 15 minute outpatient procedure done under topical anesthesia with great results- but necessitates glasses.

Good Luck
ASL

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,ASL
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 07:48 PM

AS to "intolerance" to the implants- implants "float" in the aqueous humor which is a filtrate of the blood supply so there is no direct contact with the humoral elements (ie. white blood cells and antibodies) of the blood. Rejection or intolerance of the implants is not really an issue, and really most information about all types of other implants is highly sensationalized and exploited by lawyers, but with no true scientific basis.

Good Luck
ASL

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 08:09 PM

ASL-physician- "Necessitates glasses." Then why did my wife, getting two implants, achieve better than 20-20 vision? Her age when operated on was 77. She does need glasses for reading (+1.25) but not for driving or normal activity.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 08:26 PM

My ophthmalogist told me a year ago that I have early cataracts. I'm not worried; when they get bad I'll have them corrected. By then I suspect that there will be even more options. My younger brother also has them,but he has other health issues as well (Agent Orange exposure caused some of them).

Hang in there and go to an opthmalogist, preferably one associated with a decent medical school (mine also teaches at U. of Cincinnati).

Now, even though I've worn glasses since age 6 or 7, I'm not going to get Lasik surgery. Why? Because it hyped all over, but they don't tell you about the failure rate (check out the NIH site). My eyes are too damned important to me to risk a failure rate of up to 28%. Besides, I'm used to glasses (contacts are not really an option -- I had uncorrected "lazy eye" as a child).

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,ASL
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 08:32 PM

That is the exact point- since the implanted lens cannot be stretched and reconfigured for various distances like the native biological lens, every patient will have to choose whether to wear glasses for reading or far-sighted activity, because the artificial lens will not do both. The results are amazing, as you mentioned, and many patients do have 20/20 vision or better, but most will have to either wear reading glasses or glasses for far-sighted activities since the implanted lens cannot reconfigure for both visual functions. Most ophthalmologists I work with will ask the patient if they would rather have a lens that requires reading glasses or one that will require corrective lenses for far-sighted functions- the implanted lens cannot accomodate to both like the biological one it replaces.

ASL

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:35 PM

yes...at 63, I still need glasses...bifocals, in fact, because perfect correction is hard to achieve(but I 'almost' passed the drivers exam without them. The implants have made life much better, and it was VERY fast and painless.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:53 PM

ASL, thanks. That clears up the eyeglass problem. I don't mind one or the other, but the idea of bifocals bothers me.

In the laser clinics here, "Lasik," "PRK" and "wave front" procedures are offered by the three surgical eye clinics here. What are the differences, if any? (Lasik and PRK may be for different purposes, both are offered by the same clinics).

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:56 PM

Thanks again for the great information and good wishes folks!

The vitamins my optometrist gave me are called Ocuvite Extra, and they're made by Bausch and Lomb. He said that anti-oxidents are very important, and that there are other nutrients that the lens of the eye needs to stay healthy.

I ordered a pair of sunglasses with my distance prescription in them with the UV protection coating.

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Al
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 11:54 PM

CarolC, I am an optometrist, but no fancy pants for me. Perhaps I can answer some of your questions. There are multiple studies that seem to indicate the amount of sunlight exposure, over a lifetime, can influence when cataracts will develop. More light, sooner cataracts. Vitamins have not been shown to be of any value in slowing the progression of cataracts, and in this I must differ with my colleague. You are somewhat young to be getting cataracts, but it does sometimes happen. Rate of progression is extremely variable. They might never get worse than they are now. Then again, they may need to be removed in several months. Most likely it will be something in between. Having them monitored on a 6 month basis is prudent. There is no reason to have them removed just because you have them. It is wise to wait until they become a real nuisance. Conversely, don't wait too long, because when they are extremely advanced, more ultrasound energy must be applied during the surgery, which can lead to complications. And by the way, there is no such thing as laser cataract surgery. It is done with ultrasound using a technique call phacoemulsification. Sometimes YAG laser is used months or years after surgery to clear up a membrane that can form behind the implant. Once that is gone, it will never return. In the meantime, your family optometrist is perfectly well trained and experienced to advise you regarding the necessity and timing of surgery, as well as recommending a good surgeon. All the best to you, Al

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 05:35 PM

Thanks Al.

The vitamin complex made by Bausch and Lomb is pretty unusual for a multiple vitamin. This is what it contains:

Vit A 1000 IU
Vit C 300 mg
Vit E 100 IU
Vit B-2 3 mg
Vit B-3 40 mg
Zinc 40 mg
Selenium 55 mcg
Copper 2 mg
Manganese 5 mg
L-Glutathione 5 mg
Lutein 2 mg

The cool thing about it is that it's the only multiple vitamin I've ever come across that doesn't contain B-6. I get a bad reaction from B-6 for some reason. So even if it doesn't help my eyes, it's probably good for me anyway. ( ...and if it helps my eyes in some way that hasn't been proven scientifically yet, well, that's cool, too ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 06:53 PM

P.S. I meant to post this before and didn't...

Bardford, you're still one of my favourite Canadians ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Help: early stage cataracts
From: GUEST,Al
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 10:12 PM

This vitamin combination was concocted because there is some evidence that vitamins A, C, E, zinc, and lutein may be protective against macular degeneration. Al