Age & Eyes

I've been seeing a lot of guys in the 60's, 70's, 80's, giving up because of poor eye sight.
A lot of guys and gals will just say they need stronger prescription glasses, until finally the stronger prescriptions don't work.
Many say they can't drive at night because it's hard to see.
The fact is you may have cataract problems.
I had all the above and am 75. At night I had a hard time driving because everything was darker. I actually thought I needed brighter headlights and readjusted. Even with glasses things in the distance were kind of blurred and at a distance I'd see 2 power poles instead of one, until I got closer. I couldn't read the menu on the tv even with my glasses, and they are progressive prescriptions. Even reading close up was beginning to be a problem. Now here's the kicker, quite a few years ago I was told that I had the start of cataracts, but not bad, and my glasses corrected distance, intermediate, and near vision. As time went on I thought just get stronger prescription glasses.

Well I'm here to tell you I didn't know just how bad those cataracts were messing up my eye sight.
From the time I went in for the surgery to the time I left the surgery center was approximately 1 hour. The surgery itself was less than 15 minutes. You are entirely awake for the whole process and you feel absolutely nothing during the surgery. After the surgery, you have a very short recovery period, and you have to have another driver. I myself, had no headaches, or any type of eye pain. The only requirement was I had to wear dark glasses which they provide for me.

Now this is just a few hours after the cataract was removed and the new lens was installed in my eye.
On the way home I removed my sunglasses and was amazed at how much brighter the world was. Colors were so vivid. I closed my right eye and just looked with my other eye which still had the cataract and noticed the difference immediately. My bad eye was like looking through a yellowish filter. Everything was less bright and darker and blurrier than my eye with the new lens. When it got dark, again I removed my dark glasses and already noticed why everything was so dark before. The cataracts made everything darker. So now I noticed how much better I could see at night.

Now I should mention that they only do 1 eye at a time. 2 weeks later they did my left eye. My distance vision is now phenomenal. Even my near vision has improved. it truly is like a new world. I've had my new eyes just over a month now, and the world is so much clearer and brighter. My hunting & shooting should greatly improve!! LOL!!

So, what I'm saying is it doesn't hurt to get checked for cataracts. It is a painless event. And the surgery is totally painless.

I had cataract surgery a year ago and it's worse now. So, i'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. However, that's not why I gave up hunting. I have a long list of reasons.

Glad it worked out for you.

OldMtnMan wrote:I had cataract surgery a year ago and it's worse now. So, i'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. However, that's not why I gave up hunting. I have a long list of reasons.

Glad it worked out for you.

Hi Pete,
Sorry that didn't work out for you.
Everyone I know that had the cataracts removed have been really happy they had it done.

Wish I was one of them.

Winter Hawk wrote:My wife had cataract surgery last year.  All was well until a couple of weeks ago when her vision got very blurred.  Took her in to the ophthalmologist who found that the membrane behind the new lens has become cloudy.  She (the doctor) said this is common and happens to about a third of the people who have this surgery, and it is fixable with laser surgery so we are scheduled for this procedure a week from Friday.  They burn a hole through the membrane so light can get through again to the retina.

Pete, considering that 1/3 of folks getting cataract surgery get this problem maybe you should get it checked out (if you haven't done so already).  The laser treatment only takes a few minutes itself and is supposed to be painless.  I'll be able to give an after action report once it's done.
~Kees~

kees it's amazing some of the things they can do today for the eyes. Definitely a plus to have the surgery done.

I had cataract surgery several years ago but later developed another eye problem. I suppose glasses might help in general, but the only glasses I wear are reading glasses (for reading) and low power readers for shooting.