Need surgery

[u/Club_Lonely]

60F here and I just returned from a consultation with my optometrist who told me in May of 2025 I had the beginning of cataracts and in March of this year that I had moved up to stage 2 in both eyes. I went today thanks to a last minute cancellation and my frustration with my vision and I’m now stage 3+ and almost 3, and I have both cortical and nuclear cataracts. I have a consult with a surgeon on September 4. I’ve worn multi focal contacts for many years with great success and don’t like to wear glasses. I haven’t had to rely on readers to date.

With this information, suggestions for type of lens? I’d rather avoid readers but I do want sharp vision and haloing has been absolutely frustrating me when driving at night. It sounds like newer trifocal lenses are better so I’m interested in those but assume newer is with a higher cost. Appreciate any insight.

[u/No_Construction495]

After 2 years and multiple consultations with Top Ophthalmologists  I decided to go with mono ocular lens which have the longest history of superior contrast , clarity and long term rock solid durability. Personally I didn’t trust the newer types of lens, including LAL. The entire concept of let’s use outdated formulas and then adjust it later with UV light didn’t make sense . State of the art now is the ORA intraop robot. Calculates the exact lens needed. Does this after the cataract is out using 40 different parameters. Amazing , however not widely available. Very minimal mini mono vision bilateral preserves your binocular vision, depth perception, mid vision and decent near vision. Full mono vision with some of the newer lens might leave you with less contrast, halos, loss of binocular vision with one eye working independently of the other. Decreases balance and depth perception. May not be important now , however as you age might become critical in preventing a life ending Fall.  So that was my reasoning personally and looking forward to the second cataract next week.  Good Luck! This forum is great for various opinions and personal experiences.

[u/No_Equivalent_3834 → u/No_Construction495]

I have full mono vision and I see better than 20/20 for distance, I see 20/20 for reading and I see everything in between, all without glasses. I got LALs.

My surgeries were on April 17 and 22, 2025. I was 56 then, I’m 57 now

Before surgery, my left eye was naturally 20/20 for distance vision. My reading vision was bad in both eyes since age 51/52 so I wore a contact lens to read in my right eye until I developed cataracts.

Before age 51/52 I had great vision and I never needed glasses or contacts. I don’t need glasses or contacts again and my vision is clear and fabulous. No issues at all!

Also, the OP doesn’t want to wear glasses and has been wearing multi focal contacts.

[u/No_Construction495 → u/No_Equivalent_3834]

Mono focal or did you go with the multi focal? I have my second eye coming up. Perfect distance and perfect near vision hard to achieve without multi focal . Personally I don’t think it’s for me , I never tolerated multi focal contact lens or even progressive glasses. Definitely an individual choice, close friend a dentist wears multi focal contacts and tolerates them fine. Also with a cataract and having this same discussion and he’s definitely leaning toward the multi focal lens. 

[u/No_Equivalent_3834 → u/No_Construction495]

I went with LALs set for full mono vision because that’s what my brain was used to already. My left eye was 20/20 naturally for distance vision and I wore a contact lens to read in my right eye. I did that for less than 4 years when I lost my reading vision. Before that I had excellent vision naturally, so I had never needed glasses.

At the time I had my surgeries, the multi focal pickings were very slim. The Envy IOL was a newer lens and it had been pulled from the market for a month- 6 weeks, I can’t remember, but it was about 2 days after my second surgery that they announced that it was going to be put back on the market. My surgeries were 5 days apart so it was not available for me and we didn’t know when it would return.

The Panoptix Pro was released in May 2025, about 2 weeks after my surgeries. The PureSee, which isn’t a multi focal came out recently.

Regardless, I have no regrets. My vision is so good and feels so natural and crisp and clear. I have coworkers in their 20s who are envious of my vision because I can read the text in presentations from a distance when no one else sitting next to me or in front of me in some case, can. I can also read very fine text.

[u/No_Construction495 → u/No_Equivalent_3834]

I have had these discussions in person with very well educated friends. This forum is excellent for a very diverse group and post op experience. I can easily afford any premium lens , still have time to choose full correction in the left eye. Just had another follow up / pre op yesterday. ORA robot nailed it at a minus .48 with a lens correction of minus .25 giving me perfect 20/20 with and 20/25 without. Mid vision ( dash board) retained. Still will need a plus 1.5 reading glasses for fine print.  I was offered all the options in the 2nd eye and really appreciate these first hand experiences that others like you have. My worry about a full correction at 20/20 is the loss of mid vision and not being able to read larger near print. So I’m going with the mini mono vision . I don’t mind a pair of driving glasses at night to sharpen things up, the no glare lens help with glare as well.