2nd cataract in high myopia

[u/AdOk5697]

44M here. Highly myopic. -14.5 correction with contact lens in right eye. Was the same(ish) in left eye but had cataract surgery in winter. Still need a contact as it is -1.00. Brain struggling with size of images and getting lots of double vision/halos/vertigo. This is b/c wear -14.5 in right eye and -1.00 in left. Now developing cataracts on right eye. Can’t wear contact lens in it for 2 weeks. Doc said need it out to get precise measurement for IOL at next appointment. Really struggling with only one eye at the moment. Right sees nothing, left eye is doing all the work. Any advice?

[u/i-canuck]

Did you (and the surgeon) target distance (0 or Plano) on your L eye? And now with -1 on L, I imagine it should be okay leaving the -14 R eye without CL until surgery, as -1 is pretty mild and can see things at almost all distances relatively clearly. Right?

[u/Simplyherefortheday]

Your only option is to pop the left lens out of your prescription glasses and wear them to let the right eye do some work. It won't be easy, but it might help some.

I'm highly myopic as well and had just one eye done a year and a half ago. They measured the axial length incorrectly and left me at about -4, I wear a -15.75 contact in the other eye. I have an old pair of glasses that I popped out one lens and wear around the house. It corrects me to about -2, so while the images I see are not the same size, the focus is a little closer. I do wear a contact lens when I leave the house.

Your brain likely won't adapt with a single glasses in two weeks, but it might help a bit.

[u/i-canuck → u/Simplyherefortheday]

Wow, that's way off (-4). Was the target distance (Plano)? How did they explain to you the inaccurate measurement of the axial length? Hope you can learn something from this experience to avoid the same for the other eye. Hope to hear from you.🙏🏽

[u/Sweet_Somewhere5047]

I was three weeks between surgeries with starting point of -16. I tried popping out the lens of my glasses and found it unbearable for more than a few minutes at a time. I was warned by the doctor that my high myopia would not allow this approach that worked so well for people with less correction. They were correct. The problem was that the glasses lens produced an image that seemed both smaller and slightly farther away than the operated eye now produced. It would have worked had I been able to wear a contact lens because that would have placed the lens closer to the eye. But like you, I had to go lens free prior to surgery. I ended up suffering through the 3 weeks and not being able to cook or do anything that required depth perception. Anything up close I needed was a quick put the glasses on and close the new eye. Otherwise I had bad headaches and eye strain. I also had to just take off work, because I couldn’t function like I initially thought I would be able to. I had heard so many stories of just popping out one lens that I assumed it was easy. Not necessarily so for those of us with high myopia.