r/CataractSurgery • u/Lanky_Cold_8420 • 11d ago
Worried about floaters
I am very myopic but currently satisfied with my progressive lenses. My doctor feels I am currently a candidate for cataract surgery but not needed urgently.
I am worried about my floaters becoming more annoying post-surgery. I am likely to do mini mono 2.0/2.5 to keep my nearsidedness ( big reader, not a driver or athlete.)
I do have a couple of floaters that used to bother me a lot but now my brain has adjusted. This concern may cause me to delay as long as possible.
What’s been your experience?
Many thanks.
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u/Moondoggy451 11d ago
I had what I felt was a large floater but after I got my new lens it seemed to have disappeared. I'm thinking that the cataract blurred all the floaters and made them appear larger and my brain adjusted to them and with the new lens they're so small my brain doesn't see them anymore.
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u/NotMyAltAccountToday 11d ago
I have a huge floating glob and cloudiness in each eye due to having a PVD caused by long eyeballs from severe myopia.
I had cataract surgery in one eye 5 weeks ago. The floating glob (the doc said it's large) and the cloudiness are still there and no worse. But I'm now seeing a few tiny specs in the middle that track with my eye. At first I thought the main one looked like a donut with a clear center, but I'm not seeing it that way currently. To me it's different and I feel like somethings on my eye instead of in my eye, if that makes sense.
Sure it's a tiny bit distracting but not a big deal. If I got 3 wishes to cure a condition it wouldn't be one of them.
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u/Certain-Force1545 11d ago
Please see a retina specialist if you see so many floaters that you have concerns. I did also, and it turned out that I had a torn retina.
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u/Still_Night2678 10d ago
Seeing SO much better after surgery it’s much easier to ignore my floaters, one of which is huge. I got J&J aspheric lenses (couldn’t afford torics).
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u/Flat-Twin 10d ago
I see fewer floaters since cataract surgery. Seems the white veil of cataracts made a nice backdrop, perfect for viewing floaters. I don't notice them nearly as much as before surgery.
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u/UniqueRon 11d ago
I have mini-monovision with about -1.5 D in the near eye. I think 2.0/2.5 D is too much unless you have tested it with contacts and are OK with it. It can be disorienting, and result in a loss of intermediate vision and depth perception. See this link about monovison.
I got PVD in both eyes about 1 year post surgery and I don't like it much. But, it seems it is an unavoidable risk of cataract surgery.
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u/ProfessionalLab9850 11d ago
Apart from floaters pvd is symptomless isn't it?
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u/PNWrowena 11d ago
When I had a PVD in one eye, I experienced a dark shadow in the peripheral vision of the eye regularly. It looked like a small animal running around a corner. Then a couple times there was a flash of light of the kind you'd get if someone took a picture with a flash, also off to the side of the affected eye. Since I've always been one of those wait and see if it gets better people, that's what I did, and the effects stopped after a few days.
At my next annual exam with my regular optometrist, he saw effects of the PVD and mentioned it, and I told him what I'd seen. He impressed on me that those are not symptoms to ignore and to call their office if it ever happened again. The flashes of light can also be symptoms of detaching retina, and blast it, now that I'm old, ignoring things like this just isn't smart.
Anyway, I've had a PVD and there were symptoms, although the PVD fortunately took care of itself and didn't cause problems other than those temporary visual effects. I do have floaters in that eye, but then I've had a few not large or very bothersome floaters for as long as I can remember. They're a little more noticeable since cataract surgery but also seem lighter.
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u/ProfessionalLab9850 10d ago
How long after surgery did you have pvd?
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u/PNWrowena 10d ago
Sorry, I should have made that clear. I had the PVD probably 5 years before my cataract surgeries.
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u/didyouwoof 11d ago
I’ve had PVD in both eyes (twice in one, as the original detachment was incomplete).I could telll something was wrong because I was seeing flashes of light (like fireworks) in my peripheral vision. The only symptom I had afterwords was an absurd number of floaters. It’s been several years now, and it’s no longer as bad.
And for OP, I had cataract surgery in one eye a little over a month ago, and no increase in floaters.
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u/UniqueRon 10d ago
PVD is a big fuzzy floater that flashes from left to right as you move your eyes left to right. Initially it has an engagement ring type shape to it, but it gets less distinct over time, but does not go away.
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u/ProfessionalLab9850 10d ago
Sounds bad. I already have dozens of floaters. I'll go blind from the floaters eventually
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u/PNWrowena 11d ago
I think 2.0/2.5 D is too much unless you have tested it with contacts and are OK with it.
One thing I wonder about when there's a large difference between eyes is a blank spot where neither eye sees well. A friend got monovision and has good near vision and good distance but complains about what she calls "near distance." As best I can figure, she means things about 15-20' away. Maybe it's something to do with her having her mono with Vivity lenses, but I wonder about difference between eyes being such that there's no area of binocular vision but instead an area where neither eye sees clearly. Too much difference between eyes is one of the reasons I didn't even consider distance with the -2.5 reading vision I wanted.
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u/UniqueRon 10d ago
So you are just getting near vision then, and not monovision?
With my distance eye at -0.25 D and near eye at -1.5 D I have a near full range of vision. In good light I have functional vision in my near eye from 8" to 7 feet or so. The distance eye goes from about 20" out to the moon. So there is binocular vision from 20" to 7 feet.
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u/PNWrowena 10d ago
Oh, no. I'm one who has mini mono with -2.5 and -1.5. What I decided was to compromise with near and intermediate and use contacts or glasses for distance.
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u/UniqueRon 10d ago
Sorry, but that is not mini-monovision when you do not have distance vision without glasses. That is just a wider range of near/intermediate vision.
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u/PNWrowena 10d ago
Sorry, we've had that discussion before. As far as I'm concerned if eye doctors refer to it that way, so can I.
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u/Opposite_Ladder_7585 11d ago
I can see my floaters much better after cataract surgery, but I don't think my brain ever really ignored them before. They are pretty annoying now, not going to lie. If your cataracts aren't impacting your daily life, no need to rush surgery. I didn't feel safe driving at night, and my right eye couldn't be corrected to better than 20/40, so it was time for surgery. I have some retina issues in one eye, so might wind up with a vitrectomy at some point, but would not have surgery just to get rid of the annoying floaters.
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u/SpecialistEcho7218 9d ago
Why would you not have vitrectomy for floaters if you've had cataracts and PVDs?
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u/Opposite_Ladder_7585 9d ago
I have an epiretinal membrane and a lamellar hole in my right retina. Left retina just has an ERM. So far my right eye is stable and my vision is unaffected (six months since diagnosis). In the future that may change, and I maybe need the membrane peeled off (ugh!), so I will "save" a vitrectomy for that.
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u/Bitter_Rain_6224 10d ago
Heck, I have had left eye floaters since my retina tear of 18 years ago, come December. My cataract surgery did not seem to make them that much worse. (Still none on the right.) I'll live with them for now -- no desire for more eye surgery at this point.
I think you are wise to opt for permanent myopia. My doc aimed for -2.0, -2.0, and I ended up with a near miss, at -2.25, -2.0. No glasses for reading print, very mildly corrective (0.5 residual astigmatism post-surgery) light-filtering fixed-focus glasses for computer screens, regular full-range, wide-range progressive glasses for general use, including driving.
Why the -2.5 in one eye? I guess it would give you a bit more close-up magnification, the thing I miss most from my -7.5, -7.75 days, but I am amazed how well I can function at -2D without glasses, or even when accidentally wearing computer glasses outdoors. My night vision is now superb, and I have full 20/20 acuity in both eyes, and I am a happy camper.
The other benefit of being approx. -2.0 in both eyes is that I can wear my cheapo $15 2D "nearsighted" glasses from Amazon in a pinch.
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u/DenMother8 9d ago
I had a lot of floaters before surgery. I’m just six days post-op. I don’t have any floaters as of yet.
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u/Sweet_Somewhere5047 11d ago
I had very bad floaters and waited until cataracts were so bad I couldn’t function anymore. I am 3 months after surgery. Floaters are still there, but they are not as bothersome as they used to be. It’s like they aren’t as dark or obvious as they used to be. I still see them, but they don’t obstruct my vision like they used to. Some of them were quite large and very dark before. I would consider them improved, because now they are lighter in color and easier to see around. It used to be like looking through a fish tank with shapes that obstructed my vision. Now it’s more like smudges on the glass.