Varied Results with Cataract Surgery

Question: I have a question about varied results with cataract surgery between my two eyes. I had cataract surgery on one eye four years ago and the result was fantastic-no glasses needed, everything clear. Now I had cataract surgery on the other eye and the day after surgery it was 20/25, one week later 20/30 and now three weeks later 20/40. Why? Now I am told I will need a contact lens for that eye. What went wrong? What should be done to fix it?

Answer: It is not really possible to determine why your vision after Cataract Surgery in the second eye decreased over the course of a week. You do not say whether the slip in visual acuity is uncorrected or corrected with a lens or not. If the vision is correctable to 20/20 with a spectacle or contact lens it suggests that the power of the lens implant may be off just a bit. While every effort is taken to calculate the exact required power using sophisticated instruments and technology sometimes there can be some variation that results in a slightly less than perfect correction. IF this is the case and your eye is otherwise in good health AND the amount of the correction is significant enough in the opinion of your Cataract Surgeon, he or she can elect to do a lens exchange and replace the lens implants with the adjusted power. There are a lot of IF's here. If your eye has a best correctable visual acuity of 20/40 it suggest an entirely different list of possible causes that have more to do with the way the second eye is healing or other factors associated with inflammation or even the condition of Retina. Your best next step is to schedule a visit to your Cataract Surgeon and ask for a clear explanation of what has happened and what the best course of action is for going forward.

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