Happy Friday Members !
Has anybody ever had cataract surgery? If so did it affect your modeling skills/techniques ?
Not afraid of the surgery itself but in this hobby we use our eyes a LOT and am wondering how it will affect me. Will my Optivisor become a permanent fixture to my forehead or will it be business as usual ?
From those members who have had the operation I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks to all and have a great weekend !
Tom

I had the surgery two years ago. Talk with your doctor over the different replacement lenses available. I could have gotten ones optimized for distance or for close but chose ones in the middle.

There are also options for correcting any astigmatism to further improve your vision. After my surgery for the first time in my life I could actually see myself clearly in a mirror without my glasses.

I can finally see the room and my workbenches so needing reading glasses or the handy optivisor wasn't a big deal. I only need it for close up details. But with practice I came to depend less and less upon it.

As your ophthalmologist should tell you, your brain is very adept at adjusting for any changes in vision and for filling in holes and deficiencies.

Cataract surgery was the best thing that ever happened to my eyes.

Now retina reattachment surgery is totally different matter and I hope with all my heart you never need that because that is rapidly spelling the end of a lot of model building activities for me.

My mother did it a few years ago. She is NOT a modeler but she was hugely satisfied with the results.
Needing reading glasses or optivisor is NOT a big deal.
Go for medium to long range vision, reading glasses will take care of the close range "combat".
/ Robin

Thanks Robin & Steve ! The Ophthalmologist told me no worries but I wanted to hear it from somebody who does what we do. Hard to imagine, I've worn glasses for 55 years and a very good chance I won't need them except for close up after the procedures.
Thanks again !

My wife had detachment in both eyes. They attempted using the gas bubble to try and stick it back in place in one eye, but that didn't work and they ended up going with the buckles in each eye, so three surgeries total. I watched the procedure on a YouTube video and was quite glad it wasn't me in there.

I often joke with her that after she has been dead a few decades, all archaeologists would find in her coffin would be some bones and teeth, a few bits of jewelry, and two big rubber bands in her skull.

Cataract surgery rules! .... Two failed attempts to repair a detached retina sucks! ... I’m down one eye. My buddy watched my first (successful) torn retina repair procedure live, he told me... “You don’t wanna know!”

My second procedure I was sedated but awake. Thankfully I have sight in both eyes but my left eye is so distorted that it can give me headaches.

My left eye was always my dominant good eye and everything is squeezed in the middle. So with a lot of things (including typing this) I close the left eye so as not to get disoriented.

Painting can be a real adventure with no depth perception.

WOW, I never knew that about detached retinas and what a pain in the a$$ they are to re-attach. Sorry to hear about that guys! I thank God that my eye health in general is real good and all I have going in general are the cataracts.

My Mother-in Law had cataract surgery in both eyes (they generally do one at a time). By the time she was done, she could see a pin on the carpeted floor from 30 feet away that I couldn't see from five feet away! I've worn glasses since I was eight (I'm 65 now) so it wouldn't be a big deal for me to continue wearing them for the opportunity to continue to do up close work or read without glasses (I do almost all my model building and reading without my glasses-- in fact, I'm typing this without them now. But it's an individual choice, it seems to me the mid range would be fine if you don't do a lot of close work now. Before I retired from the Army, the docs wanted to do laser surgery to give me 20/15 vision. But they make you wear special contacts for a day to see how you like the "new" vision. I went in at 0700 in the morning, was fitted with the lenses, and initially loved walking out of the hospital without my glasses-- for the first time in my life, I could see objects as far away as a mile in crystal clarity. Until I got behind the wheel of my car-- the instruments and dashboard were seemed a bit "fuzzy". When I got to my office, my computer screen was also "fuzzy", as were all the papers, my desk, and everything within arms reach. After wearing the contacts all day, I asked the doc when I went back to the hospital that night about it, and she told me if the do surgery to change your vision for distance, it will always affect your close in vision. So I decided then I'd rather be able to see close-in than farther away. But that's just me-- you may feel differently.
VR, Russ

Welcome to Opti-world! 🤓😜

My 2 cents. I had the surgery about a year ago. I took the standard lens option. I'd been officially nearsighted since high school. Now 40 years later, I can read the highway signs without my glasses. But now I'm farsighted. Can't read anything up close... My modeling unfortunately hasn't changed. With bifocals, I was taking them off and using 2.5 - 2.75 readers with my Optivisor for most modeling tasks. Still using readers and Optivisor.
They mentioned "torqued" lenses that would give me good vision from up close to infinity. It was extra cost (should have asked) so I declined...
I hate putting things in my eyes, eye drops are a challenge, forget contact lenses. The surgery was not a challenge. The worst of it was starting to move before the anesthesia cleared.