Gentle Spiders, I have been told that I should have cataract surgery. There are many options in cataract surgery and I donât know that I understand them all. According to the doctor, I can have the inexpensive and largely insurance subsidized surgery in which I will have âbasicâ lenses implanted in my eye. (These are eerily called IOLs) The basic should return my eye to where it was pre-cataract. The alternative costs more, but would involve implanting a highly specialized lens in my eye that would address my astigmatism and it might even be possible to go glasses free afterward as I have not done since age 7. Supposedly the lens would run the gamut between seeing well at long distance, intermediate and close up. The general preference, it would seem is for people who wish to see distance, over close-up.
I have always had very good close vision, myopia, and it has quite likely influenced my choice of lacemaking as a hobby. In fact, lately, I have noticed that my close vision is not as good as it was, leading me to unfairly criticize the choice of beige pricking card in two recent classes. I now think the problem was the cataracts. If my vision were returned to what it was before (basic lenses) I would be happy to have my same close vision that I am used to. My lifestyle wouldnât change. I would still wear startling red glasses as part of my style identity. I mentioned this to the doctor and he said that in the more expensive, multi-focus lenses he could put the focus anywhere I wanted, and I could have it rather close up and I would still wear glasses for long distance vision. Admittedly, I am somewhat intrigued by the idea of not feeling around for my glasses everyday. They donât fit too well over a K95 mask. So, a lens that does well at all distances has a certain appeal. I donât even know if I want him to put the focus in close quarters. After all, it is supposed to be good close-up. The more expensive surgery also is more likely to have issues since you have to seat the lens in exactly the correct position. However, the claim is that it doesnât happen that often. In both cases the surgery takes 20 minutes. Has anyone had cataract surgery? How has it affected your lacemaking? What choices did you make and are you happy with them? It would really be devastating to impair my lacemaking at this stage of my life. It is a little too late to find a hobby that requires good distance vision. Blindly, Devon Sent from Mail for Windows - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
