Sucking the eyes out of your head through a tube.

Okay, that thread title is a bit of an exaggeration. What they're actually going to do, as near as I can gather, is cut into my eyes, use ultrasound to liquify the lenses of my eyes, suck the liquified lenses out through a vacuum tube, and then stick artificial lenses in.

IOW, cataract surgery.

Right eye in October 14, left eye on October 28.

In addition to copays and deductibles, which generally means nearly the entire cost of the operation, I have to pay out of pocket the $700 per eye difference between the cost of spherical lenses and the cost of toric lenses. I need toric lenses because I have so much astigmatism, but the insurance companies won't pay for them because they are not strictly needed to treat the cataracts. Well, I can afford it, and it will be worth it if I am able to drive and hike without glasses. The eye surgeon says there's a 90% chance I won't need glasses for distance. I'll still need glasses for reading and middle distance. But I need that anyway, since I'm so nearsighted that my unaided focal distance is about 3 inches, which is great for extracting splinters and reading very small type, but useless for normal reading.

After the surgery I'll be farsighted, and my glasses will be the opposite, pulling the focal point in rather than pushing it out.

It's a creepy prospect, but actually a simple and safe procedure, and said to be painless. I'll be sedated but conscious. I'd rather be knocked out completely,

 

hkmb: The astigmatism is not caused by an irregularity in the lens of the eye. I think it might be the cornea. Not sure, but anyway, no, removing the lens does not remove the astigmatism. Toric contact lenses actually orient themselves correctly on the eye after you put them in, so it is the front surface of the eye that has the irregularity.

Paradox: For some reason I was never a candidate for corrective eye surgery (PRK or LASIK). Possibly because I have too much astigmatism.

Chuck: I believe that floaters are caused by irregularities in the clear stuff inside the eye. Unrelated to the lens. I don't know if they can clear them up. But since they are transient, I'm not sure there would be any point in it. They seem to show up, float around (thus their name) and then go away. In any case, I am not bothered by them. I have to concentrate hard on a white background to even be aware of them.

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes. Long about mid-November I should know whether all went well or not, unless something horrible shows up first, but it's a very simple and low-risk procedure. Apparently I'm already at risk of detached retina because of the degree of my nearsightedness, and because I sometimes get points of light, and cataract surgery will increase it even more. But even so, the risk is very small. Probably one in several hundred. I'm more likely to fall off a mountain while hiking. I've come close to that a few times.

Maybe I'll end up like the guy in Raven's End by Ben Gadd.

 

It's creepy, but like I said, it's pretty safe, and said to be nearly painless. And with the alternative being eventual blindness, it's really not a difficult decision.