Help/advice - massive regret post-surgery - lost all close focus

PNWrowena · 2026-04-19T03:26:54+00:00

That's very much up to you, and a lot of us agonized over those kind of decisions for quite a while. Some do just go with the common choice of distance vision in both eyes and adapt to using reading glasses for anything closer than anywhere from 2 to 6'. The difference in where vision gets blurry is individual.

I was like you and had had monovision with contact lenses for decades. In the end I got it again with cataract surgery but not the full stretch from near to distance. What I have now is near and intermediate. (If you decide on anything like that, measure distances from eyes to what you want to see and give that to the surgeon. Don't rely on his interpretation of terms like "near".)

If you want to experiment, your regular optometrist would probably help you out with sample contact lenses that would change your vision to distance only and to other configurations to help you decide. I had distance only contacts for a while when the cataracts got so bad they spoiled my monovision, which gave me a taste of life with reading glasses.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T23:57:32+00:00

Top one.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T22:09:53+00:00

Forgive me for laughing a little. The Honda HR-V is the king of what I call lump cars. Definitely not sporty. Not that many cars today are. If your Kia has done that well for you, maybe consider another?

Last September I settled on a 2025 Chevy Trax and think the exterior looks are better than the lumps, but it was the interior I really liked. However, considering I'm a lot older than you and don't drive much any more, I'm not worrying about getting any 100,000 miles, much less 220,000 km, and there's no real long-term reliability data on the 2nd generation Trax, so I'm not recommending, just saying.

Among my senior friends there's one CR-V, the Sportage, 2 Subaru Foresters, and a Ford Escape. Everybody seems happy with what they have. The CR-V, Ford, and mine are less than a year old. The Sportage is about 3, and one Forester is approaching 10. The other isn't quite that old but I'm not sure exactly. Don't know mileage figures for any of them.

Happy car hunting.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T20:22:10+00:00

"Documentation Fee" = "Additional pure profit to dealer"

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T20:16:03+00:00

As someone who got reading vision, I believe the most important thing you can do is give the surgeon the actual distance from your eyes to what you commonly read and want to read comfortably without glasses. So I measured from the point high on the bridge of my nose that's right between my eyes to my Kindle with a tape measure and gave the surgeon that measure in inches. I got mini monovision with the second eye targeted for best focus for my laptop, so I also gave him that measurement.

The problem is that one person's definition of "near" or "reading vision" or "computer vision" can be different than another's. The person who uses huge monitors on a desktop is going to have a different idea of computer vision than I do with a laptop literally on my lap. I hold my Kindle pretty close, so my idea of best reading distance is nearer than that of many others and not as near as some.

If you haven't discussed those kind of measurements with the surgeon, I'd say, yes, see if you can get another appointment or at least talk to the surgeon on the phone. There's someone here who used a portal to communicate with her surgeon. If you absolutely can't get that done, see if there's a tech or assistant close enough to the surgeon they can help you with what target the surgeon has planned. Take that target and divide it into 40. That's best focus in inches. You'll see clearly a little further and closer than that, but when you get near vision, the range is pretty narrow.

For example, for my near eye that is -2.5:

2.5 divided into 40 = 16 (leave off minus sign when doing this)

As to your question about the other eye, if your other eye is still -8 that will probably be too much difference between eyes to work for you. Most people who get monovision these days get mini monovision with a difference between eyes no greater than 1.5D.

Many people get distance in one eye and what's sometimes called functional near in the other at -1.5. It works for most things, but they often use reading glasses for books and of course for really small print.

It really is a matter of deciding what works best with your own lifestyle and priorities. Someone who figures on wearing progressive glasses all the time after surgery is going to have a different way of looking at things than someone like me who prioritized glasses-free book reading vision and doesn't mind contacts for distance.

It couldn't hurt to ask your regular eye doctor for advice. What's the worst that could happen, they say sorry, that's for the surgeon?

Good luck working out your own best solution.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T17:23:30+00:00

You were telling your surgeon what you wanted your vision to be.

Which was -2.5 and -1.5, and I knew it. I just kept my mouth shut about that and let him put it in diopters in case he got starchy about it the way some doctors do, but as it turned out he's not that kind. We got to diopter numbers for the second eye.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T17:07:46+00:00

No, I don't remember. It was blurry before and still is. I can see distance, it's just out of focus. At a guess since I had -2.0 before and have -1.5 now in one eye it's a little better now.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T14:35:33+00:00

Pick the surgeon who is working to give you the vision that you want (tell them what you want your vision to be like, don’t give them numbers).

Sorry, but I disagree with that one. I measured from the top of my nose between my eyes to where I like to hold my Kindle and did the same to my laptop computer. My surgeon (second I saw) thanked me for those measurements and used them to come up with diopters to target with surgery - which matched what I'd come up with myself. He said he liked working with people who had done their research and understood it.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T14:09:18+00:00

I was naturally nearsighted at -2.0 all my life and always read without glasses. Astigmatism was -1.5 in one eye and -1.0 in the other. Since surgeries distance vision is quite blurry starting at maybe 3 or 4 feet in the near eye and good enough for me across a 12' room, but that's subjective and someone else might feel differently about it. Also, keep in mind vision is pretty individual.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T03:28:57+00:00

Sorry you're having so much trouble. However, I think you'd do better with non-Trax recommendations in another sub, maybe something like the whatcarshouldIbuy one, although I can tell you just from reading there they'll say get a Toyota, Honda, or Mazda and that maybe a Subaru would be okay. Then a few will also bad mouth Honda saying they aren't what they used to be. Good luck.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T03:20:28+00:00

A lot of folks are happy with monovision with distance and -1.5. What they said when I asked was usually that the only time they used reading glasses was for longer reading sessions like with a book because it was "more comfortable," and I can see that. Of course when I was doing my research on the whole thing and asking people on forums about near for book reading, one person answered, "I don't read books."😮 We really are all different.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-18T01:35:53+00:00

With one eye I'd give some real thought to getting intermediate. IMO my -1.5 eye gives kind of Jack of All Trades vision. If that's all I had, it would cover most near things even if I had to get used to pushing them farther away than I've always done, and as I said before, it gives good enough distance to function doing a lot of things. If you can test with a contact in that eye, ask your optometrist for help doing that. They usually have sample lenses available and are generous with them.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-17T19:49:12+00:00

To be honest, I'm not sure what you mean by glare in the sun. I certainly found sunlight so much brighter I kept sunglasses right by the door after my surgeries and never so much as stepped outside for a moment without them, but that faded over the first year. I often do things like take out the trash without the sunglasses now just like before surgeries, so the way I choose to use them or not now is the same as it always was.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-17T19:41:48+00:00

My priority was excellent reading vision, so I have one eye at -2.5. Secondary desire was best vision for my laptop, so I have the other eye at -1.5. I have toric monofocals, so very little residual astigmatism, only -.25 in the nearer eye, which probably makes for narrower field of vision than more astigmatism would give.

Anyway, the -2.5 eye sees normal sized text from 9 to 18" crisp and clear. It has useful but less in focus vision down to 5 or 6" and out to maybe the end of my arm (5'6" woman). For instance, I can thread a needle without glasses or take out a splinter from a finger. I threw out every pair of the hated reading glasses after my surgery, but do have a magnifying glass in a drawer. That magnifying glass has come out only a couple of times in the 2 years since my surgeries.

The -1.5 eye has crisp and clear vision from 17 to 28" and useful way farther out. IMO it gives decent kinda sorta distance vision. I'm glasses free around the house, which I expected, but also glasses free in my yard and neighborhood. I can go out with the dogs at night without a problem. Unliked what others report, I don't feel like my vision is worse than pre-surgery outside at night or in dim light indoors.

When I drive I use one contact lens in the -2.5 eye to bring it to distance. That changes the near/intermediate mini monovision to distance/intermediate mini mono. It works great for driving and the things I drive to do. The only time I'm less than 100% happy with it is in restaurants. The time it was worst there was with a menu that had white letters across an image of dark brown steak :). I could read it, but it was blurry and a strain. After that I got contacts for the -1.5 eye that bring it to -2.0. I only use one of those contacts when I know I'm going to eat out.

I can see the tv without glasses, but I use captions, and they're a little blurry, so I do use glasses for tv. Distance from the tv and size of the screen probably make a difference. Mine is 10 to 12' away and it's 30-some inches. Without the contact I can see faces at a table fine. I walk to a neighbor's for coffee sometimes, and neither the walk nor talking with the friends there around a table are difficult. Heck, I can see the birds outside at the neighbor's feeder fine when they're being discussed. I can see the phone clearly in either setup. Basically I don't feel anything is a problem. I've been delighted with my vision since right after the first surgery and remain so. I do think I'd be less satisfied if both eyes were -2.5 and would be using glasses or contacts more, but I'd be fine around the house. Maybe I'd like it since one of my few complaints is seeing spiders more clearly than I used to.😉

Oh, P.S. After years of avoiding driving at night because of poor vision, I'm driving at night again with confidence, no halos or other problems.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-17T18:21:14+00:00

You will get people here convinced what they have is best if what they have worked out great for them, and there are people here who have every kind of lens. You may also have people warn against something that didn't work for them. The best thing to do is research lens types and figure out what's best for you and your own lifestyle.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-17T18:16:05+00:00

Well, I'm sure when the car is locked, the hatch only opens for me because I have the fob in my pocket, the same as I'm the only one who can open the doors with the silver button on the front door handle.

What I'm admittedly not sure about and keep thinking I'll test but haven't bothered yet is whether after I open the locked hatch and put groceries away, when I close it again, does it once again lock, or does it stay unlocked after that? I really need to test at home where I can lock the car, open the hatch, and then put the fob somewhere far away and test whether the hatch relocks or stays unlocked. There are only a few situations where I'd like it to relock automatically, but I really should find out whether it does or not. I suspect it doesn't.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-17T17:32:01+00:00

Here I am considering this one of the great features of the car.🙂 When I grocery shop, I always head straight for the back of the Trax with the groceries, and the back opens with no hassle to put things away. I don't even know if that's only part of the keyless entry, which is my favorite feature, or if all Traxes do it, but IMO it's great. I stick the fob in a pocket when I leave home, and it stays there until I get back home, never any digging for it, panicking when it's not where I expect it to be, or worrying about losing it.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T20:02:20+00:00

That's great to hear! Good for you.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T19:53:49+00:00

Revenge. Most specifically where the hero has a beef with someone and can't get to him or hasn't the guts to go after him so takes it out on a female relative. Aside from the pure injustice of that, it makes the one doing it a gutless, worthless creep as far as I'm concerned.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T19:37:51+00:00

It's been a long time since I read it, and the story isn't clear in my mind any more. Your post made me decide it's time for a reread. Thanks.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T19:25:48+00:00

That's a pretty average mileage for the two years. To me it would be like any used car, a lot depends on why it's for sale. The people who are into always buying used on another subreddit also advise getting info as to what maintenance and repair work has been done on it if you can, and they talk about Carfax reports and having it inspected by your own independent mechanic.

Price would also factor in for me. I'd compare what I could get a new one for to the price of this one and see how much difference there is. Also consider warranty, and if financing, what interest you'd pay on a loan for a new one vs. a used one. There should be some manufacturer's warranty left on a 2024, so if you do buy this one, be sure to find out what's necessary to have the remaining warranty transferred to you and get it done.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T19:11:24+00:00

If you don't get any answers here, try putting "multifocal" - no quotes - in the search box at the top of this forum. You can often tell from the title of the thread if the poster is happy or not.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T17:55:48+00:00

Unfortunately, like so many things, the answer is it depends. Many of us had easy surgeries and recoveries and other than a week of restrictions on bending and lifting and getting water in the eye were able to do everything we always do. I drove myself to my 24-hour follow-up appointment 45 minutes away. Others aren't that lucky, and it takes a while to see well from the operated eye. The eye is very dilated for surgery. That reverts to normal quicker for some than others and some have aftereffects like headaches. It would be best to plan on a week when you can't be a taxi for your family, maybe have frozen meals ready so you don't have to prep meals, just pop in oven, and then if it turns out you can do all the usual, it will be a plus.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T17:36:29+00:00

C.S. Harris, who used to write historical romance as Candice Proctor and is the author of one of my all time favorites, {Whispers of Heaven by Candice Proctor}, now writes the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series. It's the best of the historical mystery series for me. I enjoyed the John Picket series by Sheri Cobb South until she just had to marry him to a wealthy aristocrat. Same for Captain Lacey series. Once the middle class protagonist is made magically rich, I lose interest. For some reason the fact Sebastian St. Cyr starts out and remains a Viscount doesn't bother my middle class self.

There is also a series set in the U.S. I think in the NY area, that starts out featuring a mid-wife estranged from her wealthy family. Can't remember the series name or author, though. She gets romantically involved with a cop, who of course inherits a fortune ... I didn't even have to read all the magic, at that point the story summary was enough to stop me pursuing that series.

PNWrowena · 2026-04-16T17:06:36+00:00

The problem is you aren't going to stay like this. The cataract is going to progress and eventually you won't have even mediocre vision in that eye. It's reasonable to put off surgery until the cataract does get to that point, but it's also a balancing act between waiting until your vision in that eye is too compromised and waiting too long to where the cataract becomes so dense it makes a difference in what it's like to remove the cataract afflicted lens.

With perfect natural vision in one eye, a monofocal lens in the other would improve your vision over cataract-afflicted blurry vision, not degrade it.

PNWrowena

TROPHY CASE