It's Cataract Removal Day!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

At the Eye Surgery Center in Nashville getting the cataract in my right eye removed. Have been practically blind in that eye the last couple months. Also getting multi-focal lenses. So I should not need to wear glasses any more. Left eye gets done in two weeks. The cataracts were caused by the anti-rejection meds I have to take.

[Jim Cassedy]

Good Luck Mark- - This must be "National Cataract Removal Day" or something, since one
of my best friends is also scheduled for the same surgery today here in San Francisco.

I'll probably need some sort of eye intervention soon, as my right eye is slowly starting to
have problems. I recently realized I can no longer reliably set up or test a dual projector
3D system without help in getting a '2nd opinion' on how it looks.

So, sooner or later I'll probably need have some sort eye surgery soon, unless somebody
can invent a 3D system I can see with one eye.

[Bobby Henderson]

I'd hate even imagining having cataracts. It should be a huge relief to get those removed. Hopefully there are no complications and your eyes come out much better for it. Hopefully the cataracts never return either!

My first thought on hearing about any eye surgery: that weird silent movie from Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, Un Chien Andalou. There's a shot in there of a razor blade slicing an eye ball, among other disturbing things.

[Leo Enticknap]

That movie is in competition with Electrocuting an Elephant for being the most difficult footage to sit through.

In our business, eyesight and hearing problems are a very big deal, obviously, and so I'm relieved that Mark is having this taken care of. One of the plusses of the conversion to digital cinema is the ability, via a wifi access point, to adjust focus standing right next to the screen. I can now no longer do it from most booths without a convergence camera or binoculars.

I developed a phobia of contact lenses as a child: my mother started to use them when I was around six or seven, and had serious problems with them sticking in her eye, even to the extent of needing surgery to remove one. From that point on, I decided that I was buggered if I was sticking bits of glass in my eye! Glasses may look geeky, but I don't mind for the peace of mind in knowing that I will actually be able to take them off at the end of the day.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

All done in the right eye. Took the doctor 7 minutes to perform the surgery. They give you what they call "I don,t care sedation". And I have to admit that I really don't care right now...

[Christopher Markiewicz]

I had both of my eyes done about 5 years ago at Kaiser in Oakland CA. Fixed-focus lenses so I still need reading glasses. The colors seen during surgery were amazing!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I got to watch that same 7 minute light show...

[John Eickhof]

its literally the difference between night and day!! be prepared for vivid colors and BRIGHT light! you will be ancey to get the other one done ASAP! good luck!

[Randy Stankey]

Cataract? I thought you drove a Rincon!

[Mark Ogden]

I'm glad it went well for you. Vision issues terrify me, and blindness is something I would not be able to deal with. Fortunately, after almost 45 years of wearing UV blocking contact lenses, I have had no cataract issues at all.

My issue is something else: floaters. I am pushing 70 so they occur as a mater of age. But a few years back I took a good wallop to the head in a car acident and since then my field of vision resembles the long-lost Argentinian vault footage from Metropolis. So I am considering what is called a vitrectomy, where the fluid (and all the detritus) in your eye is drained out and replaced with saline. The prospect of this doesn't fill me with glee, but having clear vision again would be great. They just better have the industrial strength sedation ready.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

its literally the difference between night and day!! be prepared for vivid colors and BRIGHT light! you will be ancey to get the other one done ASAP! good luck!

Two weeks till the left eye ge5ts done John....

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I'm glad it went well for you. Vision issues terrify me, and blindness is something I would not be able to deal with. Fortunately, after almost 45 years of wearing UV blocking contact lenses, I have had no cataract issues at all.

My issue is something else: floaters. I am pushing 70 so they occur as a mater of age. But a few years back I took a good wallop to the head in a car accident and since then my field of vision resembles the long-lost Argentinian vault footage from Metropolis. So I am considering what is called a vitrectomy, where the fluid (and all the detritus) in your eye is drained out and replaced with saline. The prospect of this doesn't fill me with glee, but having clear vision again would be great. They just better have the industrial strength sedation ready.

I have them too... The thing I found that clears them up is to go scuba diving in the Florida Keys. The salt is more concentrated there than inm the Caymans or the Bahamas. The coral is also the largest in the Caribbean.I would go with several floaters and com back home with none. There's something in that water other then fish.

[Martin McCaffery]

Had both of mine done a few years ago. I was too young for the insurance to pay for it, but my optometrist wrote a note saying it was necessary for my job, so Blue Cross said ok.
The first thing I noticed was white things didn't have a yellow hue anymore (I've recently started wearing blue blocker reading glasses and it is just like before my surgery).
The down side was (and the surgeon said it was a one in a thousand chance, though it happened in both eyes, so I'm suspicious) I get haloing when looking at a light source in a dark background. Picture the line separator reflectors on highways, then imagine them with a halo. Apparently, my retina opens too wide. Can be really annoying while watching movies, though I have figured out ways to make it go away for awhile.
The surgeon said they could try again (without insurance covering it) but it would only be a 50/50 chance of being corrected. I've chosen to live with it.
The surgery also knocked loose a big floater that is truly annoying.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Had both of mine done a few years ago. I was too young for the insurance to pay for it, but my optometrist wrote a note saying it was necessary for my job, so Blue Cross said ok.
The first thing I noticed was white things didn't have a yellow hue anymore (I've recently started wearing blue blocker reading glasses and it is just like before my surgery).
The down side was (and the surgeon said it was a one in a thousand chance, though it happened in both eyes, so I'm suspicious) I get haloing when looking at a light source in a dark background. Picture the line separator reflectors on highways, then imagine them with a halo. Apparently, my retina opens too wide. Can be really annoying while watching movies, though I have figured out ways to make it go away for awhile.
The surgeon said they could try again (without insurance covering it) but it would only be a 50/50 chance of being corrected. I've chosen to live with it.
The surgery also knocked loose a big floater that is truly annoying.

I've been saying all day ling that I can see in Technicolor again. Things are still dingy in the left eye though.

[Steve Guttag]

Just put a blue filter over that eye...oh wait, that is for color fading. Try Bonami.