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Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-22 00:53:24 By doris p
I am 57 years old and I was diagnosed with RP at 18 years old. I have no central vision, some pockets of peritheral vision. My doctor is recomending I undergo cataract surgury.

Is there anyone out there like me that has already had catarcts removed? Was there any improvement in your vision? Were there any complications after the surgury? Please describe your vision before and after the surgury. Thanks for your response.

Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-22 10:39:55 By Darran Z
Have you had a PAM (Potential Acuity Meter) test done? This is one way to mesaure effectiveness of cataract surgery. But if the RP is advanced and affecting your cones, then cataract surgery would likely do you little, if any, benefit. But the benefit of cataract surgery is dependant upon how well functioning yoru cones are.

Darran

Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-22 21:52:53 By Cristy W
I am 33 years old and had cataracts removed in December. Before the cataracts were removed I was seeing 20/40 with glasses. That was the best they could do since I had the cataracts. I was seeing 20/30 out of my right eye the morning after and had the left eye done a week later and was seeing 20/30 in about 2 weeks. It made my images much better and I could see far away for the first time in years. The down side was I had great upclose vision and lost that. They said you lose that with age anyways. In order to read up close, I had to get readers from Walmart. It took me a few weeks to adjust to not being able to read up close but I am grateful that I did and wished I had done it sooner. The procedure only took 3 minutes, no pain and you couldn't even tell they did it. The first week I had it done I saw halos and was light sensitive. Its good now.

Re: Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-24 14:01:43 By Tina T
i am 33 years old and i never had this problen but if they could make u see a little better far away after you get the Cataracts why is it that they can't do laser on us to help us see a bit better i would love just a bit of change right now . how long have you had RP?

Re: Re: Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-24 15:49:47 By Cristy W
I was told in my mid 20s that I had RP but had no idea what it was, he told me to just adapt to it, I was led to believe it just caused night blindness. It wasn't until I had the cataracts removed that I learned of what it exactly was. I have been told that you can get lasser surgery, but it only corrects the central vision, it won't cure the retina problem. Daran could probably elaborate on that. I think you want to be carefully in who would perform this since it can cause scar tissue and make you have more problems. But I am not an expert, I am just learning all this stuff. I was told that I could develop a 2nd cataract which they go in and remove it by laser, suppose to be a simple surgery.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-24 17:44:56 By Tina T
thank you fpr the reply . i found out when i was 21 and like u i didn't know what it was but i knew when i was a teenager that i was having trouble getting around in the night time and trying to find things on the flooor or or anywhere if they where small or the same color , i was told that there was nothing wrong with me that i needed glasses for a year and then after that i would b fine but then my Aunt got me to see someone else 6 month's later and he said i think u have RP so they ran all the test and sure enought i found out on my 21tg brithday i was in shock for 3 days before i broke down now i have a little girl and i get her checked every year . If i had to find out when i was young they would have been able to safe some of my sight but its too late now .

Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-23 21:20:16 By Patrice E
I am scheduled to have cataract surgery soon. I currently have pretty good central vision which is corrected to about 20/50 - I'm hoping that will improve somewhat after the cataract is removed.

Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-02-24 21:50:43 By Beth M
I had cataracts removed about 15 years ago. I am now 39 and I am one of the ones that will tell you, it literally changed my life. I was diagnosed with RP and cataracts at age 15 with less than 5 degrees of peripheral field at that time. At the time of removal I had about 3 degress left. My central vision with contacts or glasses could only be corrected to 20/60 and very muddy. Every color seemed to bleed into one another. The morning after the surgery when they removed my bandage(they do one eye at a time) I cried. It was Christmas time and the lights on the tree were blinding and so clear. It was a miracle to me. I saw blades of grass instead of just blurry green. Colors stood out like nothing I had ever seen.
I had to have the YAG laser about 6 months out because of scar tissue, but since then I have had no problems at all except for the natural progression of the RP. I still see colors very vividly, but do have the "snow" problems like a lot of later stage RP people have. I now have 2 degrees of peripheral field. I have a lot of floaters that interfere with central vision as well. I have heard about the cataract surgery causing a greater risk for CME, so you may want to check into that before you decide. And I would recommend that you make sure that the doctor performing your catarct surgery be very knowledgable about RP and the risks involved.
I wish you all the luck in the world.
Beth:)

Re: Re: Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-03-02 20:07:13 By Beth M
Darren would be the best one to answer that question. I personally haven't heard of any studies regarding the progression of rp and cataract surgery, but have heard that it does cause a greater incident of the CME.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Cataracts and advanced RP
Posted: 2008-03-20 12:30:56 By Danielle T
What is CME?

I'm a 33 year old woman with RP. I've been told it's pretty stable, but my peripheral vision has been greatly affected.
I'm supposed to have cataract surgery in my left eye in two weeks, but now I'm hearing of someone who regrets having the surgery. I'm also worried that it will speed up the deterioration. Has anyone expereinced this and can someone please guide me? I'm lost and don't know if I should proceed with the surgery.

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