I started this journey in 2003 and yesterday was the first day after my IOL replacement surgery on my second eye. In the normal day after post-op visit I found out I was seeing 20/20 in my right eye and 20/30 in my left eye, good results and prognosis, but this is closer to the end and I wanted to start at the beginning.

In 2003 I had worn glasses and contacts for over 45 years and thought it was time to look into lasik. I went to a doctor in Hayward who did the initial eye exam and told me I had cataracts and I was not a candidate for lasik. Now to me this was not good new, but as my vision was still very acceptable, I thought, not too distressing.

There was  good news though. The CrystalLens was just approved by the FDA as an accommodate lens and IOL replacement was common surgery. The bad news was the cost, 10,000 dollars ballpark numbers.

The second piece of good news was that my astigmatism was lenticular and the cataract surgery would fix that. It became more complex than that when I finally decided to have the cataract surgery.

I did not expect to get surgery for several years so started doing my homework. What I found

The natural lens would be replaced
The actual operation is as safe or safer than lasik
The state of the art accommodative lenses had no long term results and more were on the way

So I decided to settle down and wait at least five years for new accommodative lenses, more choices, and to see how they new technology faired in five years. I am glad I waited for new technology and more long term information on success of the accommodative lenses.

Next time, state of the art and the slow progress in accommodation!