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Cataract surgery gone wrong

hbarcat

hbarcat

Supporting Member
Aug 24, 2006
10,227
18,634
Rochelle, Illinois
#1
My father had cataract surgery on both eyes several months ago and he's been having double vision and strange color problems ever since. He's been back to the doctor who performed the surgery multiple times but he keeps dismissing my father's complaints.

So he went to an independent specislist for extensive testing and was told the surgery was botched. One of the replacement lenses is wrong. Both eyes were supposed to get the same replacement lens but the one in his right eye is a different shape and it's also tinted, when it shouldn't be.

This is significantly affecting his quality of life, because he can't drive like this or do other tasks that require adequate vision. Plus, the double vision is giving him headaches.

Is this kind of mistake common?
 
#4
I have nothing to contribute except for my amazement at learning what cataract surgery actually is. Modern medicine is amazing, except when an incompetent physician is involved. Hope things turn out okay.
 
#6
hbarcat said:
I thought this was routine. Like getting your oil changed.
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There are incompetent mechanics and incompetent doctors. I read medical reports for a big chunk of my day and you'd be amazed how often the best credentialed and reviewed doctors can screw up sometimes, so imagine how bad not-so-great or average doctors can be.
 
#7
Yeesh. Sorry to hear that.

It was a miracle for my father. At 73 he doesn't wear glasses. At 48 I wear no-line trifocals. :D

He got his done one eye at a time. The day after the first one, he couldn't wait to get the other one done. The day after his second one, I watched him smash his glasses with a hammer. Lucky old bastard has better eyesight than his son. :wideyed:
 
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#8
hbarcat said:
I thought this was routine. Like getting your oil changed.
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It is. My stepfather had cataract surgery a couple of months ago and I was worried so I gathered a lot of infos about it. It is a very safe, routine surgery.
I would say what happened to your father is doctor's error, and I agree that

StyleOverShow said:
it sounds like your dad will need to ‘see’ a lawyer and another OD to make things right.
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Best wishes to your father, I hope he can get justice and possibly fix this mess with another surgery.
 
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#10
two fingers said:
Yeesh. Sorry to hear that.

It was a miracle for my father. At 73 he doesn't wear glasses. At 48 I wear no-line trifocals. :D

He got his done one eye at a time. The day after the first one, he couldn't wait to get the other one done. The day after his second one, I watched him smash his glasses with a hammer. Lucky old bastard has better eyesight than his son. :wideyed:
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There's a "twist" to this story. My dad was advised by several others to get one eye done at a time on the theory that if they screw up one eye, then you at least have one left.

I suggested otherwise, because I reasoned that if both eyes are the same surgery, then they should be done at the same time so that the procedure will be identical in both eyes. Waiting a month to do the second eye only provides an opportunity for something to change between eyes. Which is exactly what happened. If they'd ordered both lenses at the same time they'd have been identical, but they were ordered separately, a month apart, and they ended up being different and nobody checked.
 
#11
hbarcat said:
There's a "twist" to this story. My dad was advised by several others to get one eye done at a time on the theory that if they screw up one eye, then you at least have one left.

I suggested otherwise, because I reasoned that if both eyes are the same surgery, then they should be done at the same time so that the procedure will be identical in both eyes. Waiting a month to do the second eye only provides an opportunity for something to change between eyes. Which is exactly what happened. If they'd ordered both lenses at the same time they'd have been identical, but they were ordered separately, a month apart, and they ended up being different and nobody checked.
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My dad's doc wouldn't do them both at the same time because dad would be functionally blind during recovery. He literally refuses to do both together.
 
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#12
hbarcat said:
There's a "twist" to this story. My dad was advised by several others to get one eye done at a time on the theory that if they screw up one eye, then you at least have one left.

I suggested otherwise, because I reasoned that if both eyes are the same surgery, then they should be done at the same time so that the procedure will be identical in both eyes. Waiting a month to do the second eye only provides an opportunity for something to change between eyes. Which is exactly what happened. If they'd ordered both lenses at the same time they'd have been identical, but they were ordered separately, a month apart, and they ended up being different and nobody checked.
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They never do both eyes at the same time. The routine is correct... Still they have been negligent messing up with the lens value.
 
#13
When my mom had cataract surgery the new lens flipped upside down when it was being inserted. It seated itself literally facing backwards. The doctor patched her up and she had emergency corrective surgery performed by another specialist that night.
 
#17
hbarcat said:
Is this kind of mistake common?
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probably not. but that it happens at all is a disaster --- nonetheless.

the most common procedure (the one i had):
- performed by an ophthalmologist (in the USA).
- one eye at a time, two weeks apart.
- normally takes 12-15 minutes for the actual removal of the old lens and insertion of the 'bionic' lens.
- choice of lenses varies with the end goal and $ (bifocal lenses, correction for astigmatism, special lenses, etc.)
- antibiotic eye drops to aid healing, other drops medicines if required for a specific patient.

of course, different folks have different reactions to a successful procedure, let alone when things are mucked up by incompetence.

i hope your father's issues are resolved and that he can move forward with better vision! :thumbsup:
 
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#18
The UK process is similar - time between them, but here we don't get a choice of who does it. you get referred to your local hospital and then the operation is done by the consultant eye surgeon, or one of his deputies, depending on the complexity of the case. It means you get people who do eye surgery daily and the success rate is very high. If thing go wrong, and in medical care, they sometimes do, then you can take action against the surgeon and the case is looked at by specialists who determine blame, or not - after that the legal people take over to discuss compensation. It's a great system - you in essence take action against the hospital trust, not the surgeon. In your dad's case, surely you just get an independent opinion on what is wrong, and then get it fixed.
 
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#19
The lesson is all medical procedures are fraught with potential peril. The best doctors and surgeons make mistakes and every patient is different. **** happens. Surgery of any kind should be considered as a big deal no matter what the statistical data says about likely outcomes. Risk vs reward.

I would never have surgery done on both eyes at the same time even if they’d do it, which AFAIK they don’t except with rare exceptions.
 
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#20
Alkali Ike said:
The best doctors and surgeons make mistakes and every patient is different. **** happens.
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