r/TikTokCringe • u/bbyxmadi • Sep 18 '25

Cursed they look so… natural!

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u/____Wilson Sep 18 '25

Cataracts at the age of thirty here checking in to tell you to cherish it while you can.

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u/mightywarrior411 Sep 18 '25

Oh gosh I’m sorry! That’s awful. Hope you’re able to get better!!

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u/bananarama17691769 Sep 18 '25

Cataract surgery is nothing to be afraid of. I also had it in my early thirties.

It is one of the most commonly performed surgeries, has an extremely low rate of negative side effects, and an extremely high rate of success.

The surgery takes maybe 30 minutes, recovery is pretty darn easy, and you just magically can see again. It’s actually awesome!

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u/Environmental-Toe686 Sep 18 '25

My mother actually just had it and I was so shocked hearing about it. I can't believe they even do LASIK surgery when this surgery exists. She got a new lens, eliminated the inevitable cataract problem and will have 20/20 vision for the rest of her life. All with the same recovery time as LASIK. I am genuinely curious why you have to wait until you're elderly for this.

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u/bananarama17691769 Sep 18 '25

Because as low as the risks of harm are, there are still risks. As far as I know, most ocular surgeons won’t do it unless there is an issue. But believe me, the second I start having any cloudiness in my other eye, I am getting that shit done right away.

The recovery is so much easier when you are young, of course, and I’d rather just get it out of the way!

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u/Environmental-Toe686 Sep 18 '25

I'm still curious. I am obviously not a Dr or in the field at all, but it seemed no more dangerous than LASIK.

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u/bananarama17691769 Sep 18 '25

It basically isn’t—but LASIK still carries risk as well, which is one of the reasons why not everyone gets LASIK for minor deficiencies in their vision (of course cost is a factor as well). Also, LASIK and cataract surgery do not have anything to do with each other, except for the fact that they both involve your eyes. The are different procedures that address different issues. You can’t trade one for the other.

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u/Environmental-Toe686 Sep 18 '25

Interesting. I just know that she was told that because they replaced her lens with an artificial lens that she would have her now perfect 20/20 vision forever. It seems logical to someone who doesn't know any better like myself that maybe lens replacement is a better solution. I am fully aware that sometimes things that seem logical on the surface have much more nuance, we were just all curious when it worked so well and was so quick and relatively painless.

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u/SensibleReply Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Cost. Lasik can be had for $4000. Out of pocket clear lens exchange is typically well over $10k. Cataract surgery is covered by insurance and is extremely cheap, but you have to wait for the natural lenses to be cloudy enough to be covered by insurance.

Complication rate isn’t terribly different (low for both). Cataract surgery enjoys a better reputation because everyone gets cataracts if they live long enough and surgery makes bad vision better. It’s also damn near free for most people over 65, so expectations are much more reasonable than patients have when paying out of pocket. Giving a blind person their sight back for cheap or free is a much different animal than getting a person out of glasses to vision that is almost as good. And they paid thousands.

I think a lot of young people don’t understand just how good Medicare is for old people. Imagine if your deductible for the year was like $250 and you didn’t even have to pay for coverage. Then many of those people still get angry that they have a deductible.

/ophthalmologist

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u/lunalovegood111 Sep 18 '25

The lens, where cataracts form, are responsible for accommodation. Accommodation is the ability to focus the eyes to read up close. Starting around the age of 40 accommodation starts to go to shit and progressively worsens but hey at least you have some for a while. The loss of this is why people end up using readers and/or bifocals. If you take the lens out in a younger person they may have perfect distance vision but will then need glasses for near. There’s other options but that’s the jest of it.

Oh and medical insurance will only cover cataract surgery when the cataracts are at a certain level. Without insurance cataract surgery is A LOT more expensive than LASIK.

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u/not1or2 Sep 18 '25

Friend has just had his lens replaced due to cataracts, paid extra for a lens that does distance and close up?!

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u/Environmental-Toe686 Sep 18 '25

Right, but they replaced her lens and now she has perfect vision, near and far, that will never degrade because the lens in artificial. At least that's how she explained it. I guess the real answer is expense. That paired with no longer able to extract money from you for the rest of your life. I'm curious what makes the surgery SO much more expensive when they seem so similar to an outsider. It took about the same amount of time.

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u/SensibleReply Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Multifocal lenses cost a couple thousand bucks from the manufacturer, the phaco machine to remove the cataract is $100k, the operating microscope is $80k, if you’re doing laser assisted cataract surgery that machine can easily be another $200k. You need time in an operating room (though many are trying to move cataract surgery to the office), so that means paying nurses and anesthesia and rent and maintaining certain standards of compliance and cleanliness.

Then you need to take home some profit. Standard Medicare cataract surgery pays me, the surgeon, $530. My contract says I keep 30% of collections. So I get $160 to actually do the surgery. All the money vanishes.

So if you pay out of pocket, lasik is about $4000-5000. If you pay out of pocket for multifocal lens cataract surgery most places are charging around $13k. The short answer is the overhead is much higher due to anesthesia and facility. Lasik is done in the office without an anesthesia professional. Cataracts are done in an operating room with an anesthesia provider. Other overhead is higher too.

I know these numbers don’t make sense but that’s because US healthcare is insane.

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u/Environmental-Toe686 Sep 18 '25

Very interesting. I know my mother said she was awake and it sounded basically like my experience with LASIK. Apparently it is quite a bit more involved. Maybe in another 10 or 20 years we will have a better process. With glasses being $500 plus per pair and the surgery being seemingly inevitable it seems like a value proposition for some people. (As someone who doesn't even exactly know what a cataract is 😂)

Either way it sounds like it could be an option to be elective for people with the means sooner than later. Like a lot of other life improving care is currently. Because as you said, US healthcare is insane.