Cataracts op experiences - particularly EDOF lenses

I havent had it done but did a consultation about lens replacement with Johnson and Johnson multi focal lenses. What shocked me was that the dont work well close up and at the moment my near vision is better than after the replacement. Suffice to say the idea of replaceing lenses are currently on the back burner for now

Im currently waiting form mine. Mum was done (both eyes, one at a time only a few months ago and mum can be rather moany about niggles and pain-though she is 84, so understandable, and fact she hasnt said anything its clearly been a roaring success.

Mine is a bit of a horror story, and we havent even had it done yet.I've 'early onset'(im in my 50's)

Optician finds they are developing, says he'll refer me  for the operation, says the waiting time is about 9 months.

After 8 months I phone the NHS optometry dept- They've never heard of me.

Instantly contact my optician, where he tells me he forgot to do the referral and would put it through as an emergency(appeared to have no priority

But it goes through and im now on the list. 9 month wait.

8 months in i phone to find out my position on the list and find it will be another couple of months till my first consultation, and told that after this consultation its usually a 6-8week wait for the actual procedure itself.

We have recently found out that instead of 6-8 weeks, it could be another 7 pr 8 months, bringing my total wait time thus far to 18 or so months, with a possibility of having to wait another 8 months, meaning i could have had to wait from first diagnosis to operation of 2 years 2+months

Currently i can hardly see, and bright light totally blinds me, even the light off the tV makes it near impossible to see whats on the screen. This is being typed out in inverted colours with a black screen/white lettering

Im kind of housebound but cycle to the shops(100m or so) even though i shouldnt and cant actually see any cars, im basically riding on instinct and very very slowly(oh how the mighty have fallen)

I know there are downsides and while you'll end up with excellent far sight, near sight is not good and ill always need to wear reading glasses.

After 18 months of slowly going blind, i couldnt give a F*** if i have to wear reading glasses or regular glasses, get flashes, halos or whatever. I just want to be able to see again because this is very depressing and leading me towards dark thoughts.

SIL had hers done very quickly, but they apparently were bad - she was still driving ! She's had complications with one of the eyes and is still waiting to get that fixed. 

I've looked into replacement IOLs just for vision correction rather than cataracts and one option seems to be different focal length lenses in each eye. It sounds headache-inducing but apparently your brain adapts to it (although that can take a while). For the time being I'm just waiting until my vision gets more of an issue as I keep wondering if there will be some sort of break through technology just around the corner (appreciate that someone with cataracts doesn't have that option)

My SIL ended up with different focal length lenses, but one eye hasn't taken so well. Not exactly sure as she's not the best with medical terms and avoided the doctors until she was in her 60's.

I had mine done around four/five years ago. My eyesight has always been reasonable, worse in my right than my left, managed fine with glasses and contacts, until around six, seven years ago, when I was diagnosed with early cataract development, and had a full examination at Bath RUH, where predictably I was told they weren’t bad enough to operate. I was managing with a single contact lens in my right eye, that helped a bit. FFWD to around 12 months later, and my eyes had got significantly worse, especially my right, to the extent I could barely see where the kerb was when there was oncoming traffic in the dark, not just LED lights but ordinary lights, particularly trucks with lights that seemed to point up, so I had another examination at Bath, which showed I really needed my eyes sorting, but it could be at least six months, which I could cope with.

About a month later, I had a call at work from RUH admissions, saying they’d had a cancellation, and would I be interested in going in, this was on a Thursday, so I said yes, when is it? Next Tuesday, I was told! I’d opted for same vision lenses in both eyes, for distance, I’m not bothered about wearing cheap reading glasses for close-up, and the results exceeded my expectations! 
I had the second eye, my left, done about three months later, and my eyesight is better than at any time since my early twenties, everything is so much brighter and sharper now, my only problem is macular degeneration, but I’m controlling that by taking Macuguard Pro tablets, which so far have stopped things going any further, that was picked up around the same time as the cataracts, so I’m pretty chuffed how everything has worked out. 
I can only speak for myself, but I feel going for replacement lenses that are both the same has been beneficial, but I was short-sighted, I’m not sure how things would work if I’d been long sighted.

OP: if your cataracts are bad enough to have that much impact on your life, is there no way that they can bump you up the list? When my optician recommended that I get mine done, the waiting list was only about 6 weeks, and mine weren't nearly as bad as yours sound.

I actually went private for mine because (a) my work medical insurance paid for part of it, and (b) I was interested in fancy multifocal lenses that you can't get on the NHS. I was young (maybe 45) and had congenital cataracts which had worsened, as well as mildish astigmatism but really strong short sight (around -12 in each eye). Because my eyes were still good at focusing I was really reluctant to end up needing reading glasses or varifocals.

Anyway, I went to Moorfields private, and the chap explained that fancy lenses don't tend to give good results for eyes like mine (and I don't think many are even made in those specs), but that for best results he recommended going for single vision lenses, with one focused at distance and once for nearish. I took his advice, and it's been brilliant. For normal stuff I don't need any glasses at all. I do use a pair for computer work with both eyes focused at screen distance, and a pair for driving with both pretty far (but lefty pulled in just a touch so that the dashboard etc is clear), and a pair for reading in bed. But for normal activities I don't even carry any. I had both eyes done in one session, all very straightforward. Was about £8k I think, but I'm very sure that other places are cheaper. I'd do it that way again in a flash. Let me know if you want the details of the professor chap that did mine - he was really good.

I was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes at the age of 43, which was a bit of a shock. NHS was only going to do the bad one at first which was going to be a whole bother of glasses and things. At the time I was an outdoor activity guide and wanted an easy solution that wouldn't involve changing glasses, needing prescription sun glasses etc

MrsL agreed that I could spend the 'kitchen fund' and I went private. Got a deal by agreeing to have both eyes done in one sitting, which was a very strange day indeed, and went for multi-focus lenses.

7 years on and it's pretty good. I do get halos and flaring from lights, especially in the winter when driving but I have got used to it, it's just brain training at first and eventually you stop noticing it most of the time. I can't really see stars properly if there are any bright lights in my peripheral vision but that's easily sorted by making blinkers with my hands or just going somewhere darker. Low light vision, for reading and detailed things, isn't great but I always have my phone torch with me so it's a minor inconvenience really.

Possibly the worst bit is riding bikes in mixed light conditions - plunging into dark woods on a sunny day is a bit tricky, but I'm happy to slow down these days.

I have to admit that I don't know what EDOF lenses do but multi-focal has been good for me. Good luck with your choice!

Thanks for all the responses.

To be honest, my eyesight isn't that bad - I can manage fine with glasses but right eye is definitely getting quite fuzzy so I'm relying on my left quite a bit.  Driving at night is probably when I notice it the most.

Having read the above, single vision for distance sound like the best option for me - I don't mind the idea of wearing glasses for close up stuff, and really want to avoid any problems with vision in low light/night driving.

BTW EDOF lenses are Extended Depth of Field - the idea is that they give a range of focus, rather than the multi focus (which have three distinct points of focus) and apparently have fewer issues with flares etc, but still quite new, so not a huge amount of info available.