I just had cataract surgery in my right eye. This surgery puts a plastic lens in your cornea. Now my vision in that eye has a very bluish cast to it, making everything much whiter and bluer than what I see in my left eye, which, will have the surgery next week. Photos in Play Raw posts that appeared fine to me, including ones I have posted, have areas that look blown out, and of course, all the other colors look completely different than what I see in my left eye.
Since this is a physical change to my eye, I don’t think I will somehow adjust to it and eventually see colors correctly. Has anyone gone through this? If so, what was your experience. Right now, it seems to me that it will be impossible for me to correctly edit photos once the other lens is replaced.
I’m neither a medical expert nor did I have cataract surgery. All I can give you is my 2 cents looking at the human visual system from a software background.
The visual system is very adaptive. You probably know this from your own live for instance when colors look of both when you put on sun glasses but also when you take them off. I think the effect you might be seeing is akin to taking your sun glasses off. I’d expect your brain to adapt to the new situation especially once your two eyes are balanced out again.
These Wikipedia articles only scratch the surface but here you go:
@Jade_NL and @Jonas_Wagner
Those articles were very encouraging and revealing about the brain. I can’t imagine how it can figure out what the correct color is. I am, however, relieved and optimistic. Thanks to both of you. I will follow up on this post to report my experience.
I went to cataract surgery two years ago for my left eye. I had the same consequence as you. Being worried, I asked to a nephew who is ophtalmologist and he said it was normal but that people seldom notice or are annoyed by that.
Two years later there is still a very slight difference, that is not disturbing when inspecting photos.(perhaps brain adaptation!)
Hope you a good recovery of your eyesight
I dont have personal experience with cataract surgery either but my dad had cataract surgery for both of his eyes. The doctors probably told you that your “normal” vision will return about 1 week after the surgery. Your optomologist will probably not check your sight to write you a prescription for glasses until about 1 month after the surgery.
Cataract surgery went very well for my dad and most other people I know and it’s really no big deal.
Everything that you desribed seems to be normal after cataract surgery. Depending on the severeness of your cataract, you will probably be very happy in 1 month or so.
Edit: probably your cataract gave some color (yellow?) cast to your vision that you got used to.
Haven’t had the surgery myself but this is the part I am most uncomfortable with when I first watched the videos at an eye clinic. You mean they cut the old one and then replace it with plastic?! I thought to myself.
There are consequences to the replacement because a different material and shape would mean different optical properties. I don’t know if different plastic lenses exist out there and how they compare. They probably do but the patients may not have a choice in the matter, unless they are made of $$$. In any case, if the cataracts were bad enough to warrant surgery than perhaps their removal has improved your quality of life, save for the slight cast. Moreover, if you do both eyes, the effect wouldn’t be so pronounced.
Got me to thinking, probably makes having a good color management workflow all the more important. If you start with a neutral, colorimetrically-accurate camera profile and eventually convert to a calibrated display profile, what you see should be good for most use, even if it doesn’t look quite right to you. In that, I think you’re then depending on the CIE 1931 color-matching experiments to provide a color rendition you can rely on much more so than your memory of the scene’s coloration… ??
I had a new lens in my right eye, to replace the cataract lens. My left eye also has cataract, but not badly enough to treat.
Cataract causes a yellow cast. It’s like wearing a weak yellow filter over your eye. The replacement lens has no colour cast. We have become accustomed to the yellow cast, so we think the old lens is “neutral” and the new lens is “blue”. But, in fact, the old lens is yellow and the new lens is clear.
Since this is a physical change to my eye, I don’t think I will somehow adjust to it and eventually see colors correctly.
I think you will adjust when your eyes see the same thing. It might seem “wrong” at first, but I suspect that after a month or two you won’t notice it.
With the surgery, my right eye acuity improved from 6/60 (terrible) to 6/4 (fabulously good). My untreated left eye stayed at 6/6. I spent many happy days just looking at things. After nearly a year I went back, thinking my left eye had got worse. Tests showed that objectively it was the same, but my subjective impression had changed: my wonderful right eyesight had become the new normal, and my left eye had apparently become bad by comparison.
First off, thank all of you for your concern; I really appreciate it. And for the information. My recovery is going quite well. I went to my ophthalmologist, and he repeated what you all have been saying. The lens is crystal clear, and I am just seeing true light.
When the technician did the initial examination, I reported the blue cast to her, and she said she hadn’t heard that before. The doctor later said most people don’t notice it. Because I have gotten into editing photos, and also because the effect was initially exacerbated by the dilation of my pupil, I was horrified at the implications. I spent some time thinking about the possibilities of adjusting my calibration to counteract the blue.
I’ve calmed down and think I am already getting used to it. I looked at some edits I have done, and they are not as red or yellow as I thought, and brighter somewhat. My left eye is yellow and slightly darkened, and I will be glad to get it matched up next week. I edited several Play Raw posts, and of course I compared what I did to the coloration of what others did, which I saw through my same eyes, and I was comfortable with the comparison. Now I will have to adjust a few photos and see what I come up with. Maybe post one or two and ask for comments as to which one looks better.
My doctor has been telling me I have cataracts for several years, and that I would be doing this someday. Until my most recent exam, they had always been able to correct my vision to 20/20. I had noticed during this past year that my right eye had become blurry, and I thought, time for a new prescription. Couldn’t correct it this time, and off to surgery I go.
I am two weeks shy of my 72nd birthday. Anyone out there getting up in years needs to consider what effect eye coloration changes are having. I would think this would have been studied and somehow addressed, but I have never read about it.
I will keep reporting as this plays out. Thanks again to all.
It was a week ago Tuesday that my left eye was done. Everything went well, and I am pretty well adjusted to the new color and brightness. I have looked at some past edits, and they don’t have yellow and red tones that I thought were there. I also would reduce the exposure a slight amount. All is well.
Well, want to add to the experience posts, just yesterday had my first cataract operation on my right eye.
Same as @Underexposed, they removed the discrepant lens and replaced it with a clear plastic one, one that will put distant and intermediate objects in clear focus but leave me requiring reading glasses. Okay by me, been doing that for a while anyway. They told me it would be a few weeks before I was resolving clearly, but it’s happening now, just a day after. I haven’t seen things that sharp in years, never could get it quite right in glasses.
Now, the surgeon told me the other eye isn’t far behind, it’s still resolving well but the color cast is noticeable now that I have an “achromatic” eye with which to compare (my wife thinks I’m nuts, running around blinking one eye then the other… ) For me, it’s the yellowish cast that’s discrepant, the new lens makes things look correct color-wise.
Goes to show, the construct called color has many components, any of which can influence one’s assessment…
Welcome to the club, Glenn. I’m glad it went well. Enjoy your new bionic vision!
My right eye had a new lens in 2018, and it is still going strong. My left eye has become bad enough to need a new lens, hopefully this summer. Resolution is fine (because the retina is fine), but the cataract causes heavy glare so the contrast is low to zero, and the focus is permanently on macro (ie short-sighted). Ho hum, the joys of getting old.
) For me, it’s the yellowish cast that’s discrepant, the new lens makes things look correct color-wise.