Eye lens replacement

[Juliet Barvo]

So when you apply to be a Trainee Train Driver, the Safety Critical questions ask if you have ever had Laser Eye surgery.

What if a person has had Lens replacement surgery, as an alternative to wearing eyeglasses: that person automatically barred from becoming a Trainee Train Driver?

 

[OneLowban]

I would imagine they would be treated the same, which would mean some TOCs allow it and some don't.

Best to contact them when you apply.

 

[Stigy]

With laser eye surgery I believe you’re not automatically barred from appointment, however it depends when the surgery took place (over a year I believe?). I guess all TOCs are different though? What is lens replacement? Never heard of it.

 

[Juliet Barvo]

Lens replacement: You need to wear glasses or contacts, but you don't want to, so you can have the corrective lens inserted into your eye where your natural lens would be.

Cut open the eye at the front like peeling a potato, and pop in a contact lens, close the wound, let it heal, and your contact lens is in your eye. Basically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraocular_lens

 

[TheVicLine]

Woah no way! Never heard of that. I wear contacts and my manager said he wanted to come on a shift with me to make sure I was ok. Er????
Start of shift, are your eyes ok, is your vision blurred? Me - no.
End of shift, are your eyes ok, is your vision blurred? Me - no.
I think they make it up as they go along with contacts, so lens replacement could be a bit interesting as in they won't have a clue. I would tell any potential employer at the interview stage.

Just out of interest, what happens as your vision changes? Do you need to have surgery to replace the inserted lenses?

 

[Juliet Barvo]

Yes or wear corrective glasses

 

[Bletchleyite]

The mere idea of that makes me wince, even though I wear glasses and don't particularly like doing so!

 

[a_c_skinner]

Off topic but lens replacement is usually for cataracts, the modern operation is a tiny cut, a minature vacuum cleaner sucks the cloudy lens material out and a new lens is popped in and unfolded in the eye, like making a ship in a bottle. Very few people will have this at an age where they'd still be driving trains. Intra occular lenses for refractive errors I'd not come across, but it seems the new thing. I'd not consider it unless I couldn't get to the legal limit for a driving licence with spectacles or contacts. It isn't common and the employers won't know what to do.

 

[Confused52]

Woah no way! Never heard of that. I wear contacts and my manager said he wanted to come on a shift with me to make sure I was ok. Er????
Start of shift, are your eyes ok, is your vision blurred? Me - no.
End of shift, are your eyes ok, is your vision blurred? Me - no.
I think they make it up as they go along with contacts, so lens replacement could be a bit interesting as in they won't have a clue. I would tell any potential employer at the interview stage.

Just out of interest, what happens as your vision changes? Do you need to have surgery to replace the inserted lenses?

The incision is actually made at the top of the eye to ensure that the scar doesn't affect vision. The existing lens which is usually hardened by age and obscured by a cataract. The lens is broken up and removed from the sac that it sits in and a plastic lens is fitted in its place. Vision is restored in days and the eye can function as normal but without accommodation. Accommodation is when the lens has its shape changed by the muscles in the eye to focus at shorter distances. As one gets older the eye becomes harder and this changing of shape works less well and is why we need glasses as we age and the glasses needed change with age. After implanting intraocular lenses that lens aging process is stopped and you wear varifocals which should not change significantly over time. In my own case the two eyes have lenses with different focal lengths and work like wearing two monocles. That means that for most practical purposes I do not need to wear glasses at all. One eye lets me see distance and the other distances of 2 to 3 ft. This happens without even noticing and is called Monovision.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Off topic but lens replacement is usually for cataracts, the modern operation is a tiny cut, a minature vacuum cleaner sucks the cloudy lens material out and a new lens is popped in and unfolded in the eye, like making a ship in a bottle. Very few people will have this at an age where they'd still be driving trains. Intra occular lenses for refractive errors I'd not come across, but it seems the new thing. I'd not consider it unless I couldn't get to the legal limit for a driving licence with spectacles or contacts. It isn't common and the employers won't know what to do.

It is now the standard option for "laser treatment" (this being the common expression for any refractive surgery) as it has less risk of side effects, eliminates the need for future cataract surgery and can be done using the same equipment for cataract surgery, which every eye department carries out daily - it is the most common operation carried out on the NHS.

If you want more interesting options, the traditional pre-laser keratomileusis involved cutting a section of the cornea off the eye, freezing it, reshaping it on a lathe and then putting it back onto the eye with its new shape correcting the underlying ametropia.


I would be interesting to know how a TOC would view a driver using Orthokeratology contact lenses. These are rigid lenses worn at night that reshape the cornea for mild myopia, so the following day you have corrected vision, with no lenses or spectacles worn. Obviously in an eye exam during the day you should be able to achieve 6/6 without any spectacles or lenses in, but where you to stop wearing the lenses for 3 days, your vision would reduce to its original level.

 

[Condor7]

The mere idea of that makes me wince, even though I wear glasses and don't particularly like doing so!

Which is why I put off having it done for years, but in the end after talking to someone else who had it done I went ahead. It’s one of the best thing I ever did. You don’t even get undressed, just a hair net and gown over my clothes, wheeled into a operating theatre, a patch over the eye they are not doing (you can only have one done at a time) drops in the eye they are doing which numbs the eye and blurs the vision. You see a bit of movement but feel absolutely nothing. Within 10 minutes I was back out being given a cup of tea, I couldn’t believe how easy it was, and that was a complete lens replacement.

 

[SAlty]

Which is why I put off having it done for years, but in the end after talking to someone else who had it done I went ahead. It’s one of the best thing I ever did. You don’t even get undressed, just a hair net and gown over my clothes, wheeled into a operating theatre, a patch over the eye they are not doing (you can only have one done at a time) drops in the eye they are doing which numbs the eye and blurs the vision. You see a bit of movement but feel absolutely nothing. Within 10 minutes I was back out being given a cup of tea, I couldn’t believe how easy it was, and that was a complete lens replacement.

Sounds simple enough. Are you a driver, if so did you have any problems at your medical?

 

[Narom]

Obviously in an eye exam during the day you should be able to achieve 6/6 without any spectacles or lenses in, but where you to stop wearing the lenses for 3 days, your vision would reduce to its original level.

I know of someone who for another job was worried about failing the eye test wore contacts under his glasses. He dodged a couple to make it less obvious he was cheating.

He got got sacked down the line, but not for that.

 

[Stigy]

I know of someone who for another job was worried about failing the eye test wore contacts under his glasses. He dodged a couple to make it less obvious he was cheating.

He got got sacked down the line, but not for that.

Not sure how that would even work? If I wore two pairs of glasses (I know it’s not possible, but I’ve never worn contacts lol) I’d not be able to see, even if it’s the right prescription. It just doesn’t work like that, for my eyes anyway. It would all be a blur. I wouldn’t suddenly get super-vision

Maybe contacts work differently, but all I’d get is a headache

 

[Condor7]

Sounds simple enough. Are you a driver, if so did you have any problems at your medical?

No not a train driver, just a car driver, but I’ve had eye tests since and have excellent vision so cannot imagine it being a problem at any medical.