I recently had cataract surgery in both eyes, each about a month apart. The doctor told me that my vision would improve (a good thing). I had to have surgery because it was getting harder and harder to see, especially up close. I knew it was time to do something when I realized I couldn’t read my weight on the bathroom scale and I was sitting closer and closer to the computer as I edited.
What I didn’t expect was a rather dramatic change in color vision. Since cataracts add yellow or brown to everything you see, if you remember to mix the primary colors you will get Yellow (from cataract) + Red = Orange, Yellow (from cataract) ) + Blue = Green, Yellow (from cataract) + Red + Blue = Brown. In short, all colors are changed. I saw this effect after the first eye surgery. Things that used to be orange are now yellow. The sky is a more vibrant blue. The yellow and brown color of the cataract changed everything, and since I still have one eye with the cataract, I was able to cover my eye well and easily notice the difference. Or, as Dr Brent Bellotte of West Boca Eye Center says:
The changes are subtle and happen very slowly—we may not even notice the early stages. However, the color will gradually become lighter and brown or yellow. As the disease progresses, the ability to distinguish between darker colors, such as blue and purple, decreases.
The change in color of a cataract can begin in many people when they are in their 20s, and after that, it often gets worse.
For most people, it’s nice to get sharper vision, but it’s surprising when colors return. In my pre-surgery conversation with my eye surgeon, he said that I expected sharper vision, but not a word was mentioned about the change in color balance.
I am primarily a landscape photographer and a lot of my work is during the so-called golden hour. When I look at the recent edits after the surgery, they simply seem wrong. The lovely warm sunset color is turning an awkward yellow. The sky with many colors sometimes looks nice, sometimes it’s a little dark. The more I go back to my archive, the better the colors look, which makes sense, since the cataracts are getting worse and worse.
Here is an example. It’s a landscape photo I took and edited in April. My edit looks good.
After the surgery, I had another look at the picture. I was shocked to see it look like this:
I’m simulating to give you an idea of what I’ve seen. My carefully crafted sunset tones are sickly yellow, the green is muted, and the bluer the sky the worse it looks.
I’ll go back and fix things in my repository as needed. I want to write a script to do it automatically, but the reality is that every photo is different and needs different levels of editing. Some don’t need editing. It depends on the blend of colors and which colors will be changed the most since I am looking at the world through a golden brown prism.
None of the post-op color changes are subtle. It’s like entering a new world. The house I lived in for 15 years suddenly had different colored walls. I prefer fake color.
This is my hard-to-learn recommendation. If you depend on good color work and you have cataracts to some extent, your vision has turned brown and yellow. Other colors are also changed. There’s not much you can do about this after the fact except re-edit. One consolation. People with severe cataracts will see your pictures the same way you do!
If you have been told you have a cataract, you should probably have surgery. It is not considered a risk and most insurances cover it.
If you make the operation, you’ll see a whole new (and more precise) world.
