Seeing halos or glare around lights after cataract surgery can be disconcerting, but context matters. Early after surgery, it’s quite normal to have some glare or starburst effect from lights, especially at night. Your eye is still healing and adapting; the cornea might be slightly swollen or dry, and the new lens/refractions are settling. If you chose a multifocal or EDOF lens, halos are a known trade-off – the concentric rings in the lens can cause rings around point light sources at night. Usually, the brain adapts and these halos diminish over a few weeks to months. Many patients with multifocals report halos initially but aren’t bothered by them as time goes on (or they are mild enough not to matter). If you have a monofocal lens and still see starbursts or glare, it could be from a bit of residual refractive error or astigmatism causing light scatter, or dryness – often improved by a tweak in glasses or just time. Another cause of glare can be the posterior capsule. Early after surgery, the new IOL will commonly cause a wrinkle in the posterior capsule that can cause glare at from lights at night. These wrinkles usually go away within 6 months. If they don’t they can be removed with a simple laser procedure. Another cause of glare and blurry vision is Posterior Capsule Opacification (PCO). PCO typically appears months later, not right away. So, in the short term, some halos/glare are usually normal positive dysphotopsia. However, what’s not normal: if glare is accompanied by significant loss of vision or if you see constant flashes of light like lightning streaks (which could indicate a retinal issue). Halos accompanied by severe hazy vision could indicate high eye pressure or corneal edema – that would typically be found on your post-op visits if present. But mild to moderate halos at night, especially only around streetlights or headlights, and otherwise good vision – that’s typically a normal adaptive phenomenon. We counsel patients ahead of time about this so they aren’t alarmed. Mitigation tips: avoid driving at night the first few days until you gauge your comfort; use lubricating drops if dryness is contributing. Over time, the brain usually “tunes out” these artifacts or the eye’s healing reduces them. If months out you still find them bothersome, talk to your doctor – sometimes a minor laser touch-up or a change in glasses can help. But rest assured, early on, halos and starbursts are common and expected parts of recovery.
