Red
After my Cataract Surgery, Red Things Appear Much Brighter
Last Wednesday, I had cataract surgery on my left eye. It is currently healing, and as it heals, my vision is noticeably better. Things are in sharper focus, and curiously enough, the color red seems more intense than it was. Cataracts occur as one ages—the lenses on your eyes becomes clouded. To fix it, they have to crush up the damaged lens and replace it with an artificial lens. The Centre for Sight, an Indian health organization, provides this graphic about what happens during the surgery.
This illustration is informative but terrifying. What I wanted to find but never could online was an image of what you see while you are getting the surgery. I was awake the whole time—I was sedated, but not unconscious. I saw three balls of light floating before my eye (the surgeon told me later that the three lights were on the microscope she was using) in a field of every changing psychedelic colors, especially red. What I saw as the surgeon sliced my eyeball was indescribably weird.
The surgery only took about 20 minutes. Now my vision is much better, and as this eye heals and I get the other cataract (in my right eye) removed, I imagine it will improve more.
This makes me wonder how art will appear different. If reds are more vivid now, doesn’t that materially change any artwork with red in it for me, as a viewer? I was thinking about art I own.
It all looks a little different than it did before. Brighter and crisper. Does the fact I’ve changed my vision and my visual perception mean that everything I saw before was somehow wrong?
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I had the same thought years ago when mine were done. My biggest color takeaway was white. It was dirty yellow before. After I had my first eye finished, I kept winking back and forth comparing my colors. And your comment about what you see when they pulverize your lens… it’s indescribable. As for art, good art is still good. Shit is still shit.
Yes.