# Cataract Surgery - impact on colors **URL:** \ **Category:** off-topic talks\ **Created:** [September 17, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062 "2025-09-17T18:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/larrycross/32/47297_2.png) [@larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/u/larrycross)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/1 "2025-09-17T18:24:07Z")
Are there any cataract veterans around? I’m in the middle of the process: one eye done, the other coming up soon. I was looking at some of my past Krita work and was surprised about the upgrade in clarity and definition in the new eye, compared to the old one (left eye lol). There are some differences in hue/color between the eyes. I’m told that the eyes will adapt over the course of a the next few months. I haven’t done a lot of drawing this past summer because of other distractions. I’ll have to wait until after the next eye heals a bit. Might take about a week. Anyway just curious about your own experiences. ---
**Author:** ![sooz](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/sooz/32/93244_2.png) [@sooz](https://krita-artists.org/u/sooz)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/2 "2025-09-17T18:46:40Z")
I remember one day, about a month after hubby had his second cataract done, him standing in the freezer section of the grocery store, marvelling at the variety and depth of colour in all the food packaging. He kept saying “Whoa, whoa look at all those colours!” ---
**Author:** ![larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/larrycross/32/47297_2.png) [@larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/u/larrycross)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/3 "2025-09-17T22:05:27Z")
lol I’m saying/seeing similar things. It’s like all of a sudden life is in high definition. I’ll have to wear readers for up close work. Like drawing/painting. Reading. ---
**Author:** ![larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/larrycross/32/47297_2.png) [@larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/u/larrycross)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/4 "2025-10-31T16:00:29Z")
Thought I would add a footnote to this thread. In case anyone finds themselves heading in the same direction later in life. Both eyes are done. I had, what was supposed to be, a final eye exam a couple weeks ago, but they found some inconsistencies between the two eyes so I was instructed to continue with eye drops for another few weeks. So, it’s been two months and both eyes now have corrected vision. I find myself kind of confused about what type of glasses I need. I’ve been nearsighted most of my life so I got used to wearing glasses for distance and taking them off when I was reading. Now it’s the opposite. Distance vision is amazing. Clean crisp and hi-def. Up close requires readers. Drawing requires readers. I could have chosen lenses for nearsighted needs but I made the decision and I’m ok with it. It’ll just take some getting used to. Seeing the trees changing color is almost breathtaking. One of the things that had me a bit worried was a strange color variation in my vision. I was seeing a lot of purple hues where there should be blacks or dark browns. It took me a bit of testing to figure out, but I noticed that when I look at colors on a screen, or page, they look correct. The colors are as expected. When I see those colors in real life, I see gradients of purple in certain things. Bright outdoor sunlight makes it worse. Fresh blacktop roads had this purplish hue. Dark colored cars. That seems to be fading a bit. It would seem it takes a few months for the brain to recalibrate itself so I’m just ignoring the problem. Looking at colors on my Huion pen display is fine. Same with my iPhone and TV and such. Weird right? I’ve started drawing again. Getting back into Krita is a bit funny. Muscle memory has faded a bit and I have to remember hotkeys and key combos lol I get confused when trying to do certain things that used to come easy. It’ll take a little time to recover. But overall I’m happy. I used veterans benefits to pay for all this. I think my total cost out of pocket was around $200. Socialized medicine is a blessing. Not everyone has these benefits obviously, and these day with all the BS going on in Washington, I don’t know what the future holds. Cheers and all the best! ---
**Author:** ![sooz](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/sooz/32/93244_2.png) [@sooz](https://krita-artists.org/u/sooz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/5 "2026-05-24T04:51:27Z")
I’m so happy for you! I wish you many hours of drawing with your new eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Bubba](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@Bubba](https://krita-artists.org/u/Bubba)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 8:56am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/6 "2026-05-26T08:56:51Z")
I think seeing any kind of new colors would be awesome. If it were me, I would definitely start adding a bit of those purples in the darker colors of my art. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/larrycross/32/47297_2.png) [@larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/u/larrycross)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/7 "2026-05-28T14:00:27Z")
Maybe I should add yet another update. It’s been about 6 months since the last surgery. Plenty of time to adapt. But here’s where I’m at (hopefully this might be useful for anyone else facing the same things). My wife had the same surgery right after me. She went through a different doctor. I had to wait one month between the left and right eye surgeries. She only had to wait two weeks. So she was finished in half the time. I’m not sure why my doctor made me wait an extra 2 weeks but I didn’t see it as a hardship. I was just happy to be getting this done. I still need corrective eyeglasses. I have astigmatism on my left eye so prescription glasses definitely help. I was near-sighted before. Now I’m far-sighted. I was offered a choice before the first surgery. I don’t necessarily regret the choice, but now I need readers for up close work, including drawing and painting with Krita lol It has taken me a while to adjust to these changes. I’m still trying to get used to it. I didn’t need readers before, but now they are imperative. I now have two sets of eyeglasses. One for all daily use and a pair of readers for up close work. The daily-use glasses are “progressive” lenses so they handle both far and near, but the readers are way more comfortable for long periods of up close computer work (or reading a book). So it’s a juggling act depending on what I’m doing. My night vision got worse. A lot worse. So there’s that. The issue of the purple colors has faded quite a bit. But it’s still noticeable in certain cases. I’ve just learned to ignore it. I also have floaters (it’s hell to get old lol). The floaters are probably worse than all the other things. No cure for that at all. You’d think with all the medical advancements that would be an easy fix, but nope. Bottom line: happy to have healthy eyesight. Blindness would have been a way worse scenario obviously. It seems like most people come out of this with no real issues. The few of us with after-effects just learn to work around it. I’m just happy I can continue with my art. It would kind of suck not to be able to do that. ---
**Author:** ![wakocima](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/wakocima/32/217849_2.png) [@wakocima](https://krita-artists.org/u/wakocima)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/8 "2026-05-28T17:23:12Z")
The “purple color” you’re describing sounds definitely interesting! But if that cheers you up, it’s not totally unusual; I don’t have cataracts, just like color studies a lot, and often where others see “black” I just see “color” instead! :-] But, with glasses, my “color” vision also changes lol. I guess it’s just the brain processing things in weird ways, adapting to different vision conditions as best as it can. EDIT: And wishing quick recovery for your wife! C: ---
**Author:** ![larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/larrycross/32/47297_2.png) [@larrycross](https://krita-artists.org/u/larrycross)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/cataract-surgery-impact-on-colors/142062/9 "2026-05-28T20:54:46Z")
The strangest part to the purple color: anything on a computer or phone screen looks normal. If I see a purple hue on something in real life, and take a picture of it with my phone, it looks normal color on the screen. I’ve spoken to the doctor about this and he had no really good explanation. I couldn’t find anything online describing this same phenomenon. It must have something to do with natural light. The more sunlight the more vivid the effect. I remember driving down the street one day that had been recently paved with blacktop and the entire street had a purple hue (probably more lavender in color). I don’t see it like that as severe now, but every so often I’ll catch something and see the effect. What about the surgery that affected this? Could it be the new lenses. My wife didn’t have this problem with hers.