CLEVELAND — “Is this better or worse?” are words most are familiar with from going to the eye doctor.

Steven Gordon has been an optometrist and has been checking people’s vision for 25 years.

But a few years back, he needed his own vision checked. While most people develop cataracts typically in their 60s and 70s, Gordon developed them in his 40s.

“I developed an unusual form of cataract which had to be removed,” he said.

Cataracts are a cloudiness of the natural lens of the eye, causing vision changes that can’t be corrected with glasses or contacts.

The lens is about the size and shape of an M&M candy.

Through a relatively easy outpatient procedure, you can have the cloudy lens removed.

Once the natural lens is removed, the vision goes back to whatever it was before.

But what it was before may have required wearing glasses or contacts, and the artificial lens that replaced the old lens is typically focused for your distance vision.

There are some newer multi-focal lenses that they can implant that also allow reading focus.

It eliminates the need for glasses or contacts.

Gordon opted for one step beyond that.

“I have a multi-focal lens, many focuses. Distance, middle and near. I can see the computer, read and for driving,” Gordon said.

Having needed glasses his entire life, Gordon loves not having to think about his vision.

He said the silver lining to having had eye surgery is he didn’t need to worry about glasses anymore.   

“I see clearly everywhere I look. It’s amazing,” Gordon said.

As for the procedure itself, “I wouldn’t hesitate about having the procedure. It’s still surgery. Everyone is concerned about eye surgery, even an eye doctor,” he said.