Refractive Lens Exchange is an effective technique for resolving vision problems using multifocal IOLs (Intra-Ocular Lenses). It is a popular preventative option for patients who would like to replace the eye’s lens before cataracts make this a necessity.
The beginnings of cataracts or the onset of presbyopia are both signs that eventually your vision will be affected enough to require surgery and replacement of the eye’s aging or clouded lens.
Rather than tolerate the inconveniences of far-sightedness or the gradual deterioration due to cataracts, many of our patients choose to have the affected organic lens replaced with a multi-focal or accommodating intraocular lens.
The advantages of preempting the aging process are:
- Eradicating the need for readers and bifocals
- Solving common vision problems such as astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness
- The cornea is untouched, making this a great option for patients with corneas that are too thin for LASIK
- The IOL can be exchanged at any time to adjust for any future vision changes that may occur
- There is no future possibility of developing a cataract or presbyopia
Monofocal IOLs
Monofocal IOLs give patients the ability to see at a single point, usually at distance. This option requires glasses for near, intermediate, and astigmatism correction. Monofocal IOLs are usually covered by insurance, including Medicare, because they are a necessity following cataract surgery.
Tecnis Multi-Focal
Designed to give patients back their youthful vision, the TECNIS® Multifocal Lens provides patients with high-quality vision at any distance and in any light condition—even in low light, virtually eliminating the subsequent need for glasses.
Crystalens HD
Crystalens is an accommodating intraocular lens that can treat cataracts and presbyopia.
In this case, accommodating means able to change focus from near to far, with distances in between. Standard IOLs do not allow for this accommodation. With presbyopia the natural lens becomes less flexible due to aging, so an accommodating lens is helpful is correcting this condition.
The Crystalens IOL is uniquely fitted to the eye muscles and uses them to flex and accommodate in the same way your natural lens once did.
Crystalens HD utilizes an optic design that increases depth of focus. As a result, it is designed to improve near vision without compromising intermediate or distant definition. It features an enhanced accommodating optic that is designed to yield, improving depth of focus and as well as near vision.
Crystalens patients have reported less problems with glare, halos and night vision. Crystalens projects only one image to the back of the eye, unlike a multifocal lens that projects multiple images, requiring your brain to “adjust” to the differences.
Patients almost never wear glasses after surgery.
The Crystalens is designed to give you a fuller, more natural spectrum of vision for most activities, including reading, working on a computer and driving a car.
Toric Lenses
Astigmatism is caused by the cornea being more curved in one direction than the other, causing blurred vision. Toric intraocular lenses (IOLs) are specially-shaped IOLs designed to offset that imbalance.
Toric IOLs offer vision correction for cataract patients or patients with presbyopia, reducing or eliminating corneal astigmatism and delivering significantly improved distance vision without the need for glasses or contacts.
Approximately 95% of patients with astigmatism see clearly after the installation of a Toric IOL, as opposed to patients receiving a standard IOL who have astigmatism, who have about a 25% chance of seeing clearly without glasses.
Once implanted and aligned inside the eye, Toric IOLs stay fixed in place, which results in eliminating any pre-existing astigmatism.
TRULIGN® Toric Lens
Atlantis Eyecare surgeons now offer the ultra-advanced TRULIGN® toric lens implants at our Huntington Beach office. Atlantis Eyecare surgeons are among the first surgeons to offer this outstanding lens, which was just approved by the FDA on May 21, 2013.
What is TRULIGN® Toric IOL?
The TRULIGN is one of the newest and most advanced intraocular lens implants. Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are used to replace the natural lens of the eye following removal of a cataract. The TRULIGN® Toric lens is ideal for patients who have significant astigmatism and would like to improve their near-sightedness. There is currently no other lens on the market that corrects up to three diopters (a unit of optical strength) of astigmatism and gives you the near vision that TRULIGN® can. If you want to be free from glasses and correct your astigmatism, TRULIGN is the lens for you.
One of the greatest advantages of the TRULIGN® Toric IOL is that it is designed to allow the eye to focus on objects at a range of distances, not just far away objects, as is the case with many monofocal lenses.
Is TRULIGN Right For Me?
The best way to determine if you are a good candidate for TRULIGN® is to have a cataract consultation with one of our surgeons. Our cataract surgeons are among the most experienced cataract surgeons in the country and have contributed to numerous publications on cataract surgery and the developing lens options that exist today. Both have been recognized by Premier Surgeon as one of the top 250 leading innovators in the field of premium IOL surgery.
