Cataract Surgery: What LENS? An Invalid Dilemma!
With ongoing US FDA approvals of new generation Lens Technologies for your eyes, it may be the best investment you can make in your lifetime. Especially, if you are over 60 years of age and have been diagnosed with Cataracts.
This is also a great time to live for those over 40 years of age and dependent on those pesky reading glasses. The currency of spoil and grandeur has changed from “Material” to “Experience” and never before so high as the Vision to enjoy the rest of your life with.
5 Most common questions by patients with Cataracts:
- Do I have to wait till my cataracts ripen/Mature? No, not anymore! In fact if you wear glasses for any reason, nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, as long as your eyes are healthy, you don’t need to wait to start seeing clearly without glasses (Refractive Cataract Surgery: LenzOplastique / RLE surgery).
- Why was I given so many confusing choices for lens implants for my Cataract surgery? Your cataract having been a lens, needs to be replaced with an artificial lens and there are over 30 different lens technologies available in the US and nearly 75 worldwide. Do your research and don’t fall for only 2 or 3 choices. Ask questions and explain your vision goals to your eye doctor.
- Why am I wearing glasses after cataract surgery? In some cases, you may have some glasses number despite surgery due to a host of situations that you may have been educated about before surgery. Remember that cataract surgery is “surgery”. It is not a glasses lens exchange. Your surgery, lens power calculations, your healing and finally your brain (Neural) adaptation decides how you land visually. This can in certain cases be successfully corrected using modern Laser Vision surgery techniques like LaZrPlastique™.
- What if I have corneal problem like Keratoconus or previous surgeries like Lasik or Radial Keratotomy? Can I still have cataract surgery? Yes, you certainly can and even in such cases result in most cases with vision without glasses with proper planning and technology choices.
- Can complications of cataract surgery be corrected? As long as your retina is fine and potential to see is maintained, most complications of cataract surgery can be successfully corrected to excellent vision not only for anatomical damages but also for vision using staged laser techniques
So you go to your eye doctor’s office and are diagnosed with cataracts. Before you can mourn about this obvious testimonial to having aged, you are given a menu of lens implants to choose from – a full range of Affordable to Magical!
You leave your eye doctor’s office scratching your head and turn to your trusted source of medical information; Google!
Industry already knew that would be your only recourse and built widespread advertisement campaigns online so you are smothered with choices explained in terms they hope challenges your aging brain enough to help you succumb.
Ok, let’s get serious.
This is THE most confusing thing many patients today face once they are diagnosed with cataracts. What lens implant to choose and how to understand their impact on their vision
All of us understand that during cataract surgery, the cataract is removed and an artificial lens implant is inserted in our eye. Until recently, there were no choices and life was simple; boring and Monofocal!
With technology innovations, we now have Lens implants that come with various functions including Multifocal (Progressive) to help you see distance and near, Toric (to correct astigmatism), Bifocal. Trifocal, photocell and even re-chargeable and adjustable. A thorough exam of your eye including its optics and health can help decide which lens implant will most likely result in vision without glasses at distance and near.
I encourage you to believe that your surgeon is more knowledgeable than Google and you must sit down with them and ask questions about pros and cons and possible expectations. How the lens implant chosen for you works and how will that translate to vision for your individualized goals. What are the possible side effects and what solutions are available if so. Also, have you been offered all lens implants choices available or only those available with that surgeon/office?
Most usually, a combination of your vision goals along with your surgeon’s selection of the lens implant in your best interest can lead to a satisfactory outcome. Anything less than this and you may become a statistic. Emotions usually run high because of the cost of these implants beyond insurance and hence expectations must be clear before surgery
Poor lens implant choices can lead to haloes and star bursts that can challenge your lifestyle.
By the same token, proper selection of the lens implant and surgical technique is one of the most gratifying surgical outcomes in modern medicine today with a vision outcome that lasts a lifetime with well-earned bragging rights enough to divert the attention from Solitaires and Rolexes to the proud shimmer of your eyes.
Most important thing I want you to learn is that you should not fall for any lens advertising or menu in a surgeon’s office (as most doctors have a limited choice of 2 or 3 reflecting their limited abilities). The Lens Implant is just one ingredient in your vision recipe; the surgeon, their specially designed technique, surgical instruments, technology- diagnostic and surgical and postop rehabilitation are the full service that makes the surgery and event “Premium.”
During social gatherings, I can envision groups of richly dressed people looking into each other’s eyes comparing their sparkles and testing their vision at all distances even before drinks are served.
