Premium Intraocular Lenses

Over the last ten or so years there has been the rapid development of advanced technology intraocular lenses. These are placed during cataract surgery like a standard lens, but they are able to reduce the need for glasses. Many of these lenses can allow the patient to read, see the computer, and see far away. There are several different ways that these work. A standard lens is able to correct for distance vision or up close vision, but only allows for one clearest point, and the vision reduces around that point. These standard lenses are not able to correct for astigmatism so the vision will remain blurred after these lenses if there is significant astigmatism. A toric intraocular lens is able to correct for astigmatism. It allows for the vision to be clear at a single point like at distance or near, but the vision becomes less clear as the distance varies from that point. The next level of lenses includes accomodative intraocular lenses such as the Crystalens, and multifocal lenses such as the Tecnis Multifocal or the Restor. Within the field of multifocal lenses is a type of lens called an extended depth of focus lens named the Symfony. Accomodative lenses work by changing position as you focus. However, I do not feel that these lenses work particularly well, and there is evidence that the currently available accomodative lenses do not move with focusing. The multifocal lenses split light and there is a range of vision that has good to fair focus. Since these lenses split light, there can be some loss of contrast and glare. Whenever I consider these lenses, I closely evaluate the eye, desired outcome, and personality to see if these lenses are a good match for each patient. These lenses are available in multiple powers that can focus more on the distance needed to crotchet or tie a fly for fishing or can be focused further at computer distance. They tend to work well in bright light situations, and tend to significantly reduce the need for glasses. The Symfony lens is in the multifocal class, but it helps correct for chromatic aberration (the fact that red light is focused differently than blue light), and spread the focus to a larger area. It may have lower side effects than some of the other multifocal lenses. Please contact our office at 512-686-1224 to schedule an evaluation and discuss the different options for your cataract surgery.