Your eyes have been dilated and you’re recovering from the onslaught of bright lights when it happens: your doctor tells you “You have Cataracts” – cue horror movie music. Let’s demystify what this means and remove the stigma surrounding “cataracts”. The crystalline lens that is inside the eye is responsible for focusing and transmitting images to the back of the eye so vision can occur. This lens starts off clear but over time becomes cloudy and hazy. Once this lens becomes cloudy it is then called a “Cataract”. Cataracts are a normal part of aging – I always say the only sure things in life are death, taxes, and cataracts just not in that order. Cataracts can make your vision hazy, like looking through a dirty window. They can also increase glare and halos making driving at night difficult and uncomfortable. While it may seem daunting to think about cataract surgery, it can be something to look forward to. When we remove this cloudy lens, we replace it with a clear implant lens so your vision is significantly improved – like switching out a dirty filmy window for a nice clear new one. Once the cloudy lens is removed, glare and halos are significantly reduced as well. With technology today, surgery can take 20-30 minutes with minimal down time for recovery. In fact, this implant lens can have parts of your prescription built into it, not only helping you see better as the cataract is gone, but also decreasing your dependance on glasses.
In the past, the options for implant lenses were to see for distance and wear reading glasses or see for near and have distance glasses. Calculations performed prior to surgery would determine a pre-manufactured lens implant power and once implanted the vision that you had was final. Like I say to my children: you get what you get and you don’t get upset (patients aren’t really upset because they can see better after surgery, but the need for glasses after surgery can be disheartening). Well, if you customize your morning latte at Starbucks, why not customize your vision after cataract surgery as well? Enter the Light Adjustable lens by RxSight. The Light Adjustable Lens (or LAL) is the first and only lens that can be adjusted in the eye after cataract surgery has already been performed. This ensures that the level of prescription after surgery and the type of distance/near vision available can be customized to each person’s visual needs. The lens implant is composed of macromers that can be stimulated by UV light to move and adjust the shape of the lens implant. When the shape of the lens implant changes, so does the prescription. At treatment sessions, we show patients options for their distance and near vision and allow them to be part of the process. Ms. Anderson, an 80 year old woman who loves to read has different visual demands than Mr. Smith, a 65 year old semi-retired truck driver. These prescription treatments are done in the office with an instrument providing precise UV application to the lens implant. After a treatment, we send patients into the real world to test drive their vision and at follow-up visits let us know what areas they’re happy with versus what needs improvement. After reading this you might be thinking, well if UV light can change the shape of the lens then what happens when Ms. Anderson and Mr. Smith are outside? Can the sun undue the work their amazing eye doctors are doing? The answer to these questions is ActivShield. ActivShield is a UV protection layer built into the Light Adjustable Lens. Along with UV glasses that we have patients wear throughout the treatment process, ActivShield helps prevent accidental sunlight exposure from changing the lens. Once a patient has achieved their best possible distance and near vision, a lock in treatment is performed to solidify the current lens shape and prevent any future UV light from causing prescription changes.
So now you know that a diagnosis of “Cataracts” is not something to send you into a depressing downward spiral. Cataract development and cataract surgery can be life changing and liberating, freeing you from the glasses chains that bind. At Eye Care Northeast, Dr James Dean can perform cataract surgery at our new, state-of-the-art surgical center right here in the office. Dr Dean has been performing cataract surgery for years, and he was the first in Connecticut to implant the Light Adjustable Lens starting 2 years ago. At this time, he’s performed more than 500 surgeries with the Light Adjustable Lens providing patients with excellent distance and near vision. In fact, patients are approximately two times more likely to achieve 20/20 vision or better without glasses at 6 months with the LAL lens compared to a standard lens implant. If you’ve been diagnosed recently or in the past with cataracts and think you might be ready for clear, customizable vision give the office a call.