By Bernd Kutzscher, M.D.
Pacific Eye Specialists - Seton Medical Center

Cataract surgery is one of the safest and most frequently performed surgeries. For many years, patients having cataract surgery have also received a lens implant. This lens implant is an essential part of cataract surgery because it replaces the focusing power of the natural human lens that has grown cloudy with time and is being removed in cataract surgery. Modern lens implants are now highly sophisticated and made from materials that can be folded into a tiny packet to allow permanent placement into the eye through a microscopic incision.

One drawback of lens implants, until recently, has been that they only allow excellent focus at one distance. Patients and surgeons would have to choose whether the desired focus point after surgery should be at distance or near. As a result, most patient shave needed to rely on glasses to give them full visual function after cataract surgery with lens implant.

There is now a new lens implant technology that promises to add an even higher level of quality and sophistication for patients who need cataract surgery. Called "accommodative lenses," these new implants are designed to provide high quality vision at all distances- for driving, reading, and work at a computer. They work by dividing light into several components so that patients get a combination of focus points after cataract surgery.

This remarkable new advance in lens implant technology has great potential for people who need cataract surgery. Without reaching for reading glasses, someone driving a car could look at a map. Similarly, someone working at a desk could look at the fine print without glasses but still be able to look up at a clear computer screen and at a painting hanging on the wall across the room.

There are currently three lenses that offer this new technology. They are called the Rezoom, the Restor, and the Crystalens. They differ technically in how they achieve "multifocality" – the ability to give clear vision at many distances. All of these lenses are now FDA approved for use in cataract surgery.

If you are considering cataract surgery, be sure to speak with your surgeon about the new options in lens implants. These new lenses might be right for you and might provide you with many years of remarkably clear vision.