Are cataracts making it hard to complete your favorite things or enjoy your hobbies? Your eye surgeon may recommend cataract surgery to restore your clear vision.
During the procedure, your cataract surgeon removes your cloudy lens and implants a clear artificial one called an intraocular lens (IOL). No lens option is perfect, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
The Light Adjustable Lens is one of the most advanced IOLs. It offers the ability to adjust its power after cataract surgery, allowing you to tailor your vision.
Keep reading to learn more about the Light Adjustable Lens and 3 reasons it’s worth considering!
What is the Light Adjustable Lens?
The Light Adjustable Lens is the only IOL that allows you to customize and tailor your vision to your unique needs after cataract surgery. Patients are directly involved in customizing their postoperative vision.
By choosing this breakthrough lens, you can achieve customized vision following cataract surgery that meets your vision goals and lifestyle requirements.
How Does the Light Adjustable Lens Work?
The Light Adjustable Lens works like any other intraocular lens when you have it implanted. You’ll have your cataracts removed during cataract surgery, and then the natural lens is replaced with an intraocular lens.
In this case, it’s the Light Adjustable Lens. After having cataract surgery, you’ll need time to heal. During this healing time, your eye doctor at Evergreen Eye Center will give you special glasses to block out ultraviolet light.
It’s essential to wear these glasses at all times, except while bathing, washing your face, applying eye drops, or sleeping. You will need to wear these immediately after cataract surgery.
The Light Adjustable Lens is designed to respond to UV light. Accidental exposure to the sun and other UV sources can cause uncontrolled vision changes, making it impossible to adjust the IOL to your unique vision specifications with light treatments.
You’ll return to your eye doctor once your eye has appropriately healed, usually after 3-4 weeks. You’ll undergo a visual acuity exam to test your vision during your visit, and you will tell the eye doctor what your visual needs are.
From there, you’ll sample and compare various visual outcomes before choosing the ideal prescription setting. Selecting the correct lens power is a decision you’ll make with your eye doctor.
Next, you’ll be placed in front of a light delivery device (LDD) and asked to look into the machine. Your ophthalmologist will then apply a UV light treatment on the implanted lens.
The Light Adjustable Lens uses a photosensitive material that can be reshaped using UV light from the light delivery device. UV light from the light delivery device alters the shape of the lens to fit your exact prescription.
Most patients will require 3 to 5 in-office light treatment sessions to fine-tune their vision, with visits scheduled about 5-7 days apart. You’ll still need to wear UV-blocking glasses in between your appointments.
Each treatment session will last about 90 seconds and is non-invasive and painless. Once you achieve your desired vision, your eye doctor will permanently lock in the lens power during your final appointment.
Locking in the lens power will make the lens no longer sensitive to UV light.
Benefits of the Light Adjustable Lens
Some of the advantages of choosing the Light Adjustable Lens include:
1. You Can Address Nearsightedness, Farsightedness, or Presbyopia
By adjusting the shape of the Light Adjustable Lens, your eye doctor can change the power of the lens to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness, or presbyopia after cataract surgery.
2. The Lens Can Correct Astigmatism
Astigmatism occurs when your cornea has an oval shape like a football instead of a round shape like a basketball. The irregular curvature of the cornea causes distorted or blurred vision at all distances.
The more astigmatism you have, the blurrier your vision becomes without glasses or contacts. For patients with astigmatism, the Light Adjustable Lens offers an excellent solution.
The FDA has approved the Light Adjustable Lens for cataract surgery patients with pre-existing astigmatism of 0.75 diopters or more. This cutting-edge lens implant improves astigmatism, helping you achieve excellent vision without glasses or contacts after cataract surgery.
3. You Can Customize Your Vision
The Light Adjustable Lens improves uncorrected vision after cataract surgery far beyond what’s possible with other IOLs. Typically, there’s a small amount of guesswork when selecting non-LAL lenses.
Your ophthalmologist estimates the prescription for your artificial lens before surgery. But it can be hard to do this correctly because your vision is cloudy or blurry due to cataracts.
It’s not unusual to still have some residual refractive error following cataract surgery, requiring the continued use of corrective lenses.
If you’re unhappy with the quality of your eyesight after cataract surgery with other IOLs, you can only improve your vision by having a second surgery like LASIK or by wearing glasses.
But with the Light Adjustable Lens, several adjustments are made after surgery when your vision is clear. As a result, your ophthalmologist can reduce the residual refractive error more effectively and accurately.
Many patients with the Light Adjustable Lens attain the best sight of their lives. Thus, a Light Adjustable Lens can significantly reduce or completely eliminate the need for glasses or contacts after cataract surgery.
Good Candidates for the Light Adjustable Lens
You may be a suitable candidate for the Light Adjustable Lens if:
- You have astigmatism
- Your pupils dilate sufficiently
- You don’t use medications that can lead to retinal damage
- You don’t have a history of uncontrollable eye movements or herpes eye infections
- You don’t use medications known to increase sensitivity to UV light
See Your Very Best with the Light Adjustable Lens
The trusted, experienced ophthalmologists at Evergreen Eye Center are uniquely qualified to help you see your absolute best after cataract surgery with the Light Adjustable Lens. If you’re tired of relying on your glasses or contacts, this cutting-edge intraocular lens can give you the greatest freedom from visual aids.
Do you want to achieve crisp, clear vision without depending on visual aids after cataract surgery? Schedule your cataract screening today at Evergreen Eye Center to learn more about the Light Adjustable Lens and if it may be right for you!
