Say Goodbye to the Hassles of Reading Glasses in Mesquite with Refractive Lens Exchange

Comprehensive Eye,Featured,Refractive Lens Exchange

Getting older can come with its fair share of annoyances. One of the biggest nuisances regarding eyesight is having trouble seeing up close. 

Many people develop presbyopia once they are in their forties. The most common way of treating presbyopia is with reading glasses.

Presbyopia occurs when the natural lens in your eye begins losing flexibility. If your natural lens is no longer as flexible, it becomes more challenging to see things up close.

Using reading glasses can help with presbyopia, but they can be inconvenient. You have to carry them everywhere to ensure you have them on you when you need them. 

When you wear them, you can only see things up close, and you’ll have to take them off if you want to see anything far away. But reading glasses aren’t your only option. 

A procedure like refractive lens exchange (RLE) can reduce and even eliminate your dependence on reading glasses by correcting your presbyopia. Keep reading to find out why you can say goodbye to the hassles of reading glasses in Mesquite with refractive lens exchange! 

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is one of the most common age-related eye conditions. Almost everyone will struggle with presbyopia at some point because it’s simply a side effect of aging. 

The age-related eye condition occurs when your eye’s natural lens becomes less flexible, making it harder to focus. When the lens can no longer focus as well as it once could, it becomes more challenging to see things up close. 

The older you get, the less flexible the lens can become, making your presbyopia worsen as a result. Reading glasses help and come in different strengths, but you can also treat your presbyopia by replacing your eyes’ natural lens with a procedure called refractive lens exchange.

What is Refractive Lens Exchange?

Refractive lens exchange (RLE) is a procedure that removes your eye’s natural lens and replaces it with an artificial one called an intraocular lens, or IOL. IOLs ensure you can see clearly after removing the natural lens, especially if you have presbyopia. 

They come in different varieties, with some able to correct your vision at multiple ranges, allowing you to see up close, at a distance, and everything in between. 

Refractive Lens Exchange vs. Cataract Surgery

Another common age-related eye condition is cataracts. Cataracts occur when the eye’s natural lens becomes cloudy, impairing your vision and ability to see clearly. 

The only way to treat cataracts is by having cataract surgery. Cataract surgery and refractive lens exchange are virtually identical procedures. 

However, the most significant difference between the two is that a cataract is removed from the natural lens during cataract surgery. During refractive lens exchange, you don’t need to have cataracts that need removing. 

But if you have refractive lens exchange, you’ll never have to worry about developing cataracts. Because cataracts can only form on your natural lens, they won’t develop on an IOL, making it impossible to have cataracts if you have refractive lens exchange. 

Part of what makes refractive lens exchange so attractive to patients is that it can reduce your dependency on reading glasses and save you from cataracts.

Reduce the Need for Reading Glasses with a Premium IOL

IOLs come in different varieties. One of these varieties is a standard intraocular lens called a monofocal IOL,

A monofocal IOL is uniform all over and can help you see clearly at one set distance. If you choose a monofocal lens, you’ll need to use visual aids to see at other distances.

Some patients choose monovision with monofocal IOLs. Monovision involves putting in an IOL that helps you see up close in one eye, and then in the other, you’ll have an IOL that enables you to see at a distance. 

With monovision, you’ll achieve decent vision but still require reading glasses. 

The best way to achieve independence from reading glasses is by choosing a premium IOL. Premium IOLs are more advanced and designed to correct your vision to a higher degree at a broader range of visual distances. 

With premium IOLs, you’re much more likely to significantly reduce your need for reading glasses or eliminate that need completely.

Premium IOL Options at Sweeney Eye Associates

Sweeney Eye Associates offers our cataract patients a few premium IOL options, including:

Vivity

The Vivity lens is a non-diffractive multifocal lens. This means the lens is divided into rings that alternate between a close focal distance and one at a distance. 

Your eyes automatically look through the section of the lens that best helps you see what you’re looking at. Being non-diffractive means the transition between these different sections is blended, so light doesn’t split over the lens and cause visual aberrations like diffractive multifocal lenses can. 

This design allows patients to see clearly at several distances and reduces the need for prescription glasses and reading glasses.

PanOptix Trifocal

The PanOptix trifocal IOL is an IOL that’s divided into different sections that alternate between three focal distances: one up close, one far away, and one at a middle distance. The result is clear vision at all these distances, with especially clear vision close up and at a middle distance. 

Most patients who choose the PanOptix trifocal IOL never need reading glasses to see or only need them rarely.

Light Adjustable Lens 

The Light Adjustable Lens is a great option for patients who have an existing refractive error. You’ll have the Light Adjustable Lens implanted during cataract surgery like any other IOL, but after healing, it’s adjusted to provide you with customized vision. 

It’s the only IOL tailored to your post-surgical vision. The lens also has a depth of focus, so it isn’t a single-focus lens like a monofocal IOL. The Light Adjustable Lens will reduce the need for reading glasses, although some patients still require them in some situations.

When you decide to have refractive lens exchange, your ophthalmologist will recommend the best IOL for you based on your visual needs, goals after the procedure, and what you want to achieve. Are you ready to look at the world in a new way? 

Get started by requesting an appointment at Sweeney Eye Associates in Mesquite, TX, today!