Choosing an artificial lens to replace your natural lens during cataract surgery is an integral part of the cataract surgery process. At Oklahoma Medical Eye Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we are proud to offer some of the most advanced artificial lenses, including the Light Adjustable Lens.
What is an IOL?
An IOL is an artificial lens that is used to replace your natural lens during cataract surgery. In order to restore vision affected by cataracts, your eye doctor must remove your entire natural lens where the cataract is.
However, since you need a lens to help focus the light that enters your eye, your cataract surgeon will replace this lens with an artificial lens, also known as an intraocular lens or IOL. There are many different types of lenses to choose from, and your eye doctor will help you choose the lens that best fits your vision goals.
There are two primary groups of lenses, and within each group, there are various lenses that can provide different benefits. When choosing a lens, you must first decide whether to choose a standard lens or a premium lens.
A standard lens is often cheaper than a premium lens. However, it will only correct your vision at one distance.
Many people who choose a standard lens decide to have their vision corrected at a distance and will continue to wear glasses for near activities. Although more expensive, premium lenses can provide greater visual freedom after cataract surgery.
Many times, those who choose a premium lens are able to significantly reduce their dependence on contact lenses and glasses after cataract surgery.
What is a Light Adjustable Lens?
The Light Adjustable Lens is a premium IOL that offers a variety of benefits, including reduced dependency on glasses and contact lenses after the procedure. What makes the Light Adjustable Lens particularly unique is that it provides a genuinely customizable vision outcome.
With the Light Adjustable Lens, your eye doctor can adjust the lens after the procedure to provide you with the clearest vision. The Light Adjustable Lens allows your eye doctor to tailor your vision based on your lifestyle and personal hobbies and goals.
If visual freedom is something that is appealing to you, ask your eye doctor if the Light Adjustable Lens may be right for you. Compared to other non-adjustable IOLs, the Light Adjustable IOL delivers a superior visual experience.
This type of lens is the only type of lens that can customize your vision after cataract surgery. For every other kind of lens, once your eye doctor selects a lens power before cataract surgery, your vision is determined.
With the Light Adjustable Lens, your eye doctor is able to ensure your vision is as crisp as possible, even after you have cataract surgery. Adjustability elevates the cataract surgery experience by providing you with a lens that is uniquely tailored for your eyes.
How Does a Light Adjustable Lens Work?
First, your eye doctor will replace your natural lens where the cataract is with the Light Adjustable Lens during cataract surgery. After the procedure, you will be sent home the same day with instructions on how to best heal from cataract surgery.
After the recovery period and your eye heals, you will return to your eye doctor’s office for the light adjustment treatments. Your first appointment with your eye doctor after the healing period will be to test your vision and for your eye doctor to perform a complete eye exam.
After this exam, your eye doctor will be able to determine the exact prescription required to fit your hobbies, lifestyle, and vision goals.
The Light Adjustable Lens is constructed of a unique photosensitive substance that alters the lens’s power in response to UV light.
Thanks to this unique technology, you are more likely to achieve your desired vision after cataract surgery. In order to optimize your vision, your eye doctor will perform a series of light treatment procedures in-office after cataract surgery.
These light treatment procedures are fairly quick, lasting only a few minutes each. During the light treatment procedure, you will be placed in front of the Light Delivery Device system.
Then, the system will deliver non-invasive UV light to your new lens. You will need to have more than one light treatment to appropriately adjust your lens.
The amount of treatments you will need varies depending on what your goals are for your vision outcome.
What Are the Benefits of Choosing a Light Adjustable Lens?
Besides being highly customizable, there are many other benefits to selecting the light adjustable lens as your premium lens choice.
Here are some of the many benefits of choosing the Light Adjustable Lens:
- It can be used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism
- You’ll experience less glare and halos
- Extremely accurate results
In order to determine if the Light Adjustable Lens will best achieve your desired goals, talk with your eye doctor at Oklahoma Medical Eye Group.
The Importance of Wearing UV Light Sensitive Lenses After Cataract Surgery
Since the Light Adjustable Lens can be susceptible to changes due to UV light, your eye doctor will provide you with UV light sensitive lenses to wear during waking hours. These glasses will help block out some of the UV light to avoid any uncontrolled changes to your lens.
They will likely ask you to wear these glasses from after your cataract surgery to the last round of light treatment. You may be tempted to wear these UV protective glasses only when outside to avoid the damaging UV rays from the sun.
However, indoor lighting can also expose your eyes to UV light. For this reason, it is important to wear these glasses at all times when you are not sleeping to avoid any unwanted and unintended changes to your new lens until after the final light treatment.
Your eye doctor will give you specific instructions on when and how to wear these UV protective glasses. They will likely allow you to temporarily remove these glasses for certain activities like washing your face and showering.
Are you interested in learning more about the Light Adjustable Lens? Schedule a cataract evaluation at Oklahoma Medical Eye Group in Tulsa, OK, today!
