CLEAR LENS SURGERY

Why Clear Lens Surgery?

Not all people are good candidates for laser vision correction. Some refractive errors are too high to safely perform LASIK. Yet they too can have their dependency on glasses or contacts decreased by using safe proven modern techniques to improve their distance vision. Thanks to medical and surgical advancements in recent years, clear lens surgery has become one of the gentlest medical procedures performed today. It can be used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness as well as astigmatism.

The human lens is replaced in CLEAR LENS SURGERY with an artificial lens called an implant to help the light focus properly on the back of the eye.

In clear lens surgery we remove the human lens that has its own "power" (like your glasses) and replace it with an artificial lens with the new stronger or weaker power. As a result, dependency on distance glasses is dramatically reduced. Our unique software programs use the measurements of your eye to compute the power of the artificial lens, which we can implant. The surgery is performed through a tiny incision (less than 3 millimeters in size). It rarely requires stitches.

This is possible thanks to a tiny, beveled incision commonly called the "self-sealing" incision. It is called "self-sealing" because the eye's natural internal pressure holds the incision tightly closed allowing the eye to heal without stitches. The self-sealing is made at the edge of the "clear cornea," and is less than 3 mm in length. The clear cornea is the transparent covering of the front of the eye (see diagram above). As a matter of fact, the modern corneal incision is only a fraction of the size required to perform LASIK. As a result, most patients are now able to enjoy their best possible vision with minimal recovery time.

The human lens is situated inside the lens capsule, which is like an elastic bag that holds the lens in place. To remove the human lens, the front portion of the lens capsule is carefully opened. The human lens is gently broken apart into microscopic pieces using ultrasonic vibrations and vacuumed out of the lens capsule. This technique is called phacoemulsification. The lens capsule is left undisturbed so a tiny lens implant can be inserted in place of the original lens. Many types of lenses are used; most are made of either hard plastic or soft, foldable silicone. Patients will receive the lens best suited for them. A unique benefit of clear lens surgery is that after this type of surgery, you can never develop a "cataract" for the rest of your life! More people have had lens surgery than laser vision correction!

The Results of Clear Lens Surgery:

Clear lens surgery rivals laser vision correction for accuracy in the groups of patients we recommend it to. As a matter of fact, for high degrees of far or nearsightedness patients actually prefer the quality of vision for clear lens surgery because in general it is a more crisp vision with less symptoms of glare and haloes at night.

However, it should be recognized that just as laser vision correction is not 100% accurate in correcting all of the far or nearsightedness for high degrees of corrections, so is the case with clear lens extraction.

In our practice we find that we are 90% accurate in achieving the results we want. Some of this variability is dependent on how you heal. To achieve the best results possible we use very sophisticated state of the art software. Close to 90% of patients are able to drive without glasses following clear lens extraction. The remainder requires only a minimal correction. This is generally only a fraction of what they were wearing. In other words, they can function well without their glasses on.

"Fine tuning" of the result can be performed at a later date either by adding an adjustment lens into the eye or performing a small amount of laser vision correction if you are a candidate.

Reading Glasses After Surgery:

It should be stated that after the age of 45 the human lens in most people loses the ability to focus up close. This is why we need reading glasses or a "bi-focal". This means with your distance glasses on you will need a reading part to help you see up close. This condition is called presbyopia.

By removing the human lens in clear lens surgery, you may have the ability to focus up close without reading glasses if a special lens implant is used. In a number of other patients we may intentionally leave one eye nearsighted by a small amount to allow for intermediate reading without glasses. This is called mono vision and may not be for everyone.

Dr. Teahan will help you determine the best choice ahead of time.