Permanently Correct Vision With Lens Replacement Surgery

What if you could get nice clear vision that lasts forever? Well, cataract surgery already provides that. But what if you didn’t need to wait for the vision to decline from cataracts? Time to talk about lens replacement.

Lens replacement surgery (also known as refractive lens exchange or clear lens exchange) is highly similar to cataract surgery. Just like cataract surgery, the procedure is quick, super easy to go through and recovery is very quick (in fact, in most cases, the procedure and recovery are even quicker than with cataract surgery). The difference is simply that there are no cataracts present. People having lens replacement are purposely and permanently improving their ability to see without glasses or contact lenses. And another cool part, it’s impossible to develop a cataract afterwards! Thus, once you are done, you get nice perfect vision for the rest of your life.

Who Benefits from Refractive Lens Exchange?

_{Easier to do without glasses; Image by Atia Naim on Unsplash}

Lens replacement surgery provides a great option (and the only option for some) to correct vision and get out of glasses. But when is the best time to consider lens replacement over other procedures such as lasik?

For some patients, they don’t have any other options. This includes the highly farsighted or hyperopic people. Once you get past a certain point, lasik isn’t approved nor effective to correct vision and get you out of glasses. ICL in the United States can only correct myopia. Thus, lens replacement is the only option. This is especially the case once you get beyond the age of 50 and start needing glasses for reading vision. The cool part is that because you have been struggling with your vision and relying on your progressives so much that you have a huge immediate improvement and do very well adjusting afterwards!

For near-sighted individuals, the equation is a little different. For many of you, lasik can work for quite a long time. Once you get into your 50’s and especially into your 60’s and above, lasik starts to have diminishing returns due to the natural lens inside your eye. This lens first causes presbyopia and then later cataracts. Once this lens changes too much, it can change your prescription and affect your vision. Thus, for the near-sighted, the decision is more about whether you are looking for a permanent correction or looking for something to tide you over until cataracts develop.

Summary

Lens replacement is truly an amazing procedure. It is also very unique in that it is a relatively new procedure in the past decade but is developed from and consists of very tried, tested and safe techniques. But surprisingly many people have yet to actually learn that it even exists. Fortunately, you now do!

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