Cataracts occur when the natural lens of your eye becomes blurry. When nonsurgical treatment options fail to correct vision that is impaired by this condition, cataract surgery can help restore optimal vision.
What Are Intraocular Lenses (IOLs)?
Cataracts, one of the leading causes of blindness, results in the clouding of the internal lens in the eyes. Fortunately, this condition can be corrected through cataract surgery. During cataract surgery, the cloudy portion of the eye’s natural lens is removed and replaced with an artificial lens implant. When a patient develops cataracts in one or both eyes, an ophthalmologist may recommend premium lens cataract surgery. This surgery differs from “normal” cataract replacement because it utilizes intraocular lenses (IOLs) that address astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness.
What Are Toric Lens Implants?
Toric lens implants can be used to treat astigmatism. Astigmatism is a condition that results in the abnormal curvature of your cornea or the lens of your eye. What does this mean? Look at it this way: your eye resembles the shape of a baseball. An eye with astigmatism resembles the shape of a football. The result of this irregularity is blurred or distorted vision.
Because astigmatism results in an imperfection in the shape of the eye, spherical lenses do not work for patients who have this condition. Toric lenses are soft lenses that work with the shape of your eye to help refract light and prevent blurred or distorted vision.
What Are Multifocal Lenses?
If you are someone who experiences nearsightedness or farsightedness, you may want to consider multifocal lenses. These FDA-approved lenses assist in correcting near, intermediate, and distance vision that one may experience following cataract surgery. Typically, these surgeries are able to fix either near or far sightedness, rather than both. Following surgery, patients are still in need of corrective lenses. This is where multifocal lenses come into play. Multifocal lenses provide patients with corrected vision across all distance fields.
Are you someone who tends to frequently misplace their glasses? These premium lenses provide an independence from glasses and an improved quality of vision and life. Prior to receiving your multifocal lenses, you will be required to undergo a comprehensive ophthalmic examination to assess the overall health of your retina and check for conditions such as Astigmatism.
How Can Multifocal and Toric Lenses Help Me With Cataracts?
Patients who receive cataract surgery still need to wear glasses full time or require reading glasses for optimal vision. Multifocal and toric lenses that are implanted during surgery allow patients to be more independent from the use of glasses by correcting conditions of astigmatism or near and far sighted vision. Not all patients, however, are suited for multifocal lenses. That is why it is important to consult with your ophthalmologist to discern what is the best option for you and your vision.
Specialty lenses, such as multifocal and toric lenses, are not covered by any insurance plans. Because they are regarded by insurance companies as a cosmetic treatment, these lenses are considered out-of-pocket expenses. For more information regarding these specialty lenses, call (412)-288-0858.
At Everett & Hurite, Dr. Charles Kent,Dr. Edward Chang, and Dr. Hall Thomas McGee IV are highly experienced members of our care team who specialize in diagnosing and treating cataract symptoms. If you are struggling with cataracts and want to learn more about your treatment options, our ophthalmology team is here to help. The care team at Everett & Hurite provides services to treat this condition across our 10 locations. Visit one of our offices located throughout Greater Pittsburgh, Steubenville, OH, and Weirton WV, or request an appointment with one of our doctors. For more information, call (412)-288-0858.
