Regain your full quality of vision

If you choose a standard IOL, chances are excellent your eyesight improvement will fully restored the quality of vision you experienced before cataracts. Studies show that 95% of patients like you gain this level of improvement.

As with all surgery, patients with additional health conditions should ask their doctor what clarity of vision they can reasonably expect in their specific case.

You will still need glasses or contacts

Standard IOLs only provide clear vision at one distance-near, mid-range or distance. So you can expect that you will need glasses or contacts at all but one of these distances.

For most patients, having clear distance vision is most important, and they use reading glasses to see close objects clearly, just as many people do before cataracts.

A good way to reduce your dependence on glasses

Multifocal IOLs have a very high success rate and give you a good chance of not needing glasses after cataract treatment surgery. A large majority of patients report enough eyesight improvement that they either never or only occasionally need to wear glasses after surgery.

As with all surgery, patients with additional health conditions should ask their doctor what they can reasonably expect in their specific case.

When you may need glasses

It may take several weeks to several months for you to reach your best eyesight improvement. And it is usually recommended to have cataract surgery on both eyes within a few weeks time, so the brain does not need to adjust to unbalanced vision while only one eye has a corrected lens.

There is a chance you may need glasses for some tasks even after you adjust. For example, some patients need glasses to:

• Read fine print
• See more clearly in low light conditions
• Obtain the best vision at intermediate distances, like at the computer

Possible night vision symptoms

As your brain adjusts to the new visual information from the multifocal IOL, you may notice some rings around lights at night, which usually get better in time and diminish within six months or so.

Most patients say these symptoms are not noticeable or bothersome and rarely affect their day or night activities.

A small number of patients have night vision symptoms on an ongoing basis. Even when this occurs, these symptoms rarely affect tasks such as night driving. However, in rare instances, multifocal IOLs may make night driving more challenging than with standard or accommodative IOLs.

A good way to reduce your dependence on glasses

Accommodative IOLs give you an excellent quality of vision and a very good chance of enough eyesight improvement that you will only occasionally need glasses to fine-tune your distance or near vision. A large majority of patients report being able to perform most daily functions without glasses.

As with all surgery, patients with additional health conditions should ask their doctor what clarity of vision they can reasonably expect in their specific case.

When you may need glasses

Accommodative IOLs are technically a single-focus lenses, which can give you excellent distance vision right away. In order to gain clear vision of near objects, however, your eye muscles need to strengthen so they can make the lens move (or flex) correctly for maximum eyesight improvement. You will need reading glasses for close vision in the meantime.

To retrain your eye muscles, challenge yourself with visual activities at close range starting a week after surgery. It may take six months to a year to fully develop your near vision potential, but the more your eyes and brain practice, the better your near vision can get.

If a patient’s eye muscles are unable to adjust, accommodative IOLs still deliver clear distance and even intermediate vision. Reading glasses, however, may still be needed for close vision.

In general, you may need to use reading glasses for up close vision during more of the day than if you choose multifocal IOLs. But people with accommodative IOLs have less risk of experiencing night vision symptoms than those with multifocal IOLs.

A good way to correct astigmatism as well as cataracts

If you have astigmatism in addition to cataracts, cataract treatment with a toric IOL can often address it, making your vision even clearer after surgery than it was before you developed cataracts. This can also reduce your dependence on glasses or contacts after surgery.

As with all surgery, patients with additional health conditions should ask their doctor what clarity of vision they can reasonably expect in their specific case.

You will still need glasses or contacts

Because they are monofocal lenses like standard IOLs, toric IOLs only provide clear vision at one distance-near, mid-range or distance. So you can expect that you will need glasses or contacts at all but one of these distances.

For most patients, eyesight improvement is most important for distance vision, and they use reading glasses to see close objects clearly, just as many people do before cataracts.

Possible follow-up

Because astigmatism is caused by an asymmetrical surface of the cornea, toric IOLs have asymmetrical powers of correction. Rarely, a toric IOL may shift its position as your eye heals. If this happens, you will need to have it realigned in a follow-up procedure in order to see clearly again.

Sometimes people with astigmatism may need additional procedures such as LASIK or limbal relaxing incisions to reach their best vision.

Another way to reduce your dependence on glasses

With monovision, you can reduce your dependence on reading glasses or bifocals after cataract treatment surgery. Your surgeon will implant a monofocal IOL for distance vision in one eye, while implanting one for near vision in the other. With this technique, you can obtain eyesight improvement for both near and distance vision. If you use toric IOLs to achieve monovision, you can correct astigmatism at the same time.

As with all surgery, patients with additional health conditions should ask their doctor what clarity of vision they can reasonably expect in their specific case.

The adjustment process

For most people, the brain adjusts quickly to monovision. It joins the information from both eyes together so you can see near, intermediate and far objects clearly.

Some patients know they are good candidates for monovision because they’ve had it before, with LASIK or contact lenses. Those who have not experienced monovision before are recommended to try it in advance of surgery with special contact lenses, to confirm they will be able to adjust easily.

No. Today cataract patients who choose standard intraocular lenses (or IOLs) will only need glasses similar to whatever they needed before surgery. For patients who choose premium lenses, they may be able to reduce or eliminate their dependence on glasses after cataract surgery.

The formulas used for calculating the power of the intraocular lenses (IOLs) used during cataract surgery or any other lens replacement surgery are reasonably accurate, but not necessarily as precise as those used for computing advanced laser-based vision correction treatments.