Crystalens for Cataract Surgery

Quick facts on Crystalens®
During cataract surgery the cloudy cataractous lens is replaced with a clear artificial lens (implant). Many patients with cataracts are candidates for a flexible implant that can focus both at distance and near to reduce or eliminate the need for reading glasses.
Patients who are good candidates for standard monofocal IOLs are typically good candidates for Crystalens. If a patient has healthy eyes, has not had previous cataract surgery, and does not suffer from any major health problems, then he or she is likely to be a good candidate.
More than twice the number of patients implanted with Crystalens could see well at all distances compared to a standard IOL.
Most Crystalens patients have reduced their dependence on glasses and are able to read the newspaper or a phone book without glasses.
Most Crystalens patients are able to see their computers, dashboards and anything else at arm’s length without glasses.
Most Crystalens patients are able to see 20/40 or better after surgery, so the clock across the room and the TV in the corner are clearly within sight.
Many of our Crystalens patients can see well enough to do away with their reading glasses, bifocals, or contact lenses. The Crystalens procedure is highly successful and most people regain very good distance vision, somewhere between 20/20 and 20/40.

Custom LASIK Does Not Equal CustomVue

Raleigh area LASIK candidates can be confused by advertisements for “custom LASIK”. Patients considering LASIK and who understand that the results of custom LASIK are in general, better than conventional LASIK, may mistakenly believe that all providers who offer custom LASIK are offering the same service.
Unfortunately, some providers of wavefront optimized LASIK advertise their procedure as “custom”. This is a distortion of the original meaning of custom LASIK which refers to wavefront guided LASIK.
Needless to say, the visual performance of wavefront guided LASIK tends to be better than wavefront optimized. This has been born out by numerous studies and is the reason that NASA and the Department of Defense prefers wavefront guided LASIK.
Vision problems can be categorized into lower order ones (nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism) and higher order aberrations: the type that cause visual distortions, night time halos and starbursts. Wavefront optimized LASIK simply means there is an effort made not to induce new aberrations. Wavefront guided LASIK means that there is an effort to correct any preexisting distortions /aberrations and is the reason some LASIK patients will note that there vision is actually better after LASIK than it was before with their best glasses or contact lenses.
Raleigh area LASIK candidates may want to investigate data submitted to the FDA on LASIK. They will discover that the LASIK technology with the highest ever rate of 20/20 results was accomplished by CustomVue on a VISX Star laser and is the same technology employed here at the Laser Eye Center of Carolina.