Crystalens® is the first and only FDA-approved accommodating intraocular lens (IOL) introduced into the United States market.  An accommodating lens has a hinge designed to work with your eye muscles, allowing the lens to move forward as the eye focuses on near objects and backward as the eye focuses on distant objects. This movement allows you to focus clearly at different distances.

Crystalens is the only FDA-approved intraocular lens that uses the natural focusing ability of the eye, and the only FDA-approved presbyopia correcting IOL for cataract patients that provides a single focal point throughout a continuous range of vision.

Few patients with Crystalens have experienced problems with glare, halos and night vision. Crystalens focuses only one image to the back of the eye, unlike a multifocal lens that projects multiple images, requiring your brain to “adjust” to the differences.

In clinical trials with Crystalens, researchers recorded these fesults:

• Significantly more patients implanted with a Crystalens (88.4%) could see better at all distances than patients implanted with a standard IOL (35.9%)
• Excellent distance, intermediate, and near visual outcomes sustained up to 7 years (in a sub-study of patients).
• More than 200,000 Crystalens intraocular lens implants have been implanted worldwide, and that number is growing daily.

Crystalens accommodates like the natural lens. After implantation of Crystalens, most patients will see brighter and clearer across a wider range of distances like they did when they were younger.

Implanting an IOL takes about 20 minutes and is an outpatient procedure. In addition to a preoperative eye exam, your eye surgeon will take some measurements of your eyes and will give you topical or local anesthesia. The surgeon makes a few small incisions close to the edge of the cornea and then uses ultrasound or light to break up the old lens. The lens is then vacuumed out through one of the incisions. The surgeon folds and inserts the IOL through the same incision. These incisions are usually self-sealing, requiring no stitches. Once implanted, a multifocal or accomodative IOL allows you to focus on near or distant objects.

Risks associated with implanting IOL’s include overcorrection or under-correction, infection, increased floaters, retinal detachment, dislocation of the implant, halos, glare, dry eye, decreased contrast sensitivity, clouding of a portion of the IOL, and loss of vision.

If you are going to have cataract surgery, you and your ophthalmologist at DiStefano Eye Center should discuss which IOL may be best for your vision needs. We will help you understand all of your options and make a choice that reflects your physical condition and lifestyle choices.

For an appointment, call DiStefano Eye Center at (423) 648-3937. Or Click Here to contact us online.