Premium IOLs

What is an IOL?

An IOL (intraocular lens) is an artificial lens that’s used to replace your natural lens during cataract surgery. When you have cataracts, your lens becomes cloudy as proteins clump together.

During early cataract development, corrective eyewear can overcome the changes in your vision. Once cataracts become advanced, however, you only have one treatment option: surgery to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with an IOL.

How do IOLs improve my vision?

IOLs immediately improve your vision by eliminating the cloudy lens that blurs your vision and implanting a new clear lens that lets light through. Your eyes are also protected from the sun, as most IOLs are coated with a special material that screens out ultraviolet rays.

Your IOLs are also made with different focusing powers, using the prescription you need to improve your vision. Just like eyeglasses and contact lenses, IOLs can correct refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

For this reason, your provider at Astorino & Associates Eye Center may also use IOLs for a type of surgery called refractive lens exchange, which is done to improve vision in patients with presbyopia and high hyperopia.

What should I know about premium IOLs?

The FDA has approved a variety of premium IOLs for cataract surgery. They’re called “premium” IOLs because they offer advanced features beyond the basic IOLs typically used to treat cataracts. Here are a few examples:

Aspheric IOLs

Most basic IOLs have a spherical design, with the front surface curved into one standard shape. If your eyes aren’t spherical, an aspheric IOL provides sharper vision by more closely matching the natural shape of your eye.

Toric IOLs

Toric IOLs are specially designed to correct astigmatism. These premium IOLs are created with different powers in specific areas of the IOL to improve nearsightedness and farsightedness.

Accommodating IOLs

Basic IOLs typically have a monofocal lens that corrects one type of vision problem. For example, they’re great for distance vision, but you may need glasses for reading. Accommodating premium IOLs solve that problem and correct close and distance vision with a specialized design that lets the IOL move slightly when you look at near objects.

Multifocal IOLs

Multifocal IOLs correct presbyopia, which results from age-related changes that affect your ability to see close objects. These lenses have extra magnification in different parts of the IOL that allow you to see clearly at all distances.

Trifocal IOLs

Astorino & Associates Eye Center also offers trifocal IOLs that correct for distance, intermediate, and near vision.

To learn more about your premium IOL options, call Astorino & Associates Eye Center, or schedule an appointment online.